what made you get into high end gear.

What do you do when you move from the big city to some small northern town, and you don't drink? I thought that I would buy a matching brand Japanese stereo system and be happy. Guess what? I found out that there are actually audio manufacturers in North America! Oh,oh. 17 years later, I've moved back to the big city, but I'm posting on Audiogon. Some addictions are hard to break.

Hey, that pic is gone! I guess AA took it down. Damn!

Wouldn't want to deprive all you devoted audiophiles the view of such a fine pair of horns just because AA is so up tight about it.

Marco

Brownsfan,
The store was Vere Smith Audio. I worked for the Marietta store in college.

Hey Marco, that reminded me that I need a new rack, thanks!

when i was a boy i can remember walkin into a neighborhood high end dealer "stereo center" & feeling like i was inside frankenstien's laboratory with all the tubes & glowing meter's on the gear,damm was that exciting as hell,the salesmen knew i was just a little kid & i couldnt buy anything but they still indulged me & answered my questions & let me look around.

once i was a man & started a family & had a few bucks to spend i bought alot of different store bought systems & even
went thru a stint where i sought out vintage gear,i gotta admit i was pretty happy with the sound from my old hk citation tube gear,i searched all the newspapers & pawnshops looking for vintage hk tube gear & every so often i would get lucky & find a peice.

i had found some speakers listed on ebay that were in my state & i wanted them pretty bad,they were just an old pair of ar9's but i always remembered that speaker from the dealer visits in my youth so i bought them,it just so happened that the guy sellin the speakers was a hifi dealer & they were at his shop so i decided to take one of my sons (joseph)with me so he could look at all the cool gear while i picked up my speakers.

we looked all around the store & at all the gear but my sons eye's stayed glued to a certian amp that was softly playing back ground music,he was hypnotized by the way the meters danced & he kept going back to that rig & watching that amp,i had to coax him away from the rig to even leave the store,i could tell he was hooked,ever since that day i had one hell of a time keepin little joe's hands off my gear,man did he love to listen to music with me.

then one day i lost my son joseph due to a tragic accident & ever after that day i couldnt sit still for a second,either i had to work as much as i could to keep from going nuts or just do anything but listening to music was out of the question as that was somthing we shared together,one day while i was out riding around on the harley trying to figure things out(joe's birthday) i passed the hifi shop where me & my son picked up the speakers from ebay so i pulled in.

so now im just wandering around this store remembering things when i spotted the mcintosh amp that my son had loved so much,i couldnt believe they still had it so i bought it on the spot & the rest is history.

since then music & the love of all things mcintosh have been a big part of my life giving me the chance to reflect & remember,years have past now & my love for high end gear & music has grown but whats never changed is the memories of 2 little boys 30 years apart looking at their first real hifi rig.

mike.