There was an old thread I was reading recently that mentioned Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds", which got me thinking.
When I was young, back when the album first came out, My Dad had a HiFi of sorts (Garrard TT & Philips amp & speakers), but it was in hist study, which was out of bounds. We had to listen to our records (such as the above) on my mum's music centre in the kitchen. One day, we went to visit my uncle who was much more enlightened than my father & allowed us to use his B&O system, and we played the WotW album on there. I was astounded at the music coming out of the speakers, things I'd never heard before etc. I was so much better than anything I'd ever heard before. It was after this experience that I decided that when I grew up, I was going to have a proper hi-fi & the rest, as they say, is history.
It was obviously a seminal moment in my childhood, as I can still remember it vividly. I've always loved music and was very lucky to be the youngest of a large family who all listened to music, and I'm eternally grateful for their educating me. I can remember my oldest brother playing Black Sabbath on a Dansette Thames record player when I was six, and loving it.
Will.
Posted on: 18 June 2016 by Will Dias
And the first time I heard Naim.
I was at a hi-fi show with a friend, an we'd been wandering the rooms, nothing really taking my fancy. I heard some music in the corridor coming from a room, "that sounds interesting"... wandered in and took a seat. The system was hidden apart from the speakers (can't remember). Listened in awe for 20 mins or so, then had a look - a 72/HC/140. I was hooked.
Will.
Posted on: 18 June 2016 by Frenchnaim
Thorens TD 150, Ortofon cartridge (?), Quad 33/303 (or was it Armstrong?), KEF Concords. 1969, I think.
Posted on: 20 June 2016 by Innocent Bystander
1969-70, aged 15-16: Garrard SP25/Shure M3D +Sinclair Project 60 bareboard modular amp in DIY plinth, with DIY speakers. Not the highest of fi, but sounded amazing to me, and did to all my friends, infinitely fuller sound and more engaging than my brother's 'Dansette' style record player, and friends' parents 'radiograms' of the day, which is all any of us had heard. My system was even featured in a HiFi mag review of readers' systems, and praised for achievement on a tight budget (but also identified weaknesses, which set me on the path of improvement).
Posted on: 20 June 2016 by Ravenswood10
Garrard SP25 with Teleton Amp and Speakers (strange paper coned single driver elliptical cone in an undamped chipboard box). Also my parents Dynatron music centre. Best though was my Father-in-Law's Garrad 301 with SME 3009, Shure V15 with Quad 33/303 and Celestion Ditton 44s all topped off with an Akai reel to reel. This system started me on the road
Posted on: 20 June 2016 by Owen Davies
For me it was my father's Sony HMP70 music center. He auditioned many systems before deciding on it, I remember going with him to the hifi shop at 5 years old to collect them. I used to ask to listen to Band on the Run, Parallel Lines and Bridge Over Troubled Water, I wasn't allowed to put the records on myself! Anyway, it's easily traceable that my obsession with sound/music started back then!
Posted on: 20 June 2016 by David Hendon
When I was about 17, my father arrived home one day with a Quad 22 control unit and FM tuner with a stereo decoder box, a pair of Quad II power amplifiers, a pair of B&W DM3 loudspeakers and a Thorens TD124/ SME 3009 arm and Shure V15 Mk II cartridge. Soon after he added a Ferrograph 632H reel to reel tape recorder. This was all a revelation to me and I spent a lot of time and money on hifi from then until I finally admitted defeat when my third child arrived. Once the kids had left university, I picked up where I had left off, but my Naim conversion is rather recent.....
best
David
