How did YOU get here????? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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PeruvianSkies
02-27-2007, 02:54 PM
Here's a fun idea...

Let's all share how we stumbled across this site and share some of our history on this site...I am curious to see how we all stumbled across this and what our experience has been like...

For me, I began doing tons of research well over a year ago and was looking for some information regarding amplifiers and speakers, but I was really looking for pictures of other peoples setups to get some ideas of my own. I have learned a HUGE amount in the past 18 months on the whole realm of audio world and I am very thankful to this site for saving me thousands of dollars and hours. Also, because of this site I have become far more knowledgable and enjoy helping others that were in the place that I was once.

Carl Reid
02-27-2007, 03:30 PM
I was always into music as a teenager and spent all my allowance on buying CDs and an "awesome" Panasonic Mini-System... I was a die-hard Panasonic fan and when I fnally started working just over 4 years ago, I upgraded to Seperates (an all Technics (Panasonic) setup), I decided to do some research and maybe post an online review for my Technics gear.

So searching for consumer reviews brought me to this site, where I posted some great reviews for my gear. I then looked at the other reviews for products and manufacturers I had never heard of and almost died when I saw the price of a pair of B&W Nautilus (snailshell) speakers... And I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about the world of high-end music and maybe Panasonic wasn't the king of audio equipment...

So I started frequenting the message boards, even though I was clearly at the bottom of the food chain.... Got a million suggested of dump the Technics gear and buy X product instead (none of which was available in my home country, nor could I afford to buy then if it had been)....

Anyway, eventually I fell off the board cuz frankly I got bored of the usual "Bose Sucks", "People who think Cables make a difference are insane", "Norh is awesome" (bet many of you haven't even heard of Norh lol)... and the endless of string of trolls who used to frequent this site.... and I just didn't have the time to be involved with the site as I had other priorities....

So anyway, I migrated to Canada and finally returned to this board after being absent for a few years, couldn't get my old username to work and had to create a new account... And I guess here I am....

icarus
02-27-2007, 07:19 PM
Well I first came across this site when I was looking at purchasing some new towers, I was looking between Paradigm Studio 80's and the Jamo E875's. So i was browsing review after review. I was pretty new to the world of audio and sadly I didn't join the forum previous to buying speakers, I wish i would have looked at different models I haden't heard of. But the time came when my dad was looking at getting into a new set of speakers, and I was looking at upgrading my amp, so I came back to this site, and for some odd reason decided to check out the forum, and instantly I was impressed, and I have been hooked ever since.

I just love it here...

Dusty Chalk
02-27-2007, 07:26 PM
I was searching on equipment, and discovered that this site had a real nice system where everyone could plug in their ratings, and the results tallied. Kept coming back to check on how the latest gear rated, and they used to have this thing where the hottest threads were linked to at the front page. There were a couple music ones I was interested in, so I popped in and posted a few things. Someone started recognizing me from a couple of my posts, and I just kinda got sucked into a few conversations, and the next thing I know, it's 2007 and I'm a net.addict.

markw
02-27-2007, 07:29 PM
I was searching for new used equipment in early '98 and some retail site pointed me to the reviews here. I noticed thay had a forum and, after lurking for a few months, I got the cojones to actually post something.

Rock789
02-27-2007, 08:33 PM
a few years back I decided to upgrade my dolby prologic system... and I wanted to do it right, so I did much research both on the web and in many audio stores...
this website is one I found then and still use today ;o)

Feanor
02-28-2007, 03:06 AM
Here's a fun idea...

Let's all share how we stumbled across this site and share some of our history on this site...I am curious to see how we all stumbled across this and what our experience has been like...

For me, I began doing tons of research well over a year ago and was looking for some information regarding amplifiers and speakers, but I was really looking for pictures of other peoples setups to get some ideas of my own. I have learned a HUGE amount in the past 18 months on the whole realm of audio world and I am very thankful to this site for saving me thousands of dollars and hours. Also, because of this site I have become far more knowledgable and enjoy helping others that were in the place that I was once.

Back in 2002 I was looking around for some new components after living, (happily, I thought), with most of the same stuff since about 1980. (I bought a CD player in '84 which I upgrade in '91 -- that's it). So, looking for reviews, I came upon Audio Review and noticed there were forums. I've been here ever since.

basite
02-28-2007, 04:47 AM
I am always looking up interesting stuff I see,
most of this stuff is audio gear, like you walk past a hifi shop (or you've been to a hifi shop), and you see all those things, (this started with simple things, like cambridge audio, and denon, and other things like that, and continued to expand), and then you come home, and look up all those things you've seen,
when I say 'look up' I mean 'google it', and this site (mostly the review section) always filled the entire first page...
so you click on that, read it a little, and the first times I read it, I didn't find it that interesting, then more visits followed,

then I saw the 'forums' button...
I've been on quite a few forums before (I am not active anymore on most of them but anyways). I still read quite alot of other forums, but the thing that always annoyed me there was that when somebody posted a picture, as a link, like with the attachments (written correct?) I couldn't view them because you got those annoying 'click here to sign up or log in' errors, so that is one of the reasons why I signed up here, soon I found out that you guys were really funny guys, and were really supporting (well, as long as they didn't call us ignorant fuks, or elitest jerks and so :) )

And now I'm still here, (and will stay here), and I've already learned alot...

