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

Tim, the owner of Tone of Music, has actually been doing business in San Francisco for many years. Only the storefront is relatively new. Prior to that, Tim did business out of his home (which is located only a few blocks from the current shop), where he had a listening studio on the ground floor.

I believe the relocation of Matt Rotunda's Pitch Perfect Audio from San Francisco to Los Angeles allowed Tim to pick up the Tone Imports brands (though not Shindo) as well as Devore Fidelity loudspeakers and Box Furniture racks.

--David B.

 

Funny, but the first time I heard a CD (Oct 82) I thought it sounded absolutely horrible, but I was amazed that it actually worked. This was an early CD from Japan at the 82 AES show and it was extremely harsh and brittle sounding, but very dynamic. Most people were impressed that it actually played because it was quite a big change from playing records or tapes.

 

I had one of my first summer factory jobs in 1990 or 1991 and decided to spend the money on my first own stereo system. I earned approx. 12K Austrian Schillings (~800€) and bought a complete stereo system by the glamourous company of Siemens, complete with amp, cassette deck, CD player, equalizer, turntable and speakers. Crappy set in hindsight, but it lit up with green and red LEDs like a christmas tree and it certainly felt like christmas! I was so excited when that tray of the CD Player came out the first time. When I put in the first CD it felt like in a science fiction movie. And the sound was also great compared to the boomboxes I had before.

 

That's interesting info re: Shindo. I noticed the absence of it in his shop, but assumed he could get it having access to the TI pipeline. But if not, that means I can hit up PP for their used Shindo if I ever decide to go crazy (which, given my history, is probably likely).

 

The first was probably when I was viewing an ad from Dual. It illustrated (with microscopic photos) the damage that a subpar turntable/tonearm/cartridge/stylus could do to a record, simply by playing it. I got a Dual 1229 with Shure M91E cartridge as soon as I could. Then, playing the Dual through my very low budget Penncrest receiver and speakers - I realized the importance of the source!

The second was when I decided to set up my speakers symmetrically and listen from what I later heard was called the "sweet spot". A real epiphany!

There are many others, but these are probably the main two - certainly the first two.

 

The day back in 1985 when I bought my NAD 3020, some Wharfedale Diamonds & a pair of 506's.

 

Most important day? Probably around 1977, when, as a high-school student, I ventured sheepishly into my first true esoteric/high-end audio shop. Prior to that, all my experience had been at one of the (then numerous) East Coast hi-fi chain retailers, such as Tech HiFi, Tweeter etc., and Atlantis Sound.

I still remember the system I heard that day. A Linn LP12 with an Infinity Black Widow tonearm (I can't recall the cartridge) into Audio Research tube electronics, which drove a pair of Fulton J Modulars. I'd never heard anything like it. I also heard GAS electronics driving a pair of Rogers LS35/A's, with a Janis W1 subwoofer. I don't remember the other components of that second system, but it sounded pretty good to my ears at the time.

The experience made a lasting impression on me. I learned there was an entirely different segment of the hi-fi industry that was not engaged in mass production, did not subscribe to the "more-knobs-and-buttons-is-better" school of audio design, and had no interest in participating in the watts-per-channel and ultra-low-harmonic-distortion wars that were rampant in hi-fi manufacturing and marketing at that time. It seemed to me these smaller companies were endeavoring to provide musical satisfaction, rather than just stamping out appliances for playing records and impressing dates. I was also intrigued that these manufacturers seemed to be concentrated in the U.S. and Britain, rather than Japan. And I learned that I better get busy and get a summer job if I was to have a prayer of affording any of this stuff.

--David B.

 

Thanks for the info. Have to check that out!

 

When I rebuilt my first tube amp at 13. A Heathkit AA111 that I got out of the Recycler for $50 of hard earned paper route money. My ears were opened and I could never go back. Not to mention my father wanting to kill me (he was an engineer) because he was going ape trying to teach me a soldering iron was NOT a blowtorch !

 

Has to be acquiring my first component stereo back in 1969 which consisted of a second hand Philips 10 watt amp, a Garrard turntable with a Shure cartridge...also previously owned...Dual-Noresco bookshelf speakers (new!)...and a pair of AKG headphones also new. I was fortunate at the time to have just started working at a radio station. One of the tech maintenance guys sold me the amp an TT...and I was able to order and purchase the speakers and headphones through
the maintenance dept. wholesale.....since that time I must have upgraded to about a dozen amps, TT's, and speakers.
Acquiring my first of many CD players back in 1985.

 

Playing the first CD on my Onkyo player in 1988 (Soundtrack from 2001)... with headphones.

 

1979 or 1980 timeframe.... Hearing Beverage driven by Levinson amp and pre-amp. Then, in the other room Audio Research tubes driving some properly set up Maggies. And here I thought I was in good shape with Khorns and Crown. About as wrong as you can get. It also showed the difference between audio gear availibility when you lived in a small town vs a big city. I knew that factor existed for rare automobiles but did not know about that kind of thing for audio.

So if you lived in east or west Podunk type rural area's, you simply could never listen to high end equipment. The best you got was Stereophile pictures.

 

Thursday and Saturday.

