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Heard a friend's rig and I was hooked. Haven't looked back since!

what goes around comes around

The money I earned on my first summer job were all spent on my first hifi system. And there have been quite a few upgrades done since then...

No comments this week.

I've been interested in quality audio since 1975,but join it just on last year .

Yikes, has it been that long? I bought a mono tape recorder in 1966 (with primitive sound-on-sound) and plugged it into my parents' one-piece "radiogram" or my Marshall bass stack. It wasn't until 1968 that I bought a "real" system.

Designed and built my own class-A amp in high school. Since then it's been a slow upgrade process. Speakers, turntables/cartridges, CD players, stands, wire, and on and on and on . . .

I was an advent hobbyist for almost 20 years, but I been interested in high-end audio since 1985, and never turned back, and don't intend to either. Case Closed

I can'a help it. My father abused me with Fisher, Ampex, and Bogen tube products and lots of Mozart and Bach. I had an original Advent cassette deck and Advent speakers . . . who didn't? Let's see, there was a Thorens TD 125 II inherited from said father, a Luxman receiver, a C-J PV-5 and MV-50 . . . it goes on and on. And I've never regretted a second of it! The pursuit of high-end audio is a noble one. Give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it.

What happened to the high-end tape deck? I own a Nakamichi 505 and a 202. Today you see more open-reels than cassette players. Did I miss something?

I started modifying my parents' Webcor phonograph in the 50's. (Did I already vote?)

I've always loved music and it was only natural that I would eventually find my way to the High End. And what a long great trip its been. (and still is)

A Generation Xer who has been interested in the High End since age 13??? Unheard of? Maybe, but I know a lot of us out here. We are poor and new to this world, but just as interested as anyone else . . .

My first system was a boom-box Philips. The second an all Technics with Sony speakers. The Third, with some few changes, are: - B&W CDM1 speakers - Aragon D2A2 D/A Converter - JVC XL-Z1050 CDP - JVC TD-V562 Cassette - NAD 304 Int. Amp. - Mirage PS-12-90 Actv. Subwoofer - Audioquest Cables What got me started ? My father and an uncle. My second help: Stereophile and Robert Harley.

Had a heath kit tube radio reciever when I was 7. Be hooked ever since.

I've been a "stereo" enthusiast since I was a child, and I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling when I see one of those big '70s receivers with the huge gyroscopic tuning knobs and the big VU meters. One day, however, back around 1982 or 1983, I stumbled onto a publication wherein a certain famous Cheapskate called a particular product's existence "bullshit." Such candor was so refreshing after a million "if you're shopping in this price range, you may want to audition this product" Julian Hirsch-style reviews, that I canceled my subscriptions to High Fidelity, Stereo Review, and Audio, and I never looked back!

1965 and a Fisher 500c, AR speakers, and Dual TT. Now four systems later and God knows how many thousands of dollars I am still at it. Still got most of the albums I bought back then too and they are still in good shape.

no

I got hooked at 18, and now at 21 I've changed majors to electrical engineering. I'm hooked!!!

My first exposure to a high-end product occurred in Tonganoxie, Kansas, in a rural cabin owned by a professor at KU. He had some kind of linear-tracking turntable, an amp/preamp of some sort, and Klipschorn speakers. I had never heard anything like that before, even though I had a good-quality Marantz receiver from 1972 and a set of Scott speakers. Seven years later I purchased a set of Altec 15s and was able to get a sense of that sound. Now I have Celestion A-3s (FL&R), A4-C center, A2 sides, and Klipsch Chorus rears, all driven by various Adcom, Carver, Sony, and Phase Linear amps, all of this orchestrated by a Lexicon DC1. I know that all of this must be better than that setup in Kansas, but the memory remains so clear after all these years.

An AR turntable and KLH model 12 speakers back in 1969 were my first venture into better sounding equipment. That opened up a new world of sound possibilites.

The first time I heard Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" in stereo on headphones, I was hooked on stereo.

I find it to be the most satisfying hobby/experience. I just keep coming back to it.

Good hearing aids make all the difference. It's like being reborn.

I wasted a LOT of time listening to heavy metal in the '80s.

All it took was one visit to a High End dealer and I was hooked

What really honks me off is that when I had more disposable income (pre-house&kids) I was chasing my tail with upgrading mid-fi equipment. I was reading Stereo Review and shopping the local mass marketer of electronics/furniture/appliances, spending kilobucks there. Oh yes, there was an occasional foray into a stereo salon, but I felt like a fish out of water there. Then I subscribed to Stereophile and realized there was a whole other world of true hi-fi. I then did what any self-respecting audiophile would do---I gathered up all of the mid-fi equipment I had accumulated over the years (see "Astor Place") and went to a stereo shop that took trades. After getting over the shock and anger of how few pennies on the dollar that stuff was worth, I and the owner began to chat, and eventually we wound up sitting in front of a true high-end system. All I can recall is that the amp was a Marantz 275, the front end was analog, the speakers were selling for $5k (all used), the music was a female vocal, and it sounded glorious!! I felt like a fool, a sucker, thinking I knew what high-end was and spending my money accordingly all those years. Continuing the lunacy, I purchased a Sherwood 5000 II tubed amp from the shop that day, and hauled all the other stuff home too. (see "exasperated spouse").

Started when I turned 16. I have never looked back since, and the bank account shows!

Worried about where the technology is going the way things are becoming obsolete it is mind boggling. No matter where the technology takes us, the music will always remain same.

I became interested in quality audio when I "discovered" classical music. I sat transfixed in front of a 4" speaker and 19" TV screen for 3 hours straight watching Samuel Ramey sing the title role in the Met's Don Giovanni. Still, it is the thrill of live music that gets me going. Stereo, no matter how expensive, has a VERY long way to go.