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

[Blumlein 88]

I mean the 1st high end or serious sound. One that just made you stop and go wow! I've not heard anything close to this.

For me it was giving a co-worker a lift home because his car battery died. He asked me to come in for a bit have a glass of ice tea. In his living room he had some Magnepan MG2's. A G.A.S. hybrid power amp fed by an Audio Research pre amp. His source was a Micro Seiki TT. He played a few things for me, and it was so much better than anything I had ever heard. It took 6 months to scrouge around a pair of Maggies for myself. One of those sounds where you say, "I've got to have that!" Of course I didn't duplicate his system, but I needed to put together everything else needed. Though my Sherwood receiver at the time did a good job powering the Maggies until I got a real power amp.

Of course the gear looked so cool too. Here is the Micro Seiki TT he had, and he did have three arms like this.

 

[jeffbook]

The Linkwitz Orion, I heard it at Siegfried Linkwitz's home in October 2002 when I had to travel to San Francisco on business. I just looked at him and said "You've got to be kidding me....."

 

[PierreV]

That would be the first CD player I heard, at a friend's house. I think it was the Sony CDP 101, playing Dire Straits "Telegraph Road" on Elipson 1703 at the end of 1983. I had Technics SL??? turntables and Shure M95 cartridges - the difference was nothing short of stunning, especially on the low volume part at the start of the song.

That remains my only "WTF OMG WOW" moment.

More recently, a comparative listening session between KEF Blade 2 / Giya G3 / Focal Scala Utopia when I was shopping for new speakers. It was definitely a wow moment as well but, since my in-house speakers were Bose 901 / Klipsch Ref 7 / Tannoy, the improvement was logical.

 

[Jim Matthews]

A suspended pair of Quad ESL63 with a simple NAD preamp and solid state amp driven by a Linn LP12 before the CD revolution started.

The room was near ideal size, the owner had an extensive collection of original Blue Note LPs.

It was the first time I realized how much a room mattered.

 

[Chrispy]

My own really other than systems I demoed at dealers. I was 16 and thought I'd done very well, too

ps That was a handed down Fisher receiver, a Dual 1219 with a Shure M91ED to start, and a pair of original Advent speakers....

 

[jkasch]

Vietnam vet friend brought home a system purchased through the PX. Sansui amplification and Rectilinear III’s. Probably 1969 and I was still in high school.

 

[escksu]

No idea the amp but it was a pair of Dynaudio contour 1.1... REally incredible speakers.

 

[617]

The big Acoustats powered by AR tubes at a friend's uncle's house. Always an uncle.

 

[JRS]

College in Southern Cal 1975. Some older friends took me to some high end audio store in LA to listen to some Infinity's. Had to wait a while for the salesman to fire them up: my jaw dropped and I thought I heard God.

I vowed that one day I would own a pair. Took nearly twenty five years before that promise was realized with a pair of the IRS Gamma's, using drivers whose lineage went directly back to the Servostatic 1A.

 

[617]

Funny how many of these experiences came from dipoles, given how relatively uncommon they are. I should make some.

 

[Spocko]

High end speaker shopping for the first time - sat in a dealer showroom and heard the Totem Mani (bookshelf speakers) playing Last of the Mohicans soundtrack - I was stunned that such tiny speakers could go so low so hard!

 

[jkasch]

College in Southern Cal 197. Some older friends took me to some high end audio store in LA to listen to some Infinity's. Had to wait a while for the salesman to fire them up: my jaw dropped and I thought I heard God.

I vowed that one day I would own a pair. Took nearly twenty five years before that promise was realized with a pair of the IRS Gamma's, using drivers whose lineage went directly back to the Servostatic 1A.View attachment 165500

I remember reading a test for those (High Fidelity magazine?). They had the widest flattest FR graph I’d ever seen at the time.

 

[Chrispy]

The big Acoustats powered by AR tubes at a friend's uncle's house. Always an uncle.

Not if you don't have any on either side of the family....nor aunts, both parents were single kids. Always wanted both, had some great aunts/uncles that sorta filled in along with some remote cousins, but just not the same

 

[JRS]

That would be the first CD player I heard, at a friend's house. I think it was the Sony CDP 101, playing Dire Straits "Telegraph Road" on Elipson 1703 at the end of 1983. I had Technics SL??? turntables and Shure M95 cartridges - the difference was nothing short of stunning, especially on the low volume part at the start of the song.

That remains my only "WTF OMG WOW" moment.

More recently, a comparative listening session between KEF Blade 2 / Giya G3 / Focal Scala Utopia when I was shopping for new speakers. It was definitely a wow moment as well but, since my in-house speakers were Bose 901 / Klipsch Ref 7 / Tannoy, the improvement was logical.

So do tell, which did you buy?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Funny how many of these experiences came from dipoles, given how relatively uncommon they are. I should make some.

Just what I was thinking as I read the replies so far.

 

[AudioSQ]

Mine was a car stereo back in the mid 90s. Image Dynamics speakers, horns, IDQ 6"s, IDQ 12", Zapco amps, Clarion head unit, a couple 32 band EQs. He played Thunder Struck and I've spent too much money on stereo equipment ever since.

I eventually ended up purchasing a lot of the same gear, but mine never sounded as good. Probably because I never splurged for the EQs.

I moved to a walking city and got rid of the car, forced me to switch to home audio.

 

[Doodski]

My first wOw system that I heard was at a friend of a friends place when I was ~13. It was KlipschHorns in a tiny little room. It was small enough that 4 people in it made the air stale and warm. He had a 35w/ch Hitachi Dynaharmony amp and a turntable. He played Streetheart Snow White and it rocked good. The tambourine was very well reproduced and could be heard like it was in the room.

 

[PierreV]

So do tell, which did you buy?

Soundwise, I would have been happy with any of those. I went for the Giya, but also added the Focal to the stable a bit later.
And, of course, the small differences I thought I had perceived in my in-store sighted listening test all but disappeared in a blind test at home

Psychologically, I find this interesting: even the rational part of me knows I probably would fail a practical blind test with the Kef as well, the irrational part of me still feels that I _might_ be missing something the Kef would deliver and feels the urge to purchase them as well from time to time. Fortunately, I don't have enough room for a third pair. Practical constraints limit my irrational compulsive behavior and that is a good thing!

 

[Puddingbuks]

Early nineties, I heard this speaker, Floating Systems Synthese 1:

This was a revelation. Hearing Tom’s Diner from a LP12 and other songs. The dynamics, the scale - wow.

 

[cany89]

76' JBL L50, Pioneer U-05 DAC + Pre, Counterpoint Solid Amp. I got all used from different sellers in a few months. Blow away my Elac's + integrated setup. Realy had the WOW factor when you were listening to rock music.