So, what exactly made you the audiophile that you are?

In 1988 the height of my ambition was an Aiwa midisystem then I went round to a friend's house who was a slightly spolt only child prone to passing obsessions. In his bedroom he had a rega planar 3, musical fidelity synthesis amp and some KEF speakers, one of which has a blown bass unit from him playing his expensive fretless bass through it. I'd never really seen proper hifi before. Even through one speaker it sounded good. Happily he lost interest in hifi and I bought the rega and amp off him for peanuts with my 18th birthday money. Got a pair of Acoustic Research AR18BX speakers for a discount and never looked back.

After years away from music I was standing on a dock when a bunch of kids came by in a surf boat with House of the Rising Sun by Five Finger Death Punch blasting away.  I stood there with my mouth open absolutely hypnotized.  I was one of the old farts who believed music died with Ronnie Van Zant and John Bonham.   I purchased my Naim system a month later.  

TOBYJUG posted:

Used to like going through my dads collection.

So is that a strategically placed price sticker or actually part of the cover image?

Some kind of art project?

I hate that term (audiophile). I'm a music lover. The gear is about the presentation of the music, a means to an end. In fact, I mostly only pay attention to Naim and other audio forums when I make that infrequent change to my system and doing research. Once I'm settled in with the new gear and it's all broken in and setup to satisfaction then I generally stop, until the next change (for whatever reason). At that point I no longer care about the minutiae of setup, tweaks, improvements, changes, etc., even if I'm not 90% optimal with getting it dialed in. I think part of being an audiphiole is the attention to getting to that unachievable 100%. 

For example, this year I had all my Naim gear serviced and DR'd so that it's done before I retire. Keith Herron also updated my VTPH-2 to 2a spec. I thought that was it, but with Dynaudio stopping production of the current Confidence line – for the next generation – I was offered a sweet deal on a new pair of C2 Platinum, so I bought them too. I also plan to get Fraim in the next month or so. A big part of all that is I have a very nice monthly bonus package this year (and I already have my five bicycles where I want them to be), so that afforded me the chances to do one more big upgrade/improvement before I transition to retirement in a few years. Chances are pretty good that by next Spring I will again ignore most HiFi forums and be back to my normal cycling and music-listening bliss. 

Alley Cat posted:

TOBYJUG posted:

Used to like going through my dads collection.

So is that a strategically placed price sticker or actually part of the cover image?

Some kind of art project?

That was about the price of a pint in 77, or maybe a bit under, bargain! Tuppence off the coverprice, though note the publisher’s name.

We had a “gramophone” when I was 11—with which I played along the clarinet line in parts of Mozart’s 39th symphony. I’d listen to records for hours in winter evenings with lights out and by flickering firelight in our “drawing room”. Eventually my parents bought a stereo system—installed by the music master from my school (one “Mr Clouting”, believe it or not). I recall asking him in my early teenage naivety whether “stereo” meant the treble came from the left speaker and the bass from the right <blush>.

Years passed, my love of classical music never faded and, having understood finally what was "stereo", I went through the usual young man systems initially from Dixons (!) then Comet Discount Warehouse. I graduated to a decent dealer in my local town and slowly moved on to B&W, Sugden and goodness knows what else.

By 1981 I had discovered Graham’s Hi-Fi in London and one happy but expensive day in 1982, after nearly four hours with Mike Lewin, splashed out £2,194 on an LP12/Ittok/Asak, Naim 32 pre-amp, Meridian 104 tuner and Questar QA-2 active speakers…then had to wait over a month for delivery. I think that, for me, was my audiophile arrival.

Many upgrades later I’m with my beloved Nova and Mu-so—and as deeply involved with the music as I ever was. I like to think I’m settled now with the system I have but, of course, if I could ever move out of an apartment, if I could have a place with a proper music room…who knows?

Stephen

I fell and hit my head at an early age.

Kidding...maybe. I remember loving music from as far back as I can recall. My mother says that even as a toddler I'd run to the speakers when she put a record on. I asked her if I ever hit my head on one of them. As far back as I can remember I simply looked for sound reproduction that I liked. I remember having a couple bucks as a kid to buy a transistor radio and I listened to every radio in my price range at Radio Shack, department stores, Service Merchandise and so on, to pick the one whose sound I liked best for my three bucks. A little Casio one that contest. As I got older things just got more complex and more expensive 

Mid 70’s worked after school bought Lenco player with Shure-cartridge, Pioneer 2x15W and Carlsson OA-5 speakers. I was so amazed how lovely it was to listen to music compared to what I had heard before. And the bass! I really got the bug!

Later half of the 70’s upgraded to a ERA-6 record player, Sonab receiver and Spendor BC1 speakers.

In 1978 I bought the LP12 with a unipivot and Decca cartridge. Later upgraded to Supex moving-coil with a small head-amp from Naim and a Grace 714 wooden tonearm (really beautiful). By this time I used heavily modified Dynaco MkIII valve power amps with a new PCB and driver circuit, higher voltages and really large reservoir capacitors rescued from a discarded PSU for an industrial paint-robot. I had to switch the amps on one channel at a time otherwise the mains fuse blew. 

Those Dyna MkIII ran the output pentodes in triode mode. At first I had some large Klipsch horns I picked up cheap from some poor guy who got married and needed to sell. Later changed to those fantastic little Rogers LS3/5A. The preamp was a Kaneda/Hiraga I bought as a kit directly from Jean Hiraga (It was described in his L’Audiophile magazine). I also later built a DIY-verson of the Levinson JC-2 with PCB:s and matched transistors from someone in the US.

Did a lot of experimenting with cables and components.

The third time those monster amps caught fire I had enough of valves and DIY and decided to go for transistors and went ”flat earth” with Naim. I think it was 32/160. Still had the Linn LP12 now on modified Ikea Lack table. Later upgraded to 180, then 250, got the SBL:s I have been using until recently. Up to 52/SC/135 with CDX2/XPS2 and then the 252 I still have.