How I became an AUDIOPHILE!

[@estebannemo1957]

Being an audiophile is a glorious obsession. The rest of the world disappears. Either you're listening to music, reading about new gear, or putting together a wish list to improve your system.

[@slidetek]

Don't forget, Fabio (yes, _that_ Fabio) is a huge audiophile. My dad bought a hifi cabinet (still have, it's insanely gorgeous) back around 1960. Fisher receiver, JBL's (I found that out later) Gerrard TT. When my mother moved post divorce, she had a guy down the street set up the cabinet for the 70's (he wanted the speakers I think). Sherwood receiver, can't remember the TT. But I liked music and had a radioshack "stereo" all-in-one travesty. Then as a freshman in HS, a new friend had a Pioneer SX-727 receiver and big Advents. _I wanted more!_ I got the Pioneer SX-737 receiver, a BIC direct drive TT and JBL L-37's. After swapping speakers a couple of times (to L100's), I went to a new friend's house in 1980. He had McIntosh and KEF - and having been a friend of the Dead, every. Winterland. console. tape. Hundreds. Reel to reel. That was my first real taste of fidelity. But, I tend to get a system that floats my boat and that's it. I'm not constantly looking to upgrade or change. Music first. So, my last set of speakers lasted me 25 years. I've just replaced them, and at my age, they're probably my last. I do plan to restore dad's hifi cabinet to its former glory, the speakers are the only thing I'm not sure about. Rather than building them into the back, I might just remove everything but the grills and plop some modern bookshelves behind them.

[@christopherdoolan925]

Cowgirl in the Sand, Like a Hurricane, Down by the River, Helpless, Old Man... one classic track after another.

[@ricardoveromariguez7318]

I’m a child of the late 60s, so music is completely intertwined with my very soul...but I do have a Neil Young story...turns out I fell in love with this German girl who was visiting the states as an exchange student, she had a boyfriend back in her home town (a college town named Oldenburg)...in the end she went back home...but I scratched -up enough dough to follow her, went to convince her to come back with me...but it just didn’t work out, As I walked the streets of Oldenburg, I heard this music coming from a record shop...I went in, completely dazed at the sound...it was Sugar Mountain by Neil. This very spare, acoustic version...Hypnotic. Stayed in that record shop for 3 or 4 hours just listening to the music. That day I lost one love, but I gained another...

[@maddash4237]

1993... I was 10yrs. old. My, now successful, older brother got his first credit card.... Kenwood stack and cerwin-vegas appeared in his upstairs bedroom.... Mind blown!!! We still crank that system in his garage at the lake sometimes.

[@matthewsallman1700]

I know many people look at Audiophile as a negative, but my definition is pretty much the same as yours Ron. As to the lottery thing, you cracked me up. I started with my parent's Curtis Mathis console stereo. Once I finally had something of my own it began with a cheap Radio Shack receiver with two car speakers hanging from my curtain rods and a cast off Zenith crystal cartridge turntable. Almost 50 years later I have a SOTA turntable, Dynavector cartridge, SME tonarm, Audio Research and Rogue Audio electronics and Apogee speakers. I am not trying to brag, just giving hope to those starting out with a very humble system. It took many years and many upgrades, but I have reached a point where I love what my system can do. And it is much closer to that ideal I had in mind all those years ago than I could have imagined. Of course being an Audiophile, I'm always looking to the next upgrade. :-)

[@dwahnaslowdown8887]

I bought my first system while in the Navy overseas, roughly 1986/87: Yamaha C-60/M-60 combo, an ADC ss-525x eq, DBX DX5 CD player, DBX-3bx-DS dynamic range controller and a pair of bare birch Cornwall IIs - all purchased new. I still have it all, except for the Cornwalls, which my brother now owns. I regret that sale, but at least they are in the family. Also, Decade: Had it as a teen. Still do, but not that first copy. Of the six sides, I wore three out but rarely listened to the other three.