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

Resident Loser
02-28-2007, 06:46 AM
...either late '99 or early 2000 and I had been away from the hardware end of the hobby for a time. I was trying to find out what had happened to AUDIO magazine, formerly Audio Engineering, itself successor to RADIO est. 1917...or so the masthead said as I recall...

High Fidelity was kaput for quite some time, it's readership absorbed by Stereo Review which itself had become less "stereo" oriented in favor of the nascent HT market, eventually morphing into Sound & Vision I believe...

Anywho, I stumbled onto this place, then under Norb's stewardship, during a web search and began leafing through the forums when I came upon the "Cables and Interconnects" forum...Now you have to appreciate the fact that my last perusals of said mags had ads for the then cottage industry of aftermarket wiring...the hype handed me a laugh then as it still does to this day, but I digress...

After lurking and taking in what I still contend is more claptrap than anything else, I began to post, under my original moniker, as a staunch member of the "naysayers" camp...This did not sit well with certain parties and I engaged them much as I still do today, although the cast of characters has changed...In those days it was a feeding-frenzy, lead by a certain wire guru who had his followers, who did most of the dirty work.

My first friendly response from a like-minded individual "ignore the man behind the curtain" was message from markw, who was quite happy to have another individual on the team...and there was Eyespy, mtrycrafts, Pat D, FLZapped, Norm Strong, Woodman and a few others...

So here I am, despite numerous attempts within and without to have me quit the place and while I have frequented other websites, for some un-godly reason, I invariably call this place "home"...it must be the masochist in me.

jimHJJ(...either that or I'm as dumb as a bag of hammers...)

L.J.
02-28-2007, 07:06 AM
I was looking for reviews on Energy speakers. I joined the forums to ask a couple of questions and here I am. I'm still learning but thanks to you guys I have come a long way. I hang out at other sites (mostly lurking) but AR is home.

GMichael
02-28-2007, 07:46 AM
I was looking to make the switch from 2 channel to surround sound. I had my old Pioneer running 4 speakers around my pool table. It was so much easier to hear the TV this way. Often, people figgin' talk while playing pool. How dare they speak over B-5!
Oh well, so I was checking Google for reviews on receivers. After a few hits I stumbled onto this site as well as others. I found a thread from a few years back. Some regulars were bashing it out over what receiver was the best at the time. A knowledgeable man named Woodman made a great case for Yamaha. So picked one up and kept lurking. Then one day, there was a thread about someone having trouble with their Yamaha driving his ML's. (duh) Someone popped in about how all Yamaha's were crap. So I had to start writing. Ended up in a big fight with Flo, although I doubt he remembers. I was a newbie then. A few months later I heard a pair of Maggy's and the next thing you knew, I was asking Flo for advice on them. Been here ever sense.

kelsci
02-28-2007, 08:19 AM
I came here perhaps in late 1999 or the early 2000s. The reason why my join date and Resdident Losers join date does not go back to those times was some kind of upgrade to this site that took place about the time of the current join date listed that eradicated the original join dates. I had been dabbling in home electronics starting from the age of 4 or 5.
I saw that there were forums on this site and looked them over in the hope that I might be able to give advice to those that needed it from the knowledge that I had picked up over the years. It is true that many come and go, even I was off for awhile, but did return when the grey matter gave me the urge to come back. Sometimes you can get what I call "internet burnout". Besides audioreview, there was a wonderful forums site on a site called E-TOWN which one's questions were answered by some of the honchos in the industry. Each day, I would hit both sites. On this site I had a friendly spar with Terrible Terrence over Dynaquad. I remember with great effort trying to help Lexmark understand the EX channel when that came into existence. Since I cannot afford to upgrade, I really cannot give too much current info to help but I do read what others have to say so it keeps me informed.

dean_martin
02-28-2007, 08:59 AM
I stumbled across this site in '99 or '00. Much like RL, I had a subscription to Stereo Review (which became Sound & Vision), but it had been almost 10 yrs since I bought any audio equipment other than a cd player from Circuit City. I became interested in 2 areas and started doing some web surfing for info. In the mid-90's, a law school classmate and I collected obscure videos from mail-order companies, mostly Euro-trash from the likes of Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, etc. To save money, we each bought a hi-fi vcr, divided our video wish list and dubbed from ea. other's purchases. (We rarely ran into any copy-protection problems because our sources were copies converted from European originals.) After law school we went our separarte ways, but stayed in contact. My friend bought a dvd player and all I heard from him was how great dvd is. So, I needed to get a dvd player and I found this site while looking for reviews.

