What was the 1st system that made you go WOW!!!!

[MRC01]

The Polk SRT surround sound system at Musical Images in Edgware (London) was the first time I was completely (and literally) blown away.
...

That brings back memories. My first set of speakers was the Polk 10B. I liked them so much I wrote Polk a letter and they sent me a poster similar to that one.

 

[Timcognito]

1977 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA

 

[MattHooper]

My dad was an audiophile and in the early 80's brought home KEF 105.2 speakers (the robot looking ones with the adjustable mid/tweeter 'head.') and the Carver cube amp with the Carver C-4000 Sonic Holography Pre-amp. Technics turntable. It was just mindblowing at the time, and it was my discovery of imaging and sonic "realism." We were the envy of our friends who would come over to listen to Earth Wind And Fire, Van Halen etc all the time on our system.

Couldn't afford any of that stuff once I went to school etc. But in the 90's I remember being a large downtown book store and hearing an eerily real sound of a trumpet playing. I followed it and discovered it was coming from a strange looking see-through speaker. Didn't really know it at the time, but it was a Martin Logan electrostatic. I remember being mesmerized by the sound.

Later on my friend bought Quad ESL 63s and a dynaco ST-70 amp. Listening at his house was life-changing. Literally. Never heard anything quite like it before. It was my "I have to have this" moment that set me on the crazy journey I'm still on. (I ended up with ESL 63s, and added Gradient dipole subs, and later moved on to box speakers).

​

 

[Blumlein 88]

Should have made this a poll. Was the 1st serious sounding audio experience that made you go WOW with panel speakers or something else?

I could have had choices for conventional box, horns, panels or something else.

Now if we can only find out where Harman went astray.

Say I as long time panel owner currently rocking Revel speakers.

 

[rdenney]

Rachmaninoff played on a Linn LP12 into Magneplanars through a Phase Linear 400.

But the Maggies still sounded crispy-fried. The same table into the same amp through Advents sounded better to me. The table provided the wow effect, compared to a Rega Planar 3 and my lowly Technics. What was added was clarity, or what I see described as “inner detail”.

And the big amp. My listening up to that time on my own system was a college-dorm 40-wpc Kenwood.

I soon after bought a Spectro Acoustics amp that added serious power until it blew up. Have become persuaded that running out of power was a.) not as uncommon as many think, and b.) created clipping that was far more audible that harmonic distortion, I bought a cheapie Samson Servo 500 PA amp. I tried a Carver PA amp of half that power (a PM300), and went back to the Samson.

So, a good turntable made a wow! difference I did not expect, and abundant power likewise.

A recent positive wow! was hearing Maynard Ferguson’s MF Horn 4-5, Live at Jimmy’s in my new (to me) Revel F12’s, properly positioned. It was the first time I noticed really good imaging in a system at my home.

All my other wows were music-related, not system-related.

Rick “who listened to a ‘reference’ all-McIntosh/B&W system very recently that made a wow!, but more like ‘wow! That sucks!’” Denney

 

[jhaider]

I’ll can think of two different ones, in alphabetical order:

1) Big hybrid electrostatic from MartinLogan in the previous iteration of HiFi Buys in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood, playing the Gardiner/Philharmonia read of Holst's "The Planets" on CD. I was maybe 13, 14. I'd never heard an orchestra sound so "in the room" before, like you could reach out and grab the baton. They also looked so cool. I think that era's ML's are better styled than any subsequent generation. I do not remember, nor care about, the "associated equipment." I'm sure it was expensive, and it was from an era before room correction, so...whatever. Funny, every time after that I heard MLs I disliked them, until the most recent iteration with end-fire array woofers and ARC, set up at a trade show with Anthem electronics. Those sounded quite nice, and were the second or third best speakers at that show after Salon2's set up by Mr. Voecks or F36s also set up by Kevin.