[@timothyclauw7035]

I was 8 years old from when I remember I became a true audiophile . My older brother was 19 at the time and had the ultimate stereo system in our basement (his bedroom he shared with my other two older brothers). He had two cinder blocks with foam on the top between a piece of glass spanning maybe 4-5 feet wide . All of his records were underneath between the cinder blocks and all the components on the top . His system consisted of phase linear amp and preamp , teac real to real , technics turntable with a $1000 diamond tipped needle or cartridge (so he said ), and Ess amt speakers (12” woofer w/12” passive radiators and a heil in air motion tweeters I believe . They still make them speakers to this day . I vividly remember grabbing breakfast in America by Supertramp and listening to it over and over again as well as Donna summer on the radio , and foreigner double vision . I’ve never heard something so loud , clean, and detailed with authoritative bass you could FEEL! Needless to say - he’d get so mad at me because I’d scratch his records being so young and wanting to just enjoy music . So that Christmas I got a cheap Sanyo receiver and a bsr turntable, sharp cassette deck and some cheap two way speakers - I was so thankful and my first two albums were Supertramp -breakfast in America and Foreigner double vision , haven’t looked back since and continually upgrade and purchase new equipment!

[@turiddu9]

At the tender age of thirteen, I wandered in to 'Stereo Warehouse" in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where my dad's job had transferred our family. I was looking at all the beautiful gear, it was 1979, the very heart of the receiver wars. I heard a song I'd heard maybe once or twice on the radio, Pink Floyd, Money playing through a Marantz receiver, a Technics SL-1xxx and a small set Yamaha NS-10s (?) with their beautiful stark white woofers and heard the money scooping travelling from the left spkr to the right spkr and had never conceived of the sound coming out of each spkr being different yet contributing to the whole.........MIND BLOWN! I'd just become an audiophile.

[@benkrake3678]

To be honest, I’m not exactly too sure about how I became an audiophile, but what I do know is that I have been one since I was a very young child. My father was an electrical sales person when my sister and I were kids, for a South Australian retail store called Radio Rentals, which unfortunately had shut all it’s stores around Adelaide just last year, after over 60 years of service to the south Australian community. I have always been heavily into music from a very young age, and my parents always listened to music, either at home on our old Technics hifi system, or in the car. I was born in 1985, so I come from an era where cassette tapes were still commonly used well into the 90’s. I have always cared about how I listen to music, and wanted the best quality sound possible. I always used type 2 tapes or better, because they have great top end response compared to type 1 tapes and I loved the premium look of them also. I got my first hifi system in 9th grade in high school, so I would have been about 14 years old back then. My father handed it down to me, which was dad’s first early 1980’s silver Technics system, and I got so much enjoyment out of back then. Going from a Sharp boom box CD player to a proper hifi system was a big deal to me, and I noticed the difference straight away. I got a part time job at 17 and the first thing I got with my money was a newer second hand Technics SA-GX170 2ch receiver, which I still have but not using. These days I have a Yamaha RX-V565 HDMI receiver, paired with some Sherwood bookshelf speakers, but not overly happy with the sound quality. I’m saving up for a new pair of speakers atm and looking at spending around $1000AUD or more maybe, then will be saving up for a new 2ch amplifier after that.

[@dell177]

I graduated from HS in '66 and got a job at a large hotel fixing TV's and handling all the AV requirements of meetings and conventions at the hotel. The equipment I was working with was not bad for the day - Altec voice of the theater speakers, top line Elecrovoice mics, Altec tube amps - one was 1,000 watts and had huge transmitter tubes in the ouput stahe with a output transformer the size of a soccer ball. At home I had an old FADA tabletop am-fm radio phono unit that I found in the trash, I rerpaced the phone with a garrard I pulled out of anther unit and that was what I ghad. It was mono but had a8" speaker and a solid wood case. One of the first things I bought was a Laffayette Radio stereo tube amp, tuner , Dual turntable and set of mediocre radio shack speakers but now i had a stereo system, I gave the FADA to a friend. Within a year I was in the army and ended up sitting on a mountain in Korea for 13 months and had access to a PX full of Sony, Pioneer, and Sansui gear for really great prices. When I left Korea I had the gear i bough over there shipped back home on the army's dime. In the intervening 50+ years I've bought and sold several systems and now have a great setup with PS Audio, Rogue Audio, and ELAC equipment. That cost me well over $10k but I don't regret it one bit, what better way to spend ones retirement listening to great music.

