Where/when did you start getting into audio?

Eric W

Obviously all of us here have love for audio. I'm just curious, were your parents (or one parent- usually the dad) into audio and did that get you into audio? If not, where did it come from?

For me, I remember about when I got started. My dad had a basic 2 channel system from the 70's with the Advent Large speakers and a Tandberg Receiver, definately not an audiophile. He barely used it, so I know it's not from him. In 2nd grade we were watching a movie and I was seated next to the projector and audio mixer. I watched the lights on the mixer board go up and down to the audio track, more then the movie itself. So I think the audio enthusiast was wired in me all along. Around that same era I was watching the Real Ghostbusters cartoon and one of the characters buys a stereo to hook up to his TV, but it wound up being haunted with ghosts . I forced my parents to move the stereo from the living room to the TV room and hook it up. Then the equipment rack started snowballing .

heiney9

Started very young with my parents. They always had music (Lp's) playing. Music was a big part of our household. No one in my family plays an instrument or sings we just have an appreciation for music in general.

I remember as a 7 or 8 year old sitting in front of the speakers in the living room with my portable tape player recording the music onto a cheap cassette and shushing everyone in the room.

I spent many a times with my dad's Beatles records blaring from a cheap Fisher Price record player while jumping up and down on my bed with a Pancho Gonzales wooden tennis racket as my guitar singing "Roll Over Beethoven".

Later on in High School when I got my first real stereo we had a family friend who also taught Algebra at the local high school and I used to go over to his place because he had all the cool gear. EPI, Marantz, Accutrac and Sony. He was always the first to buy something new. He had the first VHS player, the first CD player, etc. He used to make tapes for me and we'd talk about audio, etc.

I'm sure to him I was this nagging kid who always wanted him to turn his stereo up and ask stupid questions I'd asked a hundred times. I remember when he would visit our house for a dinner party or whatever social event my parents were holding I'd ask him to come look at my stereo, dying for his approval, etc.

Out of High School I worked in a mass market regional retailer in the electronics department and was responsible for some of the highest electronics sales numbers in our area. Then I moved on to the local "high end" store and sold Polk among others in the late 80's.

Now I'm out of the "electronics sales" field but I still have a passion for music and audio and continue to enjoy the hobby and especially music.

H9

Systems

1977:

SX-950
PL-510a
HPM-100's

Still have that equipment and going to get it back up and running again......

cfrizz

I got into MUSIC at a very young age since my Dad was a classical violinist. He was NOT into audio per se. If the composer hadn't been dead for a couple hundred years then said composer was NO musician!

But naturally, being around music all of my life, I always had the plan to get a good audio system as soon as I could afford one.

That is exactly what I did in 1981 a few months after I got a job.

Face

Ever since I joined orchestra in junior high school. Been a slippery slope since.

Tollaksen

Left handed cigerettes and women. That's all I remember, Oh yea the music. Man, used to love new wave,alt rock, classic and rap. New Order, Jean loves jesibel, echo and the bunnyman, the church, NWA, eric B and rakim, Neil Young, woody guthry everything.

Kex

I've always liked listening to music, but I bought my first speakers and equipment for movies (just two channel at the time). I was annoyed at having to drive to the cinema and fitting in with their schedule, so I decided I had to make movies more "real" at home by adding better sound. Since I liked listening to music also, I wanted to get a system that would live up to my expectations for music also.

It was only two channel, but the sound was terrific (great Cabasse speakers, and a NAD amplifier). Movies were fabulous, even without a subwoofer or surround sound. For music, I wasn't always completely happy with everything, but classical orchestra music, or organ music was amazing and only certain tracks of more contemporary stuff were not quite what I wanted them to be. I still think it's much harder to get a very good setup for music than it is to get an excellent setup for movies.

Since then, I moved on to (much cheaper) Polk Audio speakers in a 5.1 setup. Everything I could ever need for movies, but still not quite where I want to be for music.

I currently have about fifteen Polk Audio speakers of different descriptions (I'm only actually using seven of them). I'm thinking about upgrades but I'm waiting to digest how much money I lost in the markets recently!

Jstas

Was a musician through most of grade school, all of high school and part of college. Played several brass instruments. But my dad was an electronics technician and taught me how to solder and read basic electronics schematics. When I was 14 or 15...it was the summer after my sophomore year of high school yeah, a couple friends of mine who were older, got their own cars and started installing stereos. they screwed them up and I used the stuff my dad taught me to troubleshoot, fix and rewire their setups.

That led to designing and laying out components and subsequently competitions both locally and regionally for car sound. I don't think DB Drags were invented yet or at least not popular. Well, I got heavy in to that stuff and built several winning systems including my own stuff. Home stuff didn't really interest me because it was already put together. That was anything from speaker enclosures to actual components.

I ended up finding a real nice but real cheap tube amp kit and started down the path of DIY home stuff 'cause funding for cars went from stereos to how fast can I make it go.

But then I got my own place and started looking at stereo and home theater stuff more. So I've been dabbling into both sides alot. But now I'm taking that electronics stuff further and I'm working on putting together fuel injection computer for my Ranger and also wiring a dollhouse to run lights and ceiling fans and such.

I've always liked music and movies and I'm an electronics junkie. So it was a natural progression for me. Besides, with the engineering background from college, I understand the concepts behind it all too. Granted some of it is still difficult to get but for the most part, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

Mike Kozak

Ah yes, I remember it well.....Dad had a Fisher 500C tube receiver and XAM speakers he bought from EJ Korvettes in Dearborn Heights, Mi. Sounded like the musicians were right in the living room!! Amazing! Then when I was in High School, I bought a Kenwood KR-3090 receiver and some Omega speakers. spekaers came from Radio Shack, but it sounded great back in the day.

John30_30

cfrizz wrote: »

I got into MUSIC at a very young age since my Dad was a classical violinist. He was NOT into audio per se. If the composer hadn't been dead for a couple hundred years then said composer was NO musician!

But naturally, being around music all of my life, I always had the plan to get a good audio system as soon as I could afford one.

That is exactly what I did in 1981 a few months after I got a job.

lol. My aunt was a classical pianist, but she always said my dad, who can't play a lick, had the better ear for music. She bragged when he was a kid, he could hear a few notes on the radio and tell which Mozart K.-listing it was. Audiophile Rainman, I guess.:D
Lots of classical growing up, but my mom also would get the de riguer Sinatra, some folk, soundtracks, and even some blues!

Dad's best friend had a high-end stereo equipment store on campus, which he sold off in the mid-70's and subsequently opened a speaker factory. My dad still has a Fisher amp, and I believe a Pioneer, as well as some nice Advent speakers from then.
They trade CD's now.

The first R & R tune I can remember, my sister and I heard Rockin' Robin on his VW bug radio, whch he immediately turned to a different station- and also to the chorus of our howls!

strider

My parents weren't really into audio but Granddad was. He used to watch my sister and myself a bunch when we were little. He'd play classical lp's for me on his Dual turntable. I'd devour his Stereo Review magazines. My uncle lived there at the time as well, when he found out I was into stereo stuff he got a friend of his that worked for Polk to hook me up with promotional info, Polk pins and Polk grill emblems. My favorite promo page was the picture of the SDA family. I dreamed of having the big boys, but told myself I'd settle for the Monitor 7's.