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AS a kid at the time the "hi-fi" hobby was really taking off, I remember the only thing that was "high" about the systems I heard was the volume. But an uncle let me record on his home tape deck (with that "magic eye" tube instead of VU meters. The idea of recording sound blew my five-year-old mind. I was hooked. And I always had a turntable, on which I sat and tried to take a spin! Fried the motor, no doubt, since I'm sure I didn't achieve 78 rpms. Also loved to dance on my slick yellow plastic records splayed across the floor . . . But I think it was my first crystal radio, one of those Japanese rockets, with the antenna you pulled in and out to tune, that really started the audio addiction.

I Blame My Ears!

Back around 1970 my buddy Mark Schroeder got a Pioneer receiver with something like 12 watts per channel. It had blue lights and man, did it look cool when you turned the lights out. I have no idea what it sounded like, but I had to get one.

two years ago I decided it was time to update my stereo system from a cheap receiver Sony/infinity set up. I got a Denon receiver on sale at good guys, but I did not quite like it.I started reading magazines to get an education on the subject. From there, I went to where I an now with a McIntosh Preamp/amp, B&W speakers and SACD Sony 777. All of that in least than a year. It helped the fact that I have more disposable income now.

1995 - The first time I heard Garbage's self-titled album. I wanted to hear as much of it as purely and comfortably as possible.

Although I did not become a true "High-End" nut until my later teens, my fascination with audio began when I was around 7 or 8. My dad had an old Marantz 2220B receiver and Imperial 6G speakers with a BIC turntable. He had hundreds of old 45's he would play on that old system. I was enthralled by the sound and loved to watch the blue woofer cones of my Dad's speakers as they played deep bass. (Don't laugh, I know many of you out there probably still do the same thing!) Anyway, that's where it started... I began to collect Stereo Review, which was still a respectable audio magazine (Early 1980's), and learned all I could about my new obsession. When I got my first job, it was at a local stereo shop in town for the Christmas holidays. As I made more money, I started to upgrade from my very humble first system (Sansui 6060 receiver, which is still a good starter piece for younger audiophiles or people with tight budgets, a pair of horrid Fisher XP-65C speakers, a Technics tape deck and JVC LF-41 turntable) to more serious equipment. My current main setup (I have several) is a Yamaha A-700 Integrated Amp, Marantz CD-63SE CD Player, ADS L-1090II speakers (which are GREAT buys if you can find them used. I got mine for under $200 in a pawn shop!) Tara Labs Phase II speaker cable, and Straightwire Encore interconnect. I also have an Optimus Professional Series home theatre power conditioner. I realize that this is not a "Krell Killer" system, but it is very musically satisfying, especially for what I have paid for it. One day I hope to afford some of the higher priced pieces I read about in Stereophile, but for now, I am very pleased with the equipment that I have found while bargain hunting. For all you younger audiophiles out there, don't be discouraged by the high prices of some newer equipment. Check out EBAY and your local pawn shops for some gear from the late 70's and early 80's. Pioneer, Sansui, Marantz, Yamaha, etc... made some seriously good gear back in the day and it can now often be had for a fraction of what it sold for new.

Hearing my first audiophile speaker: the little Fulton Musical Industries FMI-80 at the old Hi-Fi Buys in Atlanta in the early 1970s. The experience of a soundstage and image depth was an ear-opening experience. Then I heard some Magnaplanars at the same shop; I've been an audiophile since then! PS: I bought the FMIs and enjoyed them for many years.

I first became a full-fledged audiophile when I was 11 years old. Just prior to that, it was a general interest in electronics for a short time, which transitioned into an interest in audio in particular. Actually, it was a combination of multiple events and people that led me to become an audiophile. So it was not just one isolated event or one isolated person that did it for me.

What started me was into this hobbie was my desire to play every instrument. I LOVE MUSIC! I realized I would never be able to learn how to play every one well or even to my satisfaction. A good system allows me to enjoy the awesome abilities of other players, and the amazing music they are able to create!

I walked into a local audio shop with an owner whose philosophy is educate first, sell later. After listening to Magnepan 3.6s and Revel Studios on Mark Levinson Gear and better, I was lost. I sold my Sony changer to my neighbor the next day and bought an Arcam Alpha 9 CD player within the month. Been adding one step at a time ever since.

In 1959 (when I was 16) my parents bought a new stereo. It all came in one cabinet and was made by Stromberg Carlson. Of course, it was a tube unit, rated at 12 watts/channel (not RMS in those days). By a stoke of good luck, this particular stereo happened to have speakers that were individual boxes made of 1" sturdy insulation board (no vibration) and were isolated from the main cabinet by large foam rubber blocks. This ran counter to the convention of the day, where most speakers were screwed directly to the stereo cabinet. The result was no feedback from the speakers to the cabinet or any of the electronics. The resulting sound was extremely good for that period. Before I realized that getting some more space between the speakers and my ears would greatly help the sound, I would often lay on the floor directly in front of the closely spaced speakers in the cabinet, and the sound from that location was an incredible experience. That is how I got started in the pursuit high quality sound. By the way, I covered those ugly Stromberg Carlson speakers with wood grain contact paper, added wooden molding to the front and used them in various capacities until 1997.