[@Corndog642]

I define audiophile as someone who realizes they've been missing something in the music and once discovered can't get enough of it. For me it was the realization that average electronics that were built for the masses and were "good enough" for them were not good enough for me. It was hearing details in music that I never noticed before due to the limited resolution of my stereo. I've loved music since I was a child but one of the things that always bugged me was how it could be so difficult to make out lyrics. I didn't understand until my 20's that it was the gear playing the music that was the limiting factor. I was fresh out of the military and had just bought a used car which came with a semi-functional stereo. I bought a new deck and paid to have it installed and that helped a bit. I was learning about car audio via magazines and decided my front speakers needed a separate amp so I paid to have a little stereo amp installed under my dashboard. It really didn't seem that much better. It was around that time that my older brother gave me a catalog from the local hifi shop. On the cover was a picture of B&W 801's for $5,500/pr. This didn't make any sense to me so I tossed it aside. Later I took another look and discovered brands I'd never heard of like NAD, Rotel, PS Audio, and Kimber Kable. Curiosity got the best of me and so I went to the shop. Those 801's were very impressive and I heard my first soundstage with a clear separation of instruments and vocals. I was amazed that I could stand between the speakers and still hear everything clearly. I guess that got me started but it really came down to swapping the freebie interconnects between the deck and that external amp with Kimber PBJ that I became an audiophile. For the first time I could hear details in my favorite music that had eluded me before. It was an incremental improvement but one that I could afford. It's been 25 years and I'm still hooked. I'm cheap but still want the best quality I can afford. I built my speakers, amps, and preamps from kits. The performance is so much better for the money. Well, my preamp could be better. It was fine with my previous speakers which were only 86dB efficient. But my current 97dB speakers leave the noise in my tube preamp with nowhere to hide. So when I can afford it I will get a good solid state preamp. And the journey continues. A lot of that is due to my circumstances. I've lived in a dozen different apartments in that time and with each one I get new challenges and compromises. I'm still learning and still listening.

[@Drackleyrva]

I think I became an audiophile in the first grade. I found my 1st grade report card recently and the teacher commented in 'music and arts' that I have a great appreciation for music and he pays very close attention to musical sound.

[@mrpositronia]

I believe I was an audiophile at the age of around 5. I remember my Dad's cousin had a McIntosh amp, with a turntable that I dont know and some bookshelf speakers. I was obsessed with listening to Queen's Flash Gordon theme on it and loved the atmosphere and excitement. And then I became obsessed with whatever audio systems I got my hands on. Needless to say, they were all extremely cheap and sounded like the plastic they were made in. I had a friend in the 90s who had a really good system with a Linn turntable and Mission bookshelf speakers. I used to go round there and listen to his hifi for hours. I've never had money enough to buy anything over a thousand pounds, but it has never made me feel down about hi-fi.

[@mattgiunt]

As a 72 year old audiophile my story started way back in the early sixties when one of my 12 year old friends got arrested for assaulting a woman. My parents were shocked and decided it was time to send their child in a better direction than hanging out with that guy.They went to Sears department store and bought a small console record player with two small detachable 18 inch speakers and a Beach boys record. First time I heard that needle hit the wax was all it took and lead me to buying a record a week all through high school and college, playing in a band ,going to Woodstock and Altamont and pursuing the perfect sound my whole life. Just set up a near field theater system in my house using Klipsch 600M fronts and also have a living room big theater system with Polk LSIM 707s,706C and a variety of other speakers in a 5.1.4 configuration. Im about to buy my first parasound amplifier (Halo a52+).Thank god It never ends after 60 years of amazing sounds.

[@TimpTim]

I'm 75 and I get it!! Different music, but the same WOW moments!

[@jsmctch]

I was 13 yrs old. My friend Shawn's father had a stereo and these two speakers that were up on pedastils. They also had 3 exhaust pipes on the rear. I remember 1 day after school going to his house, no one was home so he turned it on for my first time. He dropped the needle on Live Jackson Brown...... The Loadout. Ill never forget the piano or how the crowd was all around us, coming from just 2 speakers!...... Fast forward to today and you couldn't give me a pair of Bose speakers!.... Yes they were 901's

[@johnhpalmer6098]

