How did you get into this hobby?


I grew up listening to small boom boxes, never heard even a Mid-fi system.

When i joined the military, i first started seeing some component systems. Bass pumping, louder than the big bang.
I thought, "How cool"

Bought my first reciever a few months ago, and a couple low end speakers. Ever since then ive been upgrading.

Now my current system retails new at over 8k(everything included) paid under 6.5k, and with upgrades ive spend over 11k so far.

Been doing this for maybe 5 -6 years
audiophanatik
It began almost to the day my girlfriend left me! The interest was always there, but at the time I thought I would show her by taking up with a pair of really bad speakers.As it turned out, she was the one who had to show me how to hook them up-to tell me what a receiver was, and how to put together a system.In walking me through all this I really got to know her in a way I never bothered to before, and this is where a really solid & generous relationship began for us. I was always trying to fix her, and all along she was just waiting for a moment when she could rescue me.
In Korea, instead of a starbuck , we have coffee houses with good stereo systems playing classical. I was shocked to learn that there is a world of beauty to be discovered, and we can turn on happiness by a button!

Ever since this pleasant discovery, I've been upgrading from a pioneer system thanks to audiogon and ebay (more risky).

Lets introduce others to this great hobby - these days, you can get pretty good sounds from not so much money - even a 1k system can sound entertaining and nonfatiguing.

My recipe is in three speaker system - 5 inch woofer bookshelfs like Athena ($170) with a sony sa-wm200 sub ($95). Even electronics like NAD and Rotel can have you on your feets dancing to your favorites.

It took me a long time to figure that out after many set of speakers, that a Sony sub was the missing link! B4 spending megabucks on speakers, you might want to try the 3 piece solution.



My wife bought me a pair of Grado SR80 headphones to go with an MP3 player for Christmas 4 or 5 years ago. Suddenly I was hearing details in the music that I never imagined existed. I fell in love with the sound immediately and have been chasing for higher quality ever since. I'm always hearing a piece of music, a guitar solo, etc, while driving, and I'll say to myself, "I can't wait to hear that again on a Hi-Fi system." My wife regrets the day she bought me those headphones.
Everything started when my dad let me sit with headphones listening Mozart, I was 3 years old... In school I started to save for my first "upgrade": some unit consisting of LP and Tape in one with two funny one-way speakers. And, so on...
played in the band in jr.high and high school- we had a record/playback system in both rooms (AR speakers, ampex tape decks, mikes on boom stands, etc.) begged my parents for a reel to reel (concord)- alligator clipped to a blaupunkt hi-fi/sw radio. later got a fisher compact stereo (turntable built onto a receiver). had an all-county band clinic at the high school one weekend- a guy shows up with a HUGE ampex recording rig. later i see peter mcgrath's studer a-80 with levinson electronics at his store. well, that's enuf for now- i have to go wipe my chin...