 

And as hi-fi life went on, things progressed. This is my room, 1980. I still have all the records, and the speakers - my Altec 604's. The Sony reel-to-reel (with the Elton John album jacket leaning against it) is still in my possession, but would need an overhaul to be working again, and I have the 8-track recorder set up in a second system for fun.

The 'table was a BIC 960, receiver a Quadraphonic Toshiba SA-504 that I was running in bridged mode for stereo. That's an Akai cassette deck and a Realistic 5 band equalizer, and yes, a rotary phone and rabbit ears for FM reception. Rounded all off with a few colored lights and some posters. A little embarrassing, that's a poster of me playing my guitar on the far left that was given to me..

 

Funny, my first disc as well, though in a Sony D-T4 Discman.

 

A little over three years ago when I discovered the significance of low system noise and how it impacted (positively) system resolution.

 

Today, is the best time in my audio life.
My rig is better than ever and I have more music than ever.

 

c. 1993 - getting my first 'proper' hifi - a Kenwood three-disc/two cassette midi system. It was the best thing in the world and brought endless joy. Set to the ‘Rock’ equaliser setting and watching the cones bounce in and out and filling the room with huge bassy sound. Even better when I poshed-out on thick cable and speaker stands. (I actually still have the speakers and use them for my TV).

2007 –Hearing a friend’s (mid-level) system in the Falklands playing Kate Bush’s Aerial with amazing depth and clarity. Staggered me. Don’t know what gear it was. Realised when I settled back the UK I needed to get a good set-up…

2010 – Getting Cambridge Audio 350A/CD and S20 speakers. Good basic system with limited funds. Start of my own path. (everything since upgraded at least once)

2011 – First turntable – opened up a whole new world of playback and available material

Early 2015 – getting my first truly good speakers and realising how limited and limiting everything else had been till then

From day one – listening to my Dad play guitar and singing. Total inspiration and connection to music.

 

Though it was purchased at a Base Exchange while with a USAF detachment on a South Korean air base and first set up in a barracks that was nothing more than a huge mobile double wide with plywood walls creating a hallway and metal lockers lined up side by side to create walls to separate each "room" setting up my very first real system with all Pioneer gear seemed like a miracle and sounded heavenly. I will never forget that excitement and pride and enjoyment of playing that system.

 

My early audiophile years - when I was 19-22 years old and got to hear some great tube audio systems on Quad ESL-63s, Altec and Western Electric Horn speakers. Lots of crazy gear like Ionovac plasma tweeters, my first taste of 300B amps...

 

1) 1991 Listening to and buying my first set of High Efficiency loudspeakers - the Wharfedale Vaguard which was an update on the now classic E-70. But Wharfedale ended up going out of business shortly after and got bought and sold several times since.

2) 1994 bringing home a Bryston and understanding that even though my flagship Pioneer Elite receiver had more impressive specs amps make a difference so much so that the Wharedales were not the problem - my front end gear was the problem. Source first.

3) 2002 - Listening to a full Audio Note system - everything prior was complete and utter junk in comparison. (At that time I owned Arcam/Cambridge Audio/B&W)

Still have my Wharfedales and one day I want to restore them and just see what they will sound like with "good" equipment ahead of them. I think a lot of stuff deemed mid-fi might actually fair a lot lot better if you stick AN or LM or Shindo on them. The Vangards are 95dB sensitive and 8 ohm (mostly 10 ohm) and could absolutely POUND to a solid 40hz. My cat often crawled into the ports at the bottom to sleep.

 

As a small child we had a Murphy record player, a semi portable one, which I used to use endlessly with the small record collection my parents had (no pop, mostly gospel and a little classical).

I must have put some pressure on somewhere as when my Dad got a new job in late 1975 he came home on a Friday evening loaded up with heavy cardboard boxes. Enclosed was a Sansui 210 tuner/amp, deck and matching speakers. Just the smell of them was enough to get this nine year old seriously excited.

My Dad was (and still is) completely non-techy (and so am I, but I get by), so I had to assemble it. For several years I didn't know about the earth lead from the deck to the amplifier, so had constant buzz when playing a record. I did work that out by the time I was about 12...

I loved the system, and still think the sound from it is the most balanced I've ever heard. When I got to the age where I could buy records my friends would bring their records over (Beatles/Floyd/Cream etc.) just to crank it up and listen.

The amp and speakers are still in service here, set up in my lounge, and I fire it up when I really want to listen to something.



Forty years old this year and the amplifier has never been apart or failed.

(Incidentally I have a pair of almost unused 1974 AR4XA speakers upstairs - I got them with my second vintage, slightly older, Sansui set up, but I've never used them - should I be giving them a chance or should I move them on??....)

 

I posted earlier about a more recent day in my audio life, but the one that started everything was a day in the mid-1950's when I went up into the attic on a Sunday night, opened a west facing window, held my tiny portable Telefunken radio so it was aimed at NYC about 200 miles to the southwest, and picked up my first taste of rock & roll! More than 6 decades later I'm still into all the sounds it has to offer.

 

Thats very cool. Do you recall what some of the R&R artists you first heard were ?

 

Yes, I do! The Platters, Bill Haley, Cadillacs, Turbans, Little R, Chuck B, Elvis, Carl P, Mickey & Sylvia, Fats D, etc. As I was typing, the lyrics to their stuff was running through my head! Many of them I still listen to.