My second interest was to see how my stereo system stacked up against current standards. I quickly decided on new speakers after following discussions and recommendations by users like Vandy and others. After getting the new pair of speakers for my music-only system, I had to do something about the system for movies in the family room. I needed a pair of speakers that would function in an entertainment cabinet. That's when I learned about sealed enclosures from the good folks who used to be regulars here. I bought a pair of NHT SuperOnes for the cabinet and they perform almost as well in there as they do in free space. I added a sub at about the same time and haven't looked back. I was a regular for a while, took a hiatus, came back and went through the required registration, etc. which caused me to change the moniker I had been using. In addition to using the reviews and exchanging ideas and suggestions about equipment, I've enjoyed the favorite films board, the heated political exchanges on the off topic board and the info on new music at rave recs.

Glen B
02-28-2007, 09:08 AM
I came here perhaps in late 1999 or the early 2000s. The reason why my join date and Resdident Losers join date does not go back to those times was some kind of upgrade to this site that took place about the time of the current join date listed that eradicated the original join dates.

Same thing happened with me. My join date here is listed as Dec., 2001 but my actual join date is around Sept., 1998 when I posted my first product review here. I got bumped down to newbie status when the site was upgraded to its present incarnation. I don't recall exactly what audio related information I was searching the Internet for when I stumbled across Audio Review.

recoveryone
02-28-2007, 09:51 AM
According to my Join date, I was around when the internet was first being develop at MIT and UCLA and lets not forget former VP Gore. But the military felt they needed it more than the general public until the late 80's. I started posting around 1999 and have seen this forum change at least 3 times over the years. I think one of my first product review was on my old Pioneer VSX 505s DPL and my old trusty optimus X77's

blackraven
02-28-2007, 09:59 AM
I was lurking in the back ground for a couple of years after doing some online research for some equipment and decided to join this past year when I finally upgraded to some high end equipment.

topspeed
02-28-2007, 10:59 AM
I was surfing porn and somehow got hotlinked here.

GMichael
02-28-2007, 11:13 AM
I was surfing porn and somehow got hotlinked here.

Too much information. Some things are better left unsaid.

Rock789
02-28-2007, 11:15 AM
I was surfing porn and somehow got hotlinked here.
oh yes, oh, you sexy speaker you!,
oh yes, look at that preamp!!!!

Resident Loser
02-28-2007, 11:20 AM
I was surfing porn and somehow got hotlinked here.

...they mistook aural for oral ...

jimHJJ(...it could happen...)

basite
02-28-2007, 11:44 AM
I was surfing porn and somehow got hotlinked here.


yeah, some people might consider flo's speakers as porn... :ihih:



rock on,
Bert.

blackraven
02-28-2007, 12:56 PM
Oh lets not start talking about porn and Flo's speakers because I can get really raunchy with that subject.:ihih: :devil:

Rock789
02-28-2007, 01:10 PM
he may be selling his speakers, so time for new porn ... (see the svi selling jbl thread)

Dusty Chalk
02-28-2007, 02:17 PM
According to my Join date, I was around when the internet was first being develop ... Wow! How'd that happen?

PeruvianSkies
02-28-2007, 02:22 PM
I was surfing porn and somehow got hotlinked here.

Both are addictions, both cost money, and I suppose both could lead to divorce.

Rock789
02-28-2007, 02:33 PM
one needs to find an understanding woman (or man)

E-Stat
02-28-2007, 04:20 PM
Let's all share how we stumbled across this site and share some of our history on this site...I am curious to see how we all stumbled across this and what our experience has been like...
I was referred here from another audio site regarding the cable issue. I was amazed at the quantity of virtual ink spilled by those who would debate endlessly about a topic for which they find no value - and most often never experienced the cables in question anyway.

I fall on the other side of the fence than RL since I find audible benefits to using a variety of aftermarket flavors in my systems. To each his own.

rw

topspeed
02-28-2007, 04:48 PM
...they mistook aural for oral ...

jimHJJ(...it could happen...)
:lol:

Wasn't Jenna in that one?


OK, OK, before I completely hijack this thread and the newbies start thinking I was serious, my story is pretty much like everyone else. I was researching some equipment, speakers most likely, and came across this site. Thanks to my supreme ineptness on the computer, I had never joined a forum before. IOW, AR was my first and you know what they say about your first time...

It was quite lively back in the day, what with flame wars, trolls, and insults being hurled all willy nilly. However, along with the resident morons, we also had the genius' such as Woodman, Doc Greene, Sir T, and countless others. Thankfully, we still have a lot of knowledgeable members such as Wooch, Kex, Edyct, Geoffcin, and countless others that over the years have increased my knowlege of this hobby tenfold. I've learned more on this site than I ever learned through years of reading TAS, SR, Audio, Stereophile, etc.

