What started you on the merry go round?


Forgive me if this is an old thread, but can you look back and say a particular event, experience, got you started? For some it may be your Dad, perhaps attending a show, or a friend.
For me it was sometime in the Autumn of 1977. I had just started in my first residency job in the National Health Service in Devon. Ian a fellow serf in the hospital trenches had a pretty good system for the time and his salary, Linn LP12/SME 309/Shure, Monitor Audio speakers, I can'nt remember the rest. I was getting into Opera then and he played the Beecham version of Puccini's La Boheme, I bought the set about this time and it is still the first record I would rescue in a fire. It was the entry of Mimi in Act 1, scene 1. Victoria De Los Angeles was perfect on that record and it was as if an angel had come into the room. Well that was it for me and I started the long, hesitant road to where I am now, with a long gap when the kids were young.
Did any of you guys have a similar "epithany"
david12
Late 70's with a SX-1250 my brother had. Lots of fun and things I don't quite remember.

Tim
At 8 years old I was taken by my aunt to hear Leonard Bernstien and the NY Philharmonic in NYC playing Shubert symphonies and was transported. Began to search for closer approximations at home - while is is great to hear the power and dance of rock, I am still transported by the beauty of classical music.
When I was 6 my Mom bought me my first record player, along with lots of records that I loved (In 1963, there were many to love :) Between this event and her lifelong love of playing her Piano, music was burned into my soul.

Really that was the root of all my Hi-Fi obsessions.

Lost my Mom 4 years ago, and I think often of her passion for music and the great gift she gave me.
Kind of funny actually, as there are two distinct turning points.

My dad fixed TV's and stereos for a living (Chief Radio). He had a Grundig console in for repair and I was in awe of the deep sound and richness of the sound. When I was 17 (1974) I purchased a SONY HP161 compact stereo and used that for 5 years and then moved up to a Pioneer/EPI/Dual combination for the next 10 years. Listened to and collected a lot of music in those days.

Fast forward to 1988 and for Christmas, my wife buys me a set of Boston Acoustics floorstanders, which I hated. I had been auditioning Klipschs for 2 years but had always hesitated on pulling the trigger. We break up two years later and audio becomes my new passion. I have owned a lot of equipment ever since.

Regards, Rich
In 1967, I was 10, and my Dad had a Lafayette system (tube receiver, Criterion? speakers, Garrard turntable). I vividly recall hearing the Mamas & Papas- the harmonies had me transfixed. It sounded so much better than when I heard it on AM radio. I knew that there was something better out there. My parents were into Otis Redding, Beatles (Sgt Pepper), Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke.... They started my love for music (I still listen to all of the above). The desire to hear it at it's best was fomented back then.
Ironically, when I finally got my first cheap system ( Sansui receiver/ BSR mini-changer/ cheap Ohm speakers), they'd yell, "Turn that ****down!". Now, they ask me to burn copies of the same **** for them. :-}