What were the most important days of your Hi-Fi life?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Rolltide, Apr 15, 2015.

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  1. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Me:

    1. February 2002, Monterey, CA: First visit to a real Hi-Fi store. Hear B&W speakers; blown away.

    2. March 2010, San Francisco, CA: First time hearing McIntosh amplifiers; blown away.

    3. April 2015, San Franciso, CA: First time hearing DeVore speakers powered by Leben and Line Magnetic SET amps. Immediately pledge to sell B&W speakers and McIntosh amplifiers.

    How about the rest of you?
     
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  2. nm_west

    nm_west Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abq. NM. USA
    Listening to jazz with my dad when I was a kid..
     
  3. ky658

    ky658 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ft Myers, Florida
    The early 1970's, subscribing to High Fidelity magazine and constantly drooling about what my next purchase would be!
     
  4. KT88

    KT88 Senior Member

    When young women were impressed by it. :winkgrin:
    -Bill
     
  5. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    So basically never?:D
     
  6. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    The day I brought my not-getting-it partner to John Fort Audio to listen to an AMC CVT3030 paired with the Vandersteen 1Bs. A few minutes into the The Mission soundtrack she squirted a couple of tears and said, “It sounds real”.

    Going back to vinyl and ordering my Comet.
     
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  7. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    1992 or 93- visited my first high end audio store and was blown away by several systems.

    2008 I got a great bonus at work and bought a VPI Aries 3 turntable, a BAT VK-P10 phono stage, a Woo Audio WA5 300B SET amp and Western Electric 300B reissue tubes, and Paradigm speakers.
     
  8. JerolW

    JerolW Senior Member

    The day my Cornwalls arrived in 1976.

    jerol
     
  9. kfringe

    kfringe Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Oregon Coast
    The day I got a Diamond Rio and thought "This is complete garbage. There has to be a better option than listening to this crap."
     
  10. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    The day I attended a demo of a $500,000 system, comprising Rube Goldberg-looking turntable, monoblocks big enough to need moving by forklift, gigantic speakers that looked like robots, speaker cables the diameter of garden hoses ... and found myself looking at my watch. Realised that my own modest system at the time (maybe $2k worth of kit) was, amazingly, more fun to listen to!
     
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  11. Linto

    Linto Mayor of Simpleton

    Getting my Mana Wall Shelf and Linto phono amp for LP12.

    Hearing Quad 57s for the first time aged 11,
    getting some 25 years later.

    Going to HIFI shows to remind me just how good my system does sound!
     
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  12. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    The only "school" of expensive hifi gear that speaks to me now (and would get a chunk of any potential lottery windfall.) I'd include Audio Note in that rarified company as well.
     
  13. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Agreed. I'm ruined now.
     
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  14. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    I recently heard these Focal Easter Island Monolith speakers that seemed about 7' tall being driven by 500 watt monoblocks and thought it sucked, and couldn't understand why the dealer had that system set up. Didn't they realize it sucked?
     
  15. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    :D

    I had a similar experience last March in Portland - Line Magnetic CD deck, Leben amp, DeVore O/93 speakers: it was just music. Not once did I think about soundstaging, frequency balance, distortion, etc. Made all previous "high end" demos seem artifice ...
     
  16. dasacco

    dasacco Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachussetts
    One of MANY important days in my hi-fi life, Christmas, 1966. (Man I've used this photo so many times...) :)


    [​IMG]
     
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  17. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Something that's ironic is I'd originally gone to this store just to demo the LM digital products. And while I heard the 215, the 502, and the 515, I completely failed to get relative perceptions of them because I was so blown away by the downstream components. Heck, connected to the O/93s it was hard to critically compare the differences between the Leben (C600?) and the LM211 that's likely half the price. I believe the DeVore Gibbon 3XL's and the LM211 are going to be part of my life soon.

    It's funny how in each of the audio life-changing events I mention above, the common denominator is I went to those stores to audition something completely different, and by the time I left said different product was but a memory.
     
  18. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    I've heard that combo. That AMC was a sweet, breathy little amp but I ended up keeping my 50watt Rotel integrated.
     
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  19. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Growing up there was always a modest HiFi system in the house. Pioneer receivers, speakers, turntables and technics turntables. Most notably a pair of JBL 100s. I remember going to a shop in L.A. called Henry's Radio with my dad and coming home with a pair of Pioneer HPM100s and just being amazed at all the cool gear there. Must have been around the summer of 82 or 83.

    Then in 89 a friend of mine dragged me to a shop in Santa Monica called Optimal Enchantment and we listened to gear we could never hope to afford. Like Audio Research Classic 120s and a classic 30 and 60. A weird little amp and preamp from a brand called PSE. Supposedly what Richard Vandersteen used to voice his original speakers and of course Vandersteen 2c and 3s and I think a pair of 2ci. That was when digital was king and everything was demoed to us from a Theta laser disc transport and separate Theta DAC or an expensive California Audio Labs CD player. The shop also had Spica Speakers and Adcom and Rotel and the earlier mentioned AMC tube integrated. The following year I did end up getting my Rotel integrated and a Cal Labs DX1 from there. Anyways that's were I discovered "the high-end". Good times.

    Oh and A Stereophile Show in L.A. in I think 1992. Which was where I learned a lot of people were totally full of BS :laugh:
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2015
    timind likes this.
  20. audioguy3107

    audioguy3107 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, Georgia
    Good thread........mine was the day I sat in front of a pair of Sonus Faber Extremas for about an hour. I had no idea you could get sound like that in your home. I had never heard a really good high end pair of speakers before.....they were hooked up to a Classe CA-400 amplifier and sounded like real live music right there. I was literally stunned. That started it all and the rest is history.

    - Buck
     
  21. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    My memory might be romanticizing it, but I don't think I've owned a better CD player then the Cal Audio Ikon Mk 2 I bought on ebay for $300 in 2001. I gave it to a buddy of mine when it started skipping, probably the right move, but I miss that thing. I remember being in awe that I owned a CD player that weighed more then my amp at the time.
     
  22. russk

    russk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse NY
    Nice. @Rolltide Did that one have a tube buffer stage?
     
  23. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Nope, just solid state. I have no idea what DAC chipset it used, but these were the days when TI was the only game in town IIRC. I believe from reading about it the magic in the Ikon was all in the power supply stage.

    As best as I can tell, California Audio Labs was one of many small shops bankrupted by their attempts to make home theater products without the advantage of economy of scale. Making amps is a whole lot easier then making surround processors with third party codecs, etc.
     
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  24. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    In 2009 when Barry Diament was still a member here, he graciously and patiently spent weeks via e-mail and PM giving his advice and answering my questions on how I should configure my new studio. He assisted with floor-plans, equipment recommendations, bass trap advice, vendor suggestions and so on. I will forever be grateful for his time and feedback and for opening my eyes and ears to a listening experience far superior to any I had ever had. I realize now how fortunate I was that he did this without any thought of reimbursement, only with the goal of helping me get the best experience possible.

    Those days in 2009 were by far the most important in my hi-fi life.
     
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  25. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    For me, my epiphany was attending my first McIntosh clinic in Oak Ridge, TN at The Music Box. What I learned about sound reproduction that day and beyond and the friendships made, have never been forgotten. Took many years to afford used McIntosh of my own. But as fine as I remembered it.
     
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