The first taste of love.

LiquidSound

When, where, how did you aquire your insatiable thirst for sonic purity, and what music helped wet your whistle?
What and where was your first taste of high end equipment. You know, that one setup where you realized "there's a helluva lot more depth in this music than I was aware of"

My where was several years back at a girlfriends house. She put on a tape that had the most amazing music I had ever heard. There were some instruments, but mostly elaborate electronic sounds that blended perfectly and brought out emotion inside me like I'd never felt. Deep-seated, primal emotions of anger, lust, and pure passion. The album of which I speak is The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails. It changed me. I have listened to music casually before that, but after that experience I would actually sit down and pick apart the sounds of the music I was listening to. I've had a new love for music ever since then.

My first taste of high end equip. was in a little town in virginia about three years ago. I was on a search for some super-cheapie red and white interconnects to get my system together and saw the sign with reputable stereo names on it. I went inside and tried to ask for what I needed *a/v illiterate at the time* but his was more of a question "how much do you wanna spend?" Once he realized I was looking in the 3 to 4 dollar range, he went in his office, and brought me these two, maybe half foot interconnects. They weren't connected to each other like the red and white cheapies..they were heavy and pretty damn thick. After studying them for a minute I asked how much. 2 grand the man said without wincing. After replacing my jaw, I slowly....carefully handed them back to him. Anyway, he showed me some B&W nautilus speaks. I was in awe. It was classical I believe and I had never before heard such detail...which was coming from some *very* odd, snail-teardrop looking speakers with, what I thougt was, a removable microphone on the top of them for karaoke. *laughs*


Anyway, I would love to hear 'or read' your experiences and enlightenments...no matter how trivial or extensive. Especially the guys at Polk or any of you who have made music not only a lifestyle, but a profitable lifestyle at that.
Thanks for reading..if you've made it this far, I owe you a beer.

Audioreality

Hi LiquidSound.
I like your user name.

My first exprience with the passion I call audio was many years ago when I was a young lad.
Our family went to visit some old friends at a new home they had just built. It was a beautiful cedar log cabin, nestled in a small outcropping of woods.
After an exausting show of their home, the adults went out on the patio for drinks.
I was led into the great room and sat in front of the largest collection of albums and stereo equipment I had ever seen.
After I was shown how to run their system, I was left alone with only three instructions.
1. No eating or drinking anywhere near the system.
2. Clean all albums before and after playing.
3. Never, never, never turn the stereo past 4.

Sounded easy enough to me.
So as I was left to my own wiles, I decided to start with an eagles album.
I carefully took it out, cleaned it, put on the turntable, and lowered the needle.

And just like a cloud of smoke from a bonfire, I was quickly surrounded with the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. And that was on 1.
Their decieving, cunning nature was twisting me in all directions. So I turned it up to 2.
I was in complete and utter awe.
A full, rich sound with an unspeakable clarity that words cannot do justice. So i turned it up to 3.
It put me back in my chair.
In essence, I drowned in the sound.
Completely transported to a place far from there.
So of course, I turned it up to 4.
Let's just say,
I've been searching for that feeling ever since.
Damn, gives me goose bumps to this day.

Oh yeah,
The amps were tubes.
The speakers were Khorns.
The feeling was magical.

pensacola

I feel like I'm on the therapist's couch here...
I was in my early teens when my parents took me over to the house of the sound man at our church. This guy was in his 60s, and an audiophile and recordist. I used to love to hang around the sound room at church just to gaze at the open-reel decks and other tape decks and mixing board. The room was only about 4' x 8', so about all I could do was stand in the doorway.

We went over to his house and I brought several demo albums---yes, this was in the 70s before the CD. Up til this point, I was used to my dad's Heathkit tuner and integrated amp---and Girard record changer (you know, the kind you can stack several records on to play one after the other). And of course the matching Heathkit speakers, I assume. (3-way acoustic suspension---probably a 12" woofer). Probably "state of the art" when my dad built them in the 60s. But even I knew that in the 70s they were quickly becoming "vintage" gear---what with Marantz and Pioneer coming out with their champaigne-toned receivers with 4" volume controls and other over-sized buttons and knobs.

The first thing I noticed when we walked into his living room was NO EQUIPMENT---besides speakers. I don't know what brand of speakers he had, but they were all big. 2 front ones, and then two behind the sofa facing inward directly at each other. This was before "surround sound," but he had a delay patched in to delay the rear channels--giving a greater sense of space.

All the electronics were in a room off the living room and contained all sorts of tape decks, turntables, amps, mic stands, mixing boards, headphones---you name it. To this day, I like the concept of keeping all but the speakers out of sight---of course I'm not talking about HT here. If the electronics HAVE to be in the same room, at least off to one side--not in front between the speakers. Don't know why. I think because my priorities are: Music, Loudspeakers, Electronics---in that order.

All my LPs were classical---mostly large orchestral and pipe organ---mostly on TELARC (a new outfit that believed in minimalist-micing, no signal processing, and of course recording in the digital domain). And this was the first time I was able to hear my records as they were meant to be. The women went into the kitchen and we guys spent a few hours listening to my records, as well as his records and reel-to-reels. The sound was huge and clean---just like a live performance. 32' organ pipes delving into the 16-32 Hz octave effortlessly. Orchestral bass drums sounding like they were in the room. Something the Heathkits just couldn't manage.

Before then, I had no idea that reproduced music could be so good---so close to the real thing.
That night, I knew I was smitten with this chronic disease---audiophilia.
The first piece of audio gear I bought was Polk SDA-2a's while overseas in the late 80s. I wouldn't buy an amp and CD player to make them speak until the following year when I was settled into a place of my own back stateside.

I guess it's true---you never forget the first time.

.

LiquidSound

Ha! A therapist's couch huh? That first post was a freebee. The next one will cost ya! *smiles*
Excellent posts guys.
One more question to add to the slew of ?'s. How much have you spent on audio. Guesstimates will do just fine.

Audioreality

Hmmm.
Too much, yet strangely not enough.
I guess alot, but not much by comparison to others.
A sizable portion, though only a meager amount.
I'm not sure.
It's a small investment compared to the amount of pleasure it gives in return.
Damn, I love this hobby/passion.
Damn, I'm going broke.
But, that's part of the fun, right?... Right?