Hey Ron, just now getting to this video... I became an audiophile, I think in Jr High?, sorta? Let me step back, it began with my father giving me my first record player in '71, I was in the 1st grade, it was one of those phonographs that can run on both AC/DC power and had a built in AM radio, yeah, one of those. I would graduate to a GE clam shell changer in '74, my first Shoebox cassette recorder in '75 (from K-Mart, no less), then my first "real" stereo, a Hitachi all in one with BSR record changer with cassette recorder in '78. Then the decision I rue to this day, a Sansui rack system (was your step dad's system a rack system? :-), ) that was in 1985 and various parts of it, including the craptastic DD semi auto turntable all but the integraded (the best part!) got swapped out with other gear and eventually lead to what I have today, a Rega P6 (just got last Thursday), Grado Prestige green cart from my old budget Kewnood from the mid 80's that the Rega replaced, a NAD 7240PE receiver from 87-92 period, a late 70's TEAC R2R deck, a mid 80's Nakaimchi BX-100 2 head cassette deck, both given to me and some ADS L810 bookshelf speakers (ok, very big bookshelvs at 25" tall) for what is my current setup. BTW, I inherited the budget Kenwood table from my late parents as they bought it brand new in 1985 for all of 63 dollars at a big box store and had wanted to replace it since, oh, 2001? when I first heard of Rega and its philosophy, along with very positive reviews over the years and had intended to keep for 2-3 years anyway before replacing, never mind 21 years later... Anyway, not sorry for my purchase as the P6 is everything I'd thought it would be. I'm more of a music lover than true audiophile, but have always liked good sounding , but mostly unpretentious gear that is on the affordable side of the pool, stuff that often shoots way above its price point. Mind you, the speakers were $700 when new for the pair, and in 1979, that was NOT chump change, many people made all of a few 100 dollars a month then, and it was considered decent enough wages back in the day and many could not just go down to the corner audio store to get a pair without saving and scrimping to buy them. Today, $700 is nothing for many of us on average pay because today, I could purchase a $700 component without saving by paying much of a paycheck for them, but must sacrifice more important things, like bills to do so. :-). Yes, I did use my tax refund and the stimulus check to make getting the Rega possible, but hey, it did help the economy, somewhat. That's the story and I'm sticking with it. LOL. Anyhow, that's how I became a music lover and audiophile. BTW, is one of the LP's in that stack Brubeck's Take Five? Likely not the original Columbia 6-eye I take it? I have the original 1961 6-eye pressing in mono and love it.

[@devondrayton4006]

I became an audiophile the very first time I spoked weed, which was inside of a recording studio. I hit a bong and before I could get over coughing the guy hands me a guitar connected to a marshal half stack and sits down on the drums. It was a great jam. I had to stop to laugh a few times I remember. But yeah getting high was what really changed the way I listened to music.

[@rosswarren436]

I was probably about 8 or 9 years old in the summer of 1966. My sister married a guy who loved music. He had a console stereo system, you know the ones in a wooden cabinet with a record changer and tuner in the middle under a hinged door flanked by two speakers, all of it on four small wooden legs. It had a red stereo light at the bottom middle. I sat myself down in front of it about two feet away. This was the first time I'd ever heard anything more than a AM/FM clock radio or a small transistor radio and I was blown away, both by the much fuller range sound and by the stereo effect of being able to close my eyes and localize the singers and instruments. I've been hooked on audio ever since.

[@redstarwraith]

"Cinnamon Girl" was one of the first songs my old high school band learned how to play.

[@charlier7711]

Great stuff; I had found a 'High End' store and was looking at speakers. The salesman had a pair of used B&W "801 Matrix" speakers; he asked if I had '2 to spend' ( I had about 2 dollars in my pocket - not 2K) They were connected to a Audio Research Pre-amp and Audio Research power amp; these were being fed my a 'stand alone' CD transport, and an 'Audio Alchemy DAC'. And I heard Spyro Gyra 'Shakedown' in an almost 3 dimensional presentation. This was the 80's, I had a Technic's SU-V9 integrated pushing some Bose 901's; the B&W's with the Audio Research gear blew me away and I was hooked.

