All of you AVS audiophiles, how'd you get your start down this path.

Mine journey started with a pair of these back in 1959

This may sound weird but I never went down to a hi-fi shop and bought a whole system or a group of components. I just slowly upgraded one item at a time. I bought an amp or a pair of speakers or a new cartridge, etc. So because of that I can trace each piece of gear back to my first system going back about 45 years ago.

When I was a young teen my next door neighbor was an electrical engineer with Stromberg-Carlson and had a mono hi-fi system. He had a Garrard turntable installed in fine cabinetry in the den and a single driver speaker built into a triangular speaker cabinet located in one of the corners of the living room. I think it was probably a 15" or so driver. Best I can calculate this was in 1956 when I was 13 years old. I have been hooked ever since.

My Condolences

I started with car audio back in 80's spent more on that hobby than I have in home audio oh snap, need to start upgrading! my home system way cheap compared to 80's.

Started with a jvc receiver, turntable and Yamaha ns10m speakers in college. Moved up to accustat 2mh and Hafler DH500 and thorens table with first job... Off and running

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Oh, circa 1980 and 1984

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Greetings,

Thanks for sharing pic's of your system. I would be interested if you could list what components and speakers we see.

Like many I began with the obligatory Pioneer receiver, turntable and even HPM 100 speakers. I'm also guitar player as well and started off with a Ibanez Les Paul copy. Fast forward thirty years I'm still using my Rotel RSP 970, Rotel RDA 985 dts decoder (5) JBL 4408 monitors that I upgraded with Morel drivers and M&K sub. I also upgrade my guitar, now 1962 (not a reissue) custom color Fender Stratocaster.

Don't know if you saw the movie 'Fght Club' but Ed Norton had a great audiophile line when he was talking about what he lost (hifi) as a result of his upscale apartment demolition/explosion...

"I had a stereo that was very decent"

Is there a 12 Step Program? My wife has begun to drop hints.

Oops noted Quad ESL

The first step:

Hi (your name) and I'm an audiophile

I can never get past my name...

I actually got started much earlier than 1959 as my grandpa starting taking me as a snot faced lil toddler in 1947 to live big band concerts and then buy me an album or so and let me run up to the stage for autographs. I still have everyone of those albums. I had more or less toy gear up until 1959 when mom promptly kicked the Quads ELS57s out of the family room because I convinced dad that they sounded way better pulled way out into the room. That didn't last for two weeks until the only place to put them and do that was my room. The only way to listen to them that far out into the room was near field so that's how all of this got started.

Funny, I thought I was the oldest here. Looks like you have me beat by a year!

Tell that to Steve Guttenberg. That's his vid, not mine. Although, I agree with most of what he said.

I'd be a wealthy man had I not indulged in two hobbies .... the audio and the cars


Those aren't the exact pair of Quads that I had (I don't think), but ELS-57s as I had. Ugly, but wonderful in their own way.

yea, eclipse/fujitsu10 head unit and subs, audiocontrol eq, rockford fosgate amps, focal speakers...I never lost and hit 153db dash on term and 172 port...sq i defer as judges were retarded for my comps/biased giving all the wins to local kicker sponser...

Had to give up motorcycling.

For me, I now have a Ducati and Moto Guzzi parked in my audio room, all toed in.

A Zenith Cobra-matic record player was my first piece.

Putting a picture to words

Oh, my. The amazing part is that I actually remember this!
In 1977 I purchased my first home stereo, I was 20 years old.
It was a Radio Shack:
STA-2000 Receiver
Radio Shack LAB-400 Turntable
Realistic Mach One speakers.

I loved that system and would have been fine if not for reading articles in Stereo Review, and Audio. So, of course, I realized that the weak point was those boom-boxes masquerading as speakers.

So, on a Presidents Day Sale in 1980 I went to Tech Hifi, in Hanover, MA. I purchased a brand-new pair of AR-12 speakers. My world was forever changed. I kept those as my main speakers until 1993! Then started an odyssey of speaker choices, most better that the old AR's, but lacked the staying power. Polk LS-50's. Really liked these, but when I moved to a house with huge vaulted ceilings, the sound just got lost. Tried Def Tech BP30's. Meh. NHT VT2s. Loved the NHT sound. Kept those for almost 10 years. Had some Green Mountain Audio Europas for a few years. Amazing speakers, far and away the best I had ever owned. Then suffered a financial downturn, and had to sell off everything and start fresh.
Now listening to a pair of Energy RC-10's, which are a fine little monitor, but I have the upgrade itch.
For electronics, I kept that old Realistic receiver for over 10 years, it was a truly quality unit, manufactured by Pioneer I believe. I upgraded to a Carver Receiver, very nice, but the damn speaker switch relays broke at least 3 times. I still have it, and would really like to find someone to go through it and get it working again. I then went with Adcom separates, Marantz separates, Parasound separates. A Cayin TA-30 Tube integrated that was pretty magical. After the re-fresh, I wound up with a Pioneer VSX-1018 AV receiver, which I still use today, and I am very happy with it. Just because I simply have to have a little bit of "audiophilia", the left and right main go through a very nice Creek EVO 50 integrated amp with home theater bypass.
I also have a Rythmik L12 sub, Logitech Squeezebox for streaming, Project Carbon DC turntable.

And always looking at the next upgrade......................................:wink :

The one I had was a considerably more sophisticated console and I remember removing the turntable from the console cabinet and building a separate base for it in order to isolate it from vibration. This was my tweak #1 mid 50's.

Guttenberg, an audiophile? Is the sky blue? Does a bear ... ?

Yeah, realized Guttenberg was an audiophile a long time ago. That's why I never take his opinion to heart. But I do read his column occasionally for product news and information, and frankly, I think he's an entertaining writer.

What does a bear do?

I need new underware so I bought some new tubes instead.

Deposits audiophiles in the forest to help fertilize, thus promoting new and hopefully better growth.

You don't have to go that far. Lots of composting opportunities in the cities!

BTW, I thought Steve G was a projectionist???

Soylent Green.

I'm only starting now. Better late than never I guess. I wasn't alive until the mid 70's though. I have always liked stereo equipment but spent my youthful dollars on Nintendo and Playstation games.