This is a much more civil place than before. Not as lively, but not as acrimonious either. Do I miss the wars? Yes and no. I enjoy not being challenged at every turn (typical Mtry response: "You may think you heard that, but you didn't. It's all in your head. DBT's have proven blahblahblah..."), but on the other hand, you can only answer the question "What's the best _______" so many times.

I don't post as much as I used to and when I do, it's usually to goof around with GMichael, Worfster, Cam, FA, Kex, Wooch, and the rest of the knuckleheads in Fave Films or OT. Ironically, we rarely talk about audio. Go figure.

bobsticks
02-28-2007, 06:53 PM
No, seriously. It's the first thing that popped up.

Like many, I have always had an affinity for music and have always managed to acquire whatever my flavor of the moment might be. When I was younger I never had any money and as I got some I was moving around all the time so adding more expensive junk to move around and break never made any sense. Having settled down (a bit) the time seemed right.

The cast of knowledgables has already been mentioned and I agree that I too have learned quite a bit--a crash course as it were. That's what piqued my interest and characters like Bernd and JM and JRA and the Rave Recers keep me hanging out. Gotta give props to Flo as well. I think I had posted once or twice and that crazy Bavarian guy was good enough to call me and talk for hour or so on his dime, which is not exactly cheap being a transatlantic phone call to a stranger.

It's probably worth noting that I came in during the Lexmark wars. That kind of entertainment is priceless.

jrhymeammo
02-28-2007, 06:56 PM
Got sick of buying stupid audio mags. Anyone here still them?

then moved on to Epinion.com for reviews on speakers. I saw a reference to AR on one of the reviews. I'm glad I did, cuz if it wasnt for this site and members here such as royphil, nightflier, and hifitommy I would've never got into vinyl. Thanks to bobsticks too, finally got back into shiny discs again

also, I would like to give out a shout out to. umm ummm........ MYSELF!!!

PeruvianSkies
02-28-2007, 08:03 PM
Actually If I can remember correctly I actually looked at this site mainly for the pictures for quite some time before actually joining. I then only used the Photo Gallery and posted my stuff for some constructive criticism and then finally started getting in on the discussions.

Carl Reid
02-28-2007, 08:50 PM
This is cool. I found my review for my old Technic's speakers. Looks like I was here back in 2001.... Man, I've been away from this site a lot longer than I thought....

Oh for the record, I think this site is a great place and I've really learned a lot here over the years and hopefully I've given out one piece of good advice to somebody over the years...

Though, I do find that many people (myself included) are quite active on the site for a while and then dissappear into the night.... I think that it's hard to stay focused on discussing this hobby... As others have said, there is only so many times that recommending X product can hold your interest before you just avoid the discussion all together...

But still I think it says something good about this site, that members return eventually...

lewburgh
02-28-2007, 11:32 PM
I stumbled upon this site because I enjoy reading reviews about audio components and speakers. I was in the midst of uprading my speakers and other components and I found the insight and knowledge of the members here to be unparalled. I continue to come back to this site to read the reviews, but even more so because I appreciate the passion and enthusiasm the members here hve for audio. Special thanks to nightflier and blackraven who made me feel welcome from the get go and went out of their way to help!

Florian
03-01-2007, 02:00 AM
I must have been 17 and my first set was a Onkyo TX-DS555 with Infinity RS3 bookshelves. A friend of my stepmother came over and we talked about audio. He couldnt relate to me and couldnt find anything good to say about my boxes. He mentioned he had speakers with no cabinets and no cones. I didnt get it at the time, but found a pair of Magnepan MMG's on audioreview since they where feautered here as a "hot buy". Thats basically how i ended up here.

kexodusc
03-01-2007, 06:39 AM
Back in 1999 I was looking for reviews on an Arcam CD player and a new Marantz a/v receiver to go with my PSB speakers. For 3 years or so I used to browse the reviews and briefed the forum infrequently under at least 2 other handles that I can't even remember. I guess I re-joined in 2003 or so under "kexodusc" and it stuck.

JohnMichael
03-01-2007, 09:51 AM
A salesman at the now defunct local audio store told me he was writing a review for AudioReview. I said what? He explained about this audio site where people write reviews about equipment they have used. Never having a lot of money to make mistakes choosing equipment I thought the site might be of help. I began reading reviews long before I checked out the message boards. One day I thought I might have something to say and I jumped into the fun. Been having fun learning and getting to know others. This is my favorite site on the internet.

hydroman
03-01-2007, 12:14 PM
Another stumbler looking for info before a purchase (of a new reciever and later, new speakers).

I have learned quite a bit in the short period of time here.