[@augustspies4773]

Ron, I've been watching your videos for a couple of weeks now, and just came across this one today, and decided to subscribe. I became an audiophile in 1972 when I was 16 years old, living in Santa Cruz, CA. My mom starting dating a guy who was a salesman for DUAL turntables. He eventually moved in for a while and had his stereo system set up. I don't remember exactly what equipment he had, but it was the first "high quality" sound I had encountered. I signed up with the Columbia Records subscription offer (12 LP's for 1 cent, along with a commitment to buy 7 more at $5.95 each) Some of my early choices were 3 Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater, and Cat Stevens. Later, when I graduated from high school and moved to San Francisco, I used to ride the bus across town from the poor section where I lived, to a high class neighborhood that had a Bang and Olufsen store, just to listen! In the mid 80's, while in the Navy I got to purchase some high end stuff for the first time. I picked up a Pioneer SX 1080 receiver, a Technics direct drive changer (which is the only component I still own) and some mid priced speakers whose brand name I can't remember. I owned and listened to this system well into the late 90s. When I settled down, got married and had young children, my wife started complaining about the loud music, so I gradually stopped listening and most of my gear was sold or given away. I recently retired and I went to play some music and found that listening through the crappy Samsung sound bar and subwoofer for the TV was less than satisfying. So I started up the youtube machine and started looking for equipment. After about a month of listening to you, Zero Fidelity, Joe and Tell, some crazy dude with a cat named Chewbacca, Steve Guttenberg and an asian guy named Thomas, I decided to go with the PS Audio Sprout 100 and a pair of Elac Uni-Fi UB5's. I built my own speaker stands from about a $100 worth of materials at Home Depot. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I'm back listening again! And discovering new genres of music that I never appreciated before, like classical and jazz. I feel like a teenager again. But it was your description of Cinnamon Girl that really grabbed my attention. I remember that song and love it immensely, but the one that grabbed me that way was Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys by Traffic along with Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress by the Hollies. Glad to be back and looking forward to future content.

[@lionellandrews9606]

I was just looking for a dust cover for my old techniques turntable and fell down the rabbit hole in the process. Take care of that family Ron... it’s a beautiful thing :-)

[@stephenmahlstedt8533]

I was around 10 years old when I got a Kiss album and an ABBA album, both on vinyl. I played them on my parents run-of-the-mill (I’m guessing) system, and was hooked on music ever since. I’m just now at the age of 48 beginning to explore the world of higher end audio gear, now that I have the financial means, but I’ve been an obsessed musicphile since those first two albums. I will continue to appreciate, study and search for new (to me) music until the day I die. And if I get to listen to that music on a sweet sounding system, then that would be wonderful, but if forced to hold an iPhone up to my ear, I’ll take that too...as long as I have the music. Cheers everyone!

[@Leicaphile27]

In grade 11, I wanted an audio system in my room. I bought a $100 turntable (this was 1984, it was audiophile-like). For the amplifier, I took apart a guitar amp and wired it to the turntable and a pair of speakers. To my ears, at the time, it sounded amazing...probably wouldn't feel that way if I heard it now.

[@StewartMarkley]

For me, it was when I installed some 8" coaxial drivers in the back of my 1963 Chevy Bel air along with a Delco 8-track stereo playing tunes like Jimi Hendrix All Along the Watchtower and Creedence Clearwater Revival Born on the Bayou. It's all about bringing the music to you so that you forget the equipment and just simply enjoy the music. But being an electronics hobbyist even back then, it was only the beginning.

[@doriarama]

That is the story how Ron didn't become the next Alirio Diaz :) Btw, "Cinnamon Girl" is one of my fav riffs.

[@MAELOB]

I blame my uncle's magazine subscriptions to Stereo Review and Audio magazines and his technics systems.

[@markshamilton]

When I was young my older brother had a stereo, some all in one cabinet piece. It sat in the lounge and I would just stare at it never allowed to touch it. One day he was away, my mum and dad went somewhere and I remember them telling me with some authority not to touch his stereo. They left so the first thing I did was turn it on. My brother had just bought a copy of Ram by Paul McCartney. He would play it at home and I loved the track Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey. So I grabbed the album and put it on the turntable, nervous as hell, terrified that I would break something and be found out. Just the process of playing that record, dropping the needle and listening to the music like it was being played just for me was the moment for me.