Guess dad got me going. When I was a very young child he would put on lively classical music, stand me on an ottoman, and have me conduct. Guess I never got over the encouragement. Or the sound of his old tube rig.

Well the sales person at Kennedy HI FI got tired of me trading my equipment after every six months so he made me listen to a Maccormack TLC and DNA .5 and that was my introduction to hi end. I have always been interesting in improving the sound quality of system. At the age of 12 I made my own speaker system. I have heard really Great sounding system but finally got settled with a Linn Wakonda pre, LK140 Power and Mission 701, very very musical and engaging.

It was Mr. Michael Kay at Lyric in NYC when he let a group of five 18-year olds listen to the Infinity IRSs for several hours after a brutal Calculus 2 exam.

Barry at Danby Audio-Video in Haverford, Pennsylvania. Over the course of an evening Barry taught and demonstrated the ways of the High-End. Right now I'm listening to the speakers he sold me eight years ago. Thank you Barry! And thanks for introducing me to Sinatra's Only The Lonely too!

I got an Allied Cataloge in 1971

More Money. That's what got me started on this audio high end passion. Before I had More Money, I was just a simple music lover, content to hear my music on whatever mid-fi stuff I happened to have. There was one point in time when I thought the Bose tiny speakers were good ;-) But I switched jobs a couple of years ago, got a hugh bonus, stepped up to reading Stereophile, and the rest is history. And what a ride it has been !!

Back in the early sixties while enjoying what i thought was the ultimate (a Zenith console stereo) I happened to visit a friend that had some Dynaco equipment with University speakers with homemade enclosures. The sound literally blew me away. Ihavent been the the same since.

A few years out of college, while wandering around Philadelphia, I stumbled on a small high-end audio salon -

An older friend got me involved in high-end audio. He convinced me when I wanted to spend $900 for a new Pioneer receiver and he asked me to his home to listen to his latest system. His system cost him $795 for everything. It was the best sounding system that I had ever listened to at that time.

A friend had me listen to his klipsch chorous2's 12 years ago. I have been into it ever sence.

I was 19 and friend had fine sistem.For the first time i could hear clean and natural sound.

A neighbour's older brother was a "beatnick" with a very cool mono tube amp and suspended speaker system. Like heh daddy_O!!

I heard late '70s vintage Infinity speakers powered by a top of the line SAE amp & preamp playing "Money" by Pink Floyd . . . and I was hooked.

It was my brother, He got me into classical music first and then hi-fi.

For years I have always enjoyed music and was quite satisfied with my stereo setup. I then started to read Stereophile occasionally and eventually subscribed to it. It was the sporadic letters to the editor, where poeple wanted to know how to become more in-tuned to the audiophile community. A book that was always mentioned was Robert Harley's THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO HIGH END AUDIO. I have read it more than once and had the pleasure to meet and thank him at the Hi-Fi Show in Chicago for his insight into the high-end experience. I passed on the first edition to my brother, who is also grateful, after I purchased an autographed second edition.

It was really my father. When I was four years old, he would let me listen to tapes played on his Ampex tape deck through a pair of "Brush" headphones. By the time I was 15, his components had been sitting unused for some seven years, so guess who inherited them? I worked and saved all that summer for an AR turntable. By Christmas I had saved enough for one AR-5 speaker (in unfinished pine). I hooked these up to my dad's old Sherwood mono control amp and tuner and was in hi-fi heaven. By the next Spring, I bought another AR-5 and aquired another Sherwood amp and a Sherwood multiplex decoder for the tuner (it emitted some strange "birdie" sounds). Then I had stereo. I think the Sherwood amps I had were the same as the one J.G. Holt reviewed in High Fidelity, where he said when he first plugged it in it caught on fire! Mine never did, anyway.

Two people. My Dad used to build a lot of things from kits (5' tall loudspeakers, TV, an ultralight airplane). When I was a child, he would ask me to listen to his test recordings to determine if his speakers were set up properly. Luckily, the hi-fi version of Hernando's Hideaway wasn't too damaging! About seven years ago, I met a friend of my wife's who had the most incredible stereo system I had ever heard (stereo imaging from Heaven). Ever since, I've been on a quest for electronics that represent music as naturally as possible.

It was a camp play (army) and a mad major, I have forgotten his name. He showed me his Linn, Niam, Quad 57 set up - just blew me away. I was 14 at the time. Never looked back except having to sell stuff when the divorces hit me.

I was walking along a London street when I saw a shop called 'Vinyl Tuba Audio' (no longer in business, unfortunately), so I went inside. They weren't using the dem. room at the time, so they sat me down in front of a