What got you into audio, the music or the technology of sound reproduction?

fredcohiba

Super Member
Maybe a fun post. What are your thoughts about why you like audio.
Is it A) the love of music itself and the enjoyment of listening to music whether it be classical, jazz, rock or hip hop or ...?
Or, is it B) the magic of some bit of electronics and mechanicals reproducing sound close to the live recorded performance?

For me, music was in our house ever since I can remember and that was almost 60 years ago. I can’t really recall a time when music wasn’t part of daily life. It all seemed to come from a box in the dining room.
When I was maybe five or so I had a realization that these sounds we were hearing and enjoying came from a cabinet that had some spinning machines in it, one of which had two round things spinning in tandem (a Grundig reel to reel), and a spinning black wheel with an arm riding on top of it (a Telefinken turntable) and I was hooked. I could hit a button and by my command stop the orchestra or upon command, start it again. What power!
So the love of music was first the music itself, and then the came the marvel of how these devices delivered the music to my senses. I’m still hooked. Music is almost without exception listened to daily, and I am always striving to relive or recreate those first experiences. I hope that desire never ends.
My vote is A and B.
 
My father was into hi-fi his whole life so I was introduced early.
I love music and hearing good a good system has always been like therapy to me.
I am also into electronics and love the technical aspects of it as well so there is that.
 
The Technology of reproducing Music.... Sure the end goal is the joy of listening but for me the journey of how I get to listen equipment wise is also important...
 
Once the possibilities of a steam locomotive in the living room had been demonstrated by my father, Beethoven and Belafonte came easy.
 
Technology. The challenge of getting all the gear correct so the sound was great. I started wanting to be a broadcast engineer when I was 15 or so, and studied to get my 3rd class radiotelephone license, and end up with a 1st class Radiotelephone license. In the mean time, Disco arrived with mixers, amps and most of the kinds of stuff used in radio and TV. I Became an AES member, and worked as a recording engineer for live recordings (my favorite) . The enjoyment of music came from super great DJ's on some classical and progressive radio stations, like the wonderful WHFS@102.3 FM in Bethesda, MD. Thanks to DJ's like "Weasel", "Bob Here", David and Damian Einstein, Milo, and Diane. From 1976 until about 1990 they just couldn't be beat. From 1976 to 1983 they had a vinyl record library of over 450,000 LP's and 1000+ 45 singles. When new music arrived at the station, the program director (David Einstein) would listen to every LP, and used a crayon to mark off anything they just couldn't play. The records would then be handed off to the DJ's. On most other stations they would wait until a tune became a 'hit', but WHFS MADE THE HITS, and exposed me to more cool music than I had ever heard before.
 
My dad was always doing electronics projects, building amps and tuners and stuff - Heathkit mostly. I remember the funny smells of heated up flux and such like and I remember Sunday being a special day, because we all used to have dinner in the lounge so we could listen to the Top 40 on BBC Radio One. Dad would jump up and down pausing and releasing the Amstrad tape deck to make a mix tape of our favourite tunes for the next weeks worth of car journeys. Good times :)#1
 
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My first "system" was an Airline (Montgomery Ward) AM radio. This unit was shortly thereafter joined by a Silvertone (Sears) six-transistor radio. These two pieces of, dare I say, equipment provided me with countless hours of pleasure for years. It was a long time before I had the means to replace them with "real" equipment. But the music I listened to on the Airline and Silvertone sounded as good to me back then as the stuff I'm hearing now on my present systems. So my answer to the OP's question is definitely the music.
 
While a truly appreciate the hardware, it was and is the music and the promise of better sound that got me hooked.
 
Music first, then the hardware. I'm not sure now which I like best. Unfortunately for me, if the hardware does not have moving parts, bouncing needles, and blinking lights, it's a lot less fun.

Hardware makers: keep developing the best of the best in music reproducers, but for crying out loud! please give us some VUs to watch or reels to turn. ANYTHING mechanical to make us feel like we have something to do with the process. I'm feeling out of the loop.

GeeDeeEmm
 
A brilliant engineer from Poland taught me how everything works in exchange for teaching him English. After 7-1/2 years, we’ve become close friends.

In December of 2014, I met Eric (62caddy). Eric reminds me a lot like my father and is a mentor whenever I have questions about anything. Eric introduced me to McIntosh, where he later convinced me to buy my first amplifier and pre (this would be the start of many more to come). Eric is a wonderful friend who I’d give the shirt off my back to, should he ever need one.

Over time, my tastes became increasingly more expensive until deciding to make the plunge to have one last system (which I plan to review near the end of November). And since money isn’t a problem, I spent a whole year researching, listening, and deciding what will sound the best to my ears.
 
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my parents music and consoles to start
their music taste was 1950 to 1970 or so, all genre
so i learned and continue to today
i still listen to stuff from their time to current
in the best formats i can find and the best equipment i can afford
 
The music...Almost exclusively from about age 4-5...
Funnily enough, I never ever really thought about the technology at ALL, for years and years.

Until ironically the speakers that I have, and have used daily since about age 14 went, because the foam surrounds gave out after about 25 years of daily use.
From then on, circa mid 1990s, I started to get really into the technology. And then really, really into the history of the technology, after watching a Ken Burns PBS documentary on the invention and history of radio.
Called, "Empire Of The Air: The Men Who Made Radio". (Highly recommended)
 
The music...Almost exclusively from about age 4-5...
Funnily enough, I never ever really thought about the technology at ALL, for years and years.

Until ironically the speakers that I have, and have used daily since about age 14 went, because the foam surrounds gave out after about 25 years of daily use.
From then on, circa mid 1990s, I started to get really into the technology. And then really, really into the history of the technology, after watching a PBS documentary on the invention and history of radio.
Called, "Empire Of The Air: The Men Who Made Radio". (Highly recommended)
 
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