[@luismanuelcardoso9889]

Loved the video and the story. My story is very similar. In late 80's I had my first audiophile experience. Kenwood was involved too. It was a receiver paired to a couple of homemade speakers 3 way, big 12 inch woofers with crossovers. The source was an Akai reel to reel playing an awesome Chuck Mangione live performance of Children of Sanchez. It sounded amazing! I recently found a pair of PSB Image T65 in excellent shape, have them paired to a Harman Kardon hk 3390, as it doesn't have digital inputs, I'm using a SMSL Sanskrit 10 so I can play from my laptop, tablet or a cd transport. I can't say I'm an audiophile but I really love music. I know my system is not the most refined but I enjoy every song played. I haven't found almost nothing about the speakers but they have a beautiful performance. Greetings from Mexico.

[@512bb]

First, all the best to Sara! I absolutely loved hearing your story Ron. I can't really tell you when I became a audiophile but I can absolutely tell you about my happiest moving memory & becoming a Beatles fan. It was 1976, & my dad bought his fist sports car, a brand new Triumph TR7 with a 8 track driving through the most beautiful mountain roads of upstate New York listening to the Beatles Red album, the most special time in my life, my dad & the Beatles, life never got any better.. And you know what I still have my dad, the car & the album safely stored in a Ziplock.

[@anltiryakiler7050]

I was 11. First year in Edirne. I removed the driver from the non-working Soviet radio. It was 8 or 10 inch alnico full range. I connected it to the output of the radio. I held the magnet and turned the speaker on my face. I don't even remember the song. I felt like i was listening to music for the first time. Pure pleasure with a litle bit excited confusion. Story true but i don't think I'm audiophile. Now i dont have any system.The person next to me is more important than DAC or cable to increase the taste of music. If wine is good, i don't complain about port noise or colorization. If there is whiskey, chinese radios are top notch hi-end.

[@infn]

I remember when I was around 10 years old how much better sounding the bootleg cassette tape of Thriller that I bought was compared to the recording I made of Beat It from the radio, on a minicompo. And how I missed the sound of a pair of Aiwa earbuds that broke, compared to a pair of replacement earbuds. I didn't realise it then but that was my audiophile origin story, and a patchy one at that. After leaving home, audiophilia was left to the side, replaced by computerphilia. It wasn't until years later that the audiophile in me re-emerged like a phoenix rising from the ashes. To be honest, it had never left me - it was really about having the money to feed it in addition to my other hobbies.

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

Great story, I had a similar experience but with the movie the Shawshank Redemption, I remember vividly I hadn't watched or been interested in watching a movie for at least a year for some reason, but one day my mum hired this movie I asked what it was, the title didn't really make me want to watch it, I wasn't going to watch it, but it came on and all I can remember is after it finished I thought to myself "that's the best movie experience I've ever had" and it was on a 51cm old Teac CRT TV probably on VHS. I became an audiophile through car audio, 6inch splits in the front doors, deadened door panels and a 12" ported sub pumping Presendents of the United states of America or Metallicas And Justice for all (one double kick) or Rage against the machine, N.W.A. Although before that I used to see bands live sometimes three times a week and I'd complain about the poor sound, so I guess I knew what I liked before the car audio thing. The PSB Alphas have been known as a budget great sounding speaker that has performed well above its price point. PSB paired with NAD amps (especially the legendary original 3020) are meant to be a good match

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

@Jingle Nuts I do too, 😁.

[@colossusrageblack]

Traded an iPad at Best buy for an Audio Technica LP60, listened for a day, read and watched videos about turntables, went back to Best buy and upgraded to the ATLP120. Then I figured I needed better speakers, so I got Klipsch Towers, then figured I needed a better amp, and it basically became a rabbit hole for about 2 years. Then I got into DIY and the rabbit hole came to an end.

[@merlecrandall1709]

A long time ago from another time in the early 70's as a young teenager. My oldest brother had a stereo (cheap one) . All he had to do is say don't touch my records, to me that sounded like a invitation to play his records when he was nowhere in sight. Fastfoward a few short years . I remember going to a outdoor dance. This guy had a big Cerwin Vega system and i heard this wall of sound like nothing before. That is what really got me hooked. As they say the rest is history

[@scotto541]

I'd love to see a review of a PSB subwoofer.

