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What started you on the merry go round?

Forgive me if this is an old thread, but can you look back and say a particular event, experience, got you started? For some it may be your Dad, perhaps attending a show, or a friend.
For me it was sometime in the Autumn of 1977. I had just started in my first residency job in the National Health Service in Devon. Ian a fellow serf in the hospital trenches had a pretty good system for the time and his salary, Linn LP12/SME 309/Shure, Monitor Audio speakers, I can'nt remember the rest. I was getting into Opera then and he played the Beecham version of Puccini's La Boheme, I bought the set about this time and it is still the first record I would rescue in a fire. It was the entry of Mimi in Act 1, scene 1. Victoria De Los Angeles was perfect on that record and it was as if an angel had come into the room. Well that was it for me and I started the long, hesitant road to where I am now, with a long gap when the kids were young.
Did any of you guys have a similar "epithany"
david12
sjungdahl
12 posts
 
The first time I heard it.
You all know what "it" is, music from a real system.

The sound - dark or dimmed room, extreme quiet (thermostat to off) - sound that puts us in a trance - the silent exclamation - WOW.

Like a drug, we keep wanting more.
It's not to understand why we're on the "merry go round", it's hard to understand those who aren't.

I could go on but I need to relax on a beautiful cloud of Cat Stevens playing through custom DAC, CJ Tube amps and some maggies
flemke
596 posts
 
Late 70's with a SX-1250 my brother had. Lots of fun and things I don't quite remember.

Tim
gammajo's avatar
gammajo
846 posts
 
At 8 years old I was taken by my aunt to hear Leonard Bernstien and the NY Philharmonic in NYC playing Shubert symphonies and was transported. Began to search for closer approximations at home - while is is great to hear the power and dance of rock, I am still transported by the beauty of classical music.
danlib1
819 posts
 
When I was 6 my Mom bought me my first record player, along with lots of records that I loved (In 1963, there were many to love :) Between this event and her lifelong love of playing her Piano, music was burned into my soul.

Really that was the root of all my Hi-Fi obsessions.

Lost my Mom 4 years ago, and I think often of her passion for music and the great gift she gave me.
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,811 posts
 
Kind of funny actually, as there are two distinct turning points.

My dad fixed TV's and stereos for a living (Chief Radio). He had a Grundig console in for repair and I was in awe of the deep sound and richness of the sound. When I was 17 (1974) I purchased a SONY HP161 compact stereo and used that for 5 years and then moved up to a Pioneer/EPI/Dual combination for the next 10 years. Listened to and collected a lot of music in those days.

Fast forward to 1988 and for Christmas, my wife buys me a set of Boston Acoustics floorstanders, which I hated. I had been auditioning Klipschs for 2 years but had always hesitated on pulling the trigger. We break up two years later and audio becomes my new passion. I have owned a lot of equipment ever since.

Regards, Rich
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