What equipment or event thrust you into the hobby?

"...path to audio bliss"

Give me a break! Bliss?

Like you I had a good (enuf) system. I focused on listening to (and discovering a lot of new music) and on a lunch break, instead of going to Tower records and looking thru vinyl I went into my first high end store. Fancy looking stuff, high price tags, and lots of talk about things like stereo imaging, depth of image. "air" around the instruments, etc. I bought it, hook line and sinker. Spent the next 20 years shopping equipment - music purchases were incidental and often made to optomize the audio experience (audiophile recordings anyone?).

It was fun and consuming while I was doing it but I sure regret the amount of time I spent listening to audio and not the 'music'. I started out with Rectilinear 7's (designed by Shaninan) a Hafler 500 amp, an Apt Holman pre-amp, and a Technic's 1350 TT w/Shure V cartridge. I loved it. My present stuff is 'better' but I don't love it more.

There is a moral in there somewhere. :-)

When I was 10 or 11 years old, my older sister came home from a dance with a door prize that she won, an LP. It was Cream's Disraeli Gears. She spun it on the record player in her room and let me listen in. I loved it! She didn't care for it, so she gave it to me. I went out and bought my first system with money I had earned from caddying.
Previous to this, I didn't have much musical listening experience other than the radio. My mom listened to Country music, my father listened to Celtic tunes. Neither musical format really ever stirred any interest from me.

This was different though, this music (Disraeli Gears) spoke to me, with it's heavy bass lines I was hypnotized.

I've had the bug ever since...........

Cheers,
John

I would attribute my audiophile sickness to at least 2 events I can remember. First, when I had just graduated from high school I visited the apartment of a co-worker who had a Lafayette radio receiver and some Epicure speakers. They were of course far superior to anything I had heard up to that time and I was hooked for life. Second, in 1990 I visited a stereo store and heard the first high-end system I had ever heard, some Quad ESL-63 speakers driven by VTL 225 tube monoblocks. That was the event that turned the page for me and fueled my current addiction.

Dayton Wright XG8 with Audio Research combo. some years later Beveridge model 2 with Koetsu front end...I was hooked!

My father got me into this nonsense. I remember as a kid listening to music through his big Magnepan Tympanis and Ohm Walsh 3s driven by SAE and Marantz gear. My father bought me a pair of Ohm Walsh 2s for my 21st birthday. ( I still have them 20 years later) As I went from starving law student to income-producing attorney, I voraciously moved up the food chain and began a cycle of upgrading which still continues to this day. I recently sent a big pair of panel speakers to the factory for repair. For kicks, I unpacked a pair of Magnepan Tympani 1ds which have been boxed for a while and hooked them up to my reference system. After about 5 minutes, I sat there scratching my head wondering why I have spent so much time and $$$$$$ (probably six figures over the years) in my quest for sound which might be marginally better than these 30 year old Maggies. This audio nervosa is really a sickness and like any addiction can get out of control. I'm sure I'll continue with my pursuit of the best, but I wish that I had more restraint!