[@berkut6313]

It’s about being actively engaged in the listening experience, not multitasking about anything in the mean time I guess. For me that was listening to « whole lotta love » on LZ II and « when the levee breaks » on LZ IV. These were my English landlord’s original vinyl pressings, and he had that incredible magnavox cabinet. All tubes, not even sure it was stereo. But it was the only piece of furniture in his post-divorce Bristol house with the sofa in front of it. I could never experience that again once I bought the CDs back in France. If it was not for Lockdown, I.m not sure I would have gone into the search for good sound, albeit being a musician. Make no mistake, I won’t be chasing that sound, but I’m willing to experiment and experience. I have no Vinyls and never really had any, I was into cassettes and CDs. They’re really not convenient to me, but I’m happy for long-time Vinyl owners and lovers that they can upgrade to better turntable and preamps. It’s just not for me.

[@markielinhart]

Great story, nicely told 🌺

[@richardhawkins2647]

I've always loved odd bits of music, as opposed to mainstream. I could never go looking for it, I just had to wait for some to come along. I always owned crappy record players with crappy speakers. But I could hear the music, and the music was the important bit. One day, I thought I'd arrived when I bought a Panasonic midi 'hi-fi' system. Wow, the bass on that thing. Not bass boost, I mean it played notes other systems couldn't play! I then worked with a guy who was an audiophile. I asked him what the fuss was about. What benefit was having gold plated speaker cable? He said it sharpened up the music, a snare became a more crisp snap. (That's about all I remember him saying, he wasn't much of a communicator.) I had to hear it for myself. I was going to buy a new system, yet another midi hi-fi system from Currys. But I took the money, about £300, to Richer Sounds instead. I asked if they could kit me out, just CD player, amp and speakers. The manager there sorted out a set up immediately, I took it home and could hear the difference. One downside. I started listening to all my stuff on the new system and listening to the system, not the music. I upgraded and did the same again. Now I am back to just listening to the music. To be honest I would rather have a crappy system and great music. However, now I have listened to a good system I can't go back. I can't get drawn into the 'gotta buy better' all the time, though. I know I would end up listening to the system again. The one thing I would find really hard is being robbed of those low notes on some music that a lot of speakers can't play. Listen to a track on a good set of headphones and your speakers to see if you are being robbed of any notes!

[@HoomanR17]

can never watch too many videos on good/audiophile sounding vinyl.. looking forward to seeing your list!

[@zacharydarner7036]

I had always known about stereos and audio but never knew how to properly listen to stereo. One day I was asked if I knew about surround sound and how to put in real surround sound so the research began and that's where I figured out how to properly listen and stereo and surround sound. I will not listen to vinyl unless I can sit in the middle now and hear true stereo. I usually close my eyes see a black dome where all the instruments can appear and swirl around me.

[@JMAudioEditions]

down by the river is one of my favs on that album Decade for sure- and on another album live version of cowgirl in the sand by far my two top tracks of all time from Neil Young

[@bujoun76]

I was looking for a job and I walked into an "Ultimate Electrics" store (R.I.P.). I saw a salesman walk a couple to the center of the store and they sat down. The salesman cranked up "Crouching Tiger......." and it sounded just like at the theaters. My socks were blown the f*ck off! I will be buried with my open baffle speakers.

[@HeyWaj10]

Hi Ron - curious if you'd be able to audition/review the mid-tier PSB Imagine X2T's!

[@freone111]

Love it! Nirvana and STP 🙂

[@eltonc1505]

Nice to have you back... Hope ur wife is doing fine....

[@gasolin75]

Jazz at the pawnshop

[@Newrecordday2013]

Good eye!

[@gasolin75]

@@Newrecordday2013 Muddy waters folk singer and John Lee hooker the healer, If you don't know them buy them

[@gasolin75]

Also Mario Biondi, the high five quintet with the album Handful of soul (just discovered it right now)

[@RobertKohut]

How I became an audiophile... "I was born"....:-)

[@RocknRonni]

