What was your most engaging audio experiance

$1 paid at street lot for Love Over Gold Dire Straits vinyl vs. the same SACD.

I ran sound for a rock band back in the 70's & one particular night the Les Paul played thru Marshall tube stack was like a giant boxing glove softly hitting my body. I've never experienced anything like that since & I still run sound.

My most engaging audio experience I'll never forget. It was in a hi-end audio store sitting in front of their best system. Gave me the biggest rush! I was trying to duplicate that here at home for years, but came to the conclusion that what I experienced was like my first kiss, magical! It will never be duplicated, but it's lotsa fun trying.

The first time I ever heard Quad ESL-63 USA in a computer and audio store here in NYC. I had really just come in to have my Mac SE fixed (that tells you it was long ago). I spied the Quads and asked if those were electrostats, and could I hear them. Even though it was using radio shack speaker cable and quad electronics, it was an quite an ear opening experience.

That set me on my quest and soon I heard a much better implementation of the 63's with Spectral gear and MIT cables. I gulped when I heard the prices, thinking "how can I afford this? I must have this system." Being just out of college, I talked to people and heard about Audiomart, and got someone to refer me. Before long I had duplicated the system I heard at the dealer, but at used prices. I even found a bigger apartment (no small feat) for those quads to really breath in.

Sometime last year I heard Clement Perry's system. It was also one of those moments that raised the bar as to what was possible with home reproduction, and well chosen source material. It had a spooky, reach out and touch it quality.

I am actually getting a new 16 ohm crossoverless speaker in this week to audition, and am hoping it too will be one of those ground breaking moments.

When I was about 13 years old, in the spring of 1967, we visited a distant relative. He was a music teacher at Juliard, in Manhattan.
I couldn't help but notice the huge speakers in his "listening room". I inquired about them. I mentioned that I thought they would sound great. I also said I thought "rock music" would sound terrific. He made the comment that "rock" was never played on his system.
I asked if he would play something for me which he did. It was a classical piece, of which I had absolutely no interest in. But, MAN! It was too late to turn back now... I had been exposed to a whole other level of "sound".
I started asking all sorts of questions, and he gladly answered all of them. The amp, tuner, and pre-am, were all McIntosh. I know the amp was the Mc 275. I don't remember what model the other components were. I really didn't know what "components" were! I believe the turntable was a Garrard, but I couldn't swear to it. And the speakers were... Klipschorns. I swore someday I'd own a pair. I never forgot the sound. Even living in the barracks, while serving in the USAF, I never heard anything like the sound of that system. And that says alot, considering I was exposed to all sorts of systems and equipment, from all over the globe. Finally, at the age of 32, roughly..., I found a pair of Klipschorns for sale. And the rest, as "they say", is history.