2) Tannoy D700 set up by Gordon Waters in another long-gone metro Atlanta audio shop, Audio Atlanta around the Marietta Square, mid-late 1990s. Recording was Stevie Ray Vaughan's live "Little Wing" cover. The dynamics, imaging, and clarity had me listening to nothing but coaxes from 5"-12" from the mid-1990s until I heard the JBL LSR705i a couple years ago. Again, there was associated equipment. It was besides the point.

 

[001]

I remember visiting my uncle in the late 70s in The Netherlands, from what I can remember it was (silver/champagne colored) Schneider equipment driving Acoustat panels. There were 2 panels each setup like room dividers and it was one the first times I heard Queen's 'Night at the Opera'. I didn't want to leave

 

[Moonhead]

AVI ADM40 active 2way floorstander.
Never looked at passive or vinyl again.

 

[DSJR]

Interesting. Re the 63s, I remember catching some pre-release coverage in a UK magazine (HFN, maybe?) where the journalist heard the new speakers in Peter Walker's lab. The lab was an untidy mess, and the speakers were sitting high on a pair of old kitchen stools. The scenario was reported as the usual mad-scientist PW schtick, but I remember thinking, OK, Walker feels he needs to elevate these things somewhat.

In my experience, 63's should NEVER be sat on the floor!!!!! The domestic versions with intrusive mesh grille under the cloth ideally needed to be lifted and tilted back slightly to improve hf response. The pro version had a simpler less safe 'open' criss-cross type of metal grille and these were rather better if there was no risk if children poking things into them... tales to be told all in the table-top 'Quad' book as regards little profit made as 57's were too labour-intensive and each '63' needed extensive QC work before leaving the factory apparently. No wonder 'we' complain about the high costs of some domestic speakers NOT made for pennies/cents on China, but that's another story for a different thread

 

[DSJR]

AVI ADM40 active 2way floorstander.
Never looked at passive or vinyl again.

Yeah - and director Ashley James made a huge point about the 40's never being listened to until the design was signed off!

Knowing what I feel I know now, I'd say that weas an incredibly risky thing to do and more good luck in driver choice than judgement. A shame nobody except one owner (of ADM9's) ever properly measured them to cut through the marketing puff... (I am actually an AVI fan of old and it was these UK made electronic products that helped shift me away from subjectivist takes on selling and owning amps and sources of dubious tech abilities)

 

[MattHooper]

Rachmaninoff played on a Linn LP12 into Magneplanars through a Phase Linear 400.

But the Maggies still sounded crispy-fried. The same table into the same amp through Advents sounded better to me. The table provided the wow effect, compared to a Rega Planar 3 and my lowly Technics. What was added was clarity, or what I see described as “inner detail”.

And the big amp. My listening up to that time on my own system was a college-dorm 40-wpc Kenwood.

I soon after bought a Spectro Acoustics amp that added serious power until it blew up. Have become persuaded that running out of power was a.) not as uncommon as many think, and b.) created clipping that was far more audible that harmonic distortion, I bought a cheapie Samson Servo 500 PA amp. I tried a Carver PA amp of half that power (a PM300), and went back to the Samson.

So, a good turntable made a wow! difference I did not expect, and abundant power likewise.

Sounds fun!

A recent positive wow! was hearing Maynard Ferguson’s MF Horn 4-5, Live at Jimmy’s in my new (to me) Revel F12’s, properly positioned. It was the first time I noticed really good imaging in a system at my home.

I'm intrigued by that. Why do you think you hadn't heard really good imaging in your home before?
I ask because I've been hearing amazing imaging for as long as I can remember from plenty of speakers in my home, which I think is the experience of many others, so what might have been holding you back from achieving/experiencing it in your home systems?

Cheers.

 

[rdenney]

Sounds fun!



I'm intrigued by that. Why do you think you hadn't heard really good imaging in your home before?
I ask because I've been hearing amazing imaging for as long as I can remember from plenty of speakers in my home, which I think is the experience of many others, so what might have been holding you back from achieving/experiencing it in your home systems?

Cheers.

