what made you get into high end gear.

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.

Mike,

What a wonderful memory to have and story to tell. You’ve kind of choked me up because that is what my 2 boys and I do now. It makes me appreciate these “field trips” a little bit more.

Thank you, and I am terribly sorry for you loss.

David

I have posted this here before, but since you asked...
I was walking down 27th street in Milwaukee when this big, long, black Lincoln Towncar pulled along side of me. As I glanced over to see what this shadow was, a window rolled down and a southern gentleman (I could tell by the accent that he was a gentleman) said "Hey dude, you wanna get high?"
"I don't do that anymore." I said, almost telling the truth.
He chuckled for a moment and replied, "You gotta check out what I got, then you can go straight."
I was tempted to turn and run as my mother had instructed when I was a little boy, but he had not said anything about candy, so I figured he must be okay.
"Watcha got?" I asked affecting my most sofisticated tone.
The man called to someone up front who steered the car to the curb. The salesman got out. He must have been all of 6'-9" tall and tipped the scale at over 300lbs. I stepped back, for obvious reasons. The man pointed to the trunk of the car which suddenly popped open.
"Check this out..." he drawled, or was he drooling? I don't remember it was a long time ago, and not relevant to the story.
My eyes popped out of my head, and my chin hit the ground. It was disgusting. As anyone who lives in Milwaukee and near 27th street can tell you santitation was not a big priority to the city fathers. I tried to look up at the big man but it was not possible with my eyes hanging out like they were. After replacing the orbs into their sockets and dusting off my chin I glanced into the trunk again. The original affect thankfully did not reoccur.

The cavernous trunk contained all manner of hifi gear. I was drawn immediately to the MacIntosh gear by the bright lights and multiplicity of knobs (I am not particularly bright, so such things are very interesting to me).
"That's cool!" I muttered pointing at the MacIntosh reciever.
"You're not real bright are you?" asked the big man in a friendly voice.
"No sir, but I sure would like to get some of that stuff in there. What is it?
"This is stereo equipment." he answered.
"What does it do?"
"It plays beautiful music."
"I gotta get some, but can I listen to it before I plunk down my hard earned paper route money?"
"Of course," he replied "what do you want to listen to?"
I pointed to a bunch of stuff. He removed several boxes from the back of the trunk and handed them to me. I almost stumbled under the load. It was all I could do to carry all the boxes. There were two Klipsch speakers, a B&O linear tracking TT and a Nakamichi cassette deck.
"I'm gonna run home and listen to this stuff, if it sounds as good as you say I'll come back and pay you the $8000, for all this stuff."
He turned around and winked at the driver.

I ran home and sure enough, the system was everything he said it would be. Some of the music was so good I nearly wept as I listened.

I still feel bad about never going back and paying the man, but I told him it might take a while before I would be back. As far as I know he's still there on 27th street waiting for me.

I was in Milwaukee for the weekend about 30 years after the original event and decided to stop by the ol' stomping grounds. My grade school was still there as was most of the assorted debris. Even then it was a collecting point for vagrants!

I rounded the corner where I had met the friendly stranger and there was a big black car up on blocks. The hood had long since been pried up and the motor was stripped. The windows were busted out, and Wisconsin winters had obviously taken their toll on the body.

"What's the deal with that car?" I asked one of the debris lounging against the door of a Chinese restaurant.
"Weirdest thing..." the man began and then trailed of starring into space.
"Yeah." I prompted
"Oh, uhm, the car was just there one day. Big old cracker sittin' in back. Said he was waitin' for someone. Just sat there, for years. Said some guy was comin' back. Maybe he died or sumthin' cuz the cars been sittin' there for a long time, but he ain't been around for... years, I guess."
With that the old vagrant belched, soiled himself and wandered off. I thought he left just in time.
I felt kinda bad. All that time the gentleman waited for his money. I don't even have any of that stuff anymore. I thought about bringing the old California Audio Labs Icon Mk II down and leaving it in his car, but I knew romantic notions like that serve no real purpose.
I closed the hood of the car and headed back to my hotel, where by the way Oprah was speaking to the local NAACP chapter. Not a parking space in sight. Poetic Justice? You decide!