Hello Ron I have been watching your channel for 7 years now always really good insight thanks for all your hard work. whenever i am looking at anew piece of gear I need to know what does Ron say about it. also if others ask me about gear questions and you have done a review i provide them with a link. i also have a you tube channel for about 7 years now. where i review records and always am seeking out the best sounding version of the record, because you know its all about the source Some think an Audiophile is a gear head, someone that's obsessed about the gear. to me this is a big misconception An audiophile is not your normal music lover. An Audiophile is someone who also loves the sound of the music as well as the music, and is willing to pay a little more for equipment that gets him better sound So as to get an emotional connection to the music. I am a Audiophile not a gear head. A gear head will never be happy. As an audiophile we have an open mind as to better gear options Ect. We know good gear is not snake oil. We also know it doesn't cost a lot of money to have a good sounding system. Yes what is a lot of money? it's a relative term, but most peoples budgets can accommodate a good sounding stereo. it's about priorities, and audiophiles have a higher priority on the sound of their stereo then your average consumer. Maybe it's because the sound of music is more emotionally involving for Audiophiles. It's not only the music but the sound of the music that is a thrill ride for Audiophiles. My youngest son is a electronics tech ET in the Navy. He is looking for his first system. i was thinking about some DIY speakers from Danny at GR Research. I also have a Dodd preamp so he must have a good ear lol. I was thinking a flatpack and he could build the rest. what is your opinion? i read about the Dodd on 10 Audio Jerry is another like yourself that i trust. For my next up grade i was thinking Phono section. what is your opinion of the new Black Ice tube phono by Mr. Fosgate? Cheers Ron Beaudry

[@RocknRonni]

Hello thanks for putting a love on my post did you read it because I had asked you some questions I know you're busy thanks

[@StewartMarkley]

Hi Ron, the both of YOU. I am a big fan of Danny and GR Research DIY stuff, you really can't do any better. In fact I'm working on building some of his speakers right now. I was also an ET in the Navy, from 1970 to 1976 as an inertial navigation technician on the USS Alexander Hamilton SSBN617 FBM submarine. It was the launching pad for my entire career in electronics and IT.

[@RocknRonni]

@@StewartMarkley Thanks Stewart

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

🤗 I WATCHED THIS VIDEO TODAY AND THE FIVE BEST YESTERDAY and now I JUST LISTENED TO NEIL YOUNG 👍 And …IMHHO …It’s makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE LISTENING ON A GOOD SYSTEM 😍😍😍

[@johnolson4977]

Ron by your own definition of an audiophile your Stepfather is an audiophile.... 7:10 Or you will have to add to your own Definition , “ and pull the speakers away from the wall “ 😉

[@Newrecordday2013]

Good point! You got me.

[@johnolson4977]

New Record Day Just keeping you honest

[@markrigg6623]

Yes .I look upon myself as a hi fi enthusiast, and Ron's dad would be best described as that. To me, the label audiophile implies more esoteric gear and the ability to mouth off all these abstract metaphorical adjectives to describe what they may or may not be actually hearing.

[@markwasilow2757]

Hey Ron, Can you show us what your room looks like completed after seeing it empty.

[@Licoricedisc]

Love your channel, been watching for a couple years. I see a couple different albums on your wall... can you list them? thanks! Rick

[@Newrecordday2013]

Here you go, kzbin.info/www/bejne/n32olXmkYrNlo8k

[@julianbutler3950]

This turned out to be a very expensive video in the long run…

[@galessi1226]

Student loans!!!!,....allowed me to ditch my panasonic tuner cassette deck combo.......and move up to yamaha 45 watt integrated receiver.....nakamichi cassette....Phillips turntable...and my beloved ADS speakers......those all died in the 90' s......and have been suffering with low fi until recently.......I thought you were going to pull out the original neil young lp with Cinnamon Girl.....the whole lp is a classic.....no one sounded like him when he first appeared on the scene!!!!

[@chrisparent2218]

Music-phile Vs audio- phile. Which are you. Is there a difference. I think so.

[@doriarama]

True. I am both.

[@Tendervittle]

A man needs a maid🌟

[@Newrecordday2013]

Dude such a solid song!

[@myplaguesify]

please review the psb image b6

[@bujoun76]

Ouch! According to that "definition" those of us that prefer home theater are disqualified. I think we need a more encompassing definition.

[@krisandersson7156]

I really hate the word Audiophile. Today for me it means that you are buying stupidly expensive stuff and you are using music to listen to the equipment, not the other way around. I know several people that behaves like that.