Poor placement. I was never able to place my Advents advantageously at least since the 80’s, and in the 80’s I wasn’t listening for imaging. (I was listening for timbre and detail.) when I bought the Revels, it was with a plan in hand to rearrange the room.

Rick “facilitated by the slightly less bulky shape of the Revel towers” Denney

 

[MattHooper]

Poor placement. I was never able to place my Advents advantageously at least since the 80’s, and in the 80’s I wasn’t listening for imaging. (I was listening for timbre and detail.) when I bought the Revels, it was with a plan in hand to rearrange the room.

Rick “facilitated by the slightly less bulky shape of the Revel towers” Denney

Ah, that makes sense.

I think I was hooked on imaging early, listening to our KEF 105.2/Carver amps set up as a teenager.

 

[ahofer]

Pair of these (Duntech Sovereigns), driven by Threshold amps, in a showroom in New Haven in the mid-80s (Must have been 1986, because I remember playing Graceland on them). I’d actually worked at an audio store before then, but we didn’t have anything like this.

 

[Starlifter]

1978 I work at SCCS in Charleston SC.
The other manager Leonard Gibbs made live recordings of the Charleston symphony. He play it with krell amps, and Dalquist DQ-10s. In a 1800 sq ft room.
Amazing sound reproduction. I could never reproduce the sound so I am a JBL L300 and Kenwood KR-9600
lover.

 

[garbulky]

There hasn't been a system like my first experience with entry level audio. So it wasn't high end but to my newbie ears, I couldn't tell the difference.
I think it was some sort of small JBL home theater surround system with maybe a 32 inch standard definition tv playing a Top Gun laserdisc. It was unbelievable. I'd never heard anything like it. Probably never will as you can't replicate that sense of audio newbiness.

First "high end" system - well I don't know what's considered high end but that would be my $1200 Axiom M80 towers couple to my $300 Emotiva UPA-2. It redefined what was possible with sound in one's own home to me. Things like plausible soundstage, even a sense of depth. All kinds of fun.

First high end headphones that made me go wow = the Sennheiser HD800S equalized with the Garage Kameleon eq and schiit loki mini+ and Emotiva Bas-X A-100. Sure I loved the HD700 and the HD 600. But the HD800S bought things up just enough in resolution where I realized I hadn't heard detail reproduced like that through transducers.

 

[whyfi]

Local shop here has a 100% Genelec home theater showcase. Made up of a bunch of those little 80x0 speakers, a 1234A center channel and 7382 subwoofer. It was mind blowing.
In the 2 channel showcase room was a pair of speakers about 6 feet tall, each with 5 drivers. Don't remember the brand/model, was not one I'd heard of before. They were only $35,000. Powered by some big a Krell amp. That was crazy too.
My first 2 wow systems on the same day in same shop.

 

[jeffbook]

1978 I work at SCCS in Charleston SC.
The other manager Leonard Gibbs made live recordings of the Charleston symphony. He play it with krell amps, and Dalquist DQ-10s. In a 1800 sq ft room.
Amazing sound reproduction. I could never reproduce the sound so I am a JBL L300 and Kenwood KR-9600
lover.

The DQ-10s would take everything a Krell amp could give them in a room that size. I bought the DQ-10s in 1976 and powered them with a GAS Son of Ampzilla in a much smaller room. Barely enough power for them. They were excellent for their time, but had some imaging issues and bass issues. Popular mods for them were to replace the tweeters and the piezo super tweeters with KEF tweeters and mirror image them for improved (smoother) top end and imaging. At lest that was the modification recommend by the golden ear types back then. These were what I listened to for 26 years until my WOW moment with Siegfried Linkwitz (see post #2 in this thread)

 

[Starlifter]

Leonard had the owner of Dalquist work with him on several mods.
Amarillo I believe I had one of those but traded it away.

 

[brimble]

In the early 80s, hearing Queen's "Jazz" played on a CD player through Sennheiser um maybe HD25s or something similar, in a public listening space in the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Totally changed my life.