How did you get into the hobby of HT?

[L.J.]

WOW!! Wescott, I just finished your book, (JK) and that's one heck of a story. You have a beautiful home. Thanks for sharing your story and pics.

[westcott]

WOW!! Wescott, I just finished your book, (JK) and that's one heck of a story. You have a beautiful home. Thanks for sharing your story and pics.

I apologize for the long winded story. I thought the background history would give more perspective.

I appreciate your kind words. My wife and I made several compromises and we are not completely finished, but I think we both won!!! I am a lucky man to have a wife that would let me use the family room for such a venture. No other room in the house was adequate, IMO.

[GMichael]

Great story & pics Westcott.

[westcott]

Great story & pics Westcott.

Your comments are greatly appreciated! Makes all the hard work all that more worthwhile.
My wife and I did every bit of it except for the roller hurricane shutters.

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes!!!

[Tarheel_]

since i'm at work...i gotta make this brief...(enjoyable thread)

back in 1997, my girlfriend and I rented a DVD player from Hollywood video and selected a few movies from their lot of 10. We were the first to rent from this particular store and they were excited as were we. Well, i only connected the player directly to an old 27" tv with 2 BOSE 301 for audio. We were simply blown away by the quality! Over the next year, Best Buy began to sell DVD players with freebies...after laying down $350 for Toshiba's cheapest model we began our HT journey.
As my income increased, i began to add Polk towers, center, etc....
Fast forward til today and my then girlfriend is now my wife, we have a house with a full size basement and i'm running a full 7.1 surround system with a 50" RPTV. We love HT and really enjoy our time there with/without the kids.

Now, i gotta get back to work so i can pay for the next upgrade...a HD projector.

(by the way, the Toshiba is still working great and is now my bedroom player.)

[BEETLEMAN]

ive always been a 2 channel sort of feller. but my foray started in the mid seventies when my grandmother gave me an old record player witha bunch of old records. rip things apart and then put them back together. most of it stayed apart as i couldnt remember to put them back together.
had a few console systems that i pulled apart and started making components from those. without much luck. i did find an old record player and an old amp in a rumble sale ( cant remember the make) and started from there. bought some radioshack speakers minimus and had 4 channel for a while. early to mid 80's i mucked about with some pioneer/radioshack stuff jbl h/k jvc bose and too many more to remember.
got mostly into car stereo for the next few years as there is no sense having a stereo for home viewing when you only get one t.v. channel where i was living and only one video store 45 miles away (northern b.c.)
moved a few times got into satellite systems had rotel/ nad/ h/k.pioneer/denon/ basically had them all( 2 channel) got into ht about 10 years ago with a h/k setup that i have upgraded to another hk with customs. guess you could call it a 5.4 setup but for what it is its pretty good for my needs. and mostly carver and phase linear now (main system)
people who live near the big cities dont know how good they have it when it comes to comparison shopping for the newest and neatest gadgets. all us others have to wait until it trickles down the pipe before we can give it a whirl. and with items changing so fast by the time you find something you like they have allready replaced it with next years model.
oh well i guess there something to be said for the price of product advancement. im definately happy now with what ive got and am tired of chasing that golden note for awhile. time to enjoy the noise. but there was a t.v. i was looking at.......

[ericl]

When i was in Jr High, my brother was in high school. He had a bunch of buddies who were the dorks with with ridiculously obnoxious car stereos. They were constantly switching out parts, so there were always old drivers, crossovers, speaker cabinets, and electronics around. i was always fooling around with this stuff, mixing and matching drivers, crossovers, putting drivers in goofy enclosures, trying every and any wire i could find as speaker cable, taking things apart, etc.

Mainly, I just detroyed a lot of really crappy components, but i got the bug. I worked all summer when i was 13 and bought a sony receiver and cd player, and some cheap speakers that i quickly destroyed. I found some solid old fishers somewhere that had hefty cabinets, and could take a lot of abuse, and played loud.

I kept this system through college, and then when i got my first job out of college, i decided to get some new speakers. On my hunt, I looked up some hifi mags at the bookstore, and it was all over. I don't want to think about how much stuff I've been through since then!

I guess what I want to know is not how you got into this hobby but how do i get out!

eric

[GMichael]

I guess what I want to know is not how you got into this hobby but how do i get out!

eric

Thanks for the story Ericl. Short but fun.

As for how to get out of this hobby? My guess is in a pine box. Or do you prefer planers?

[L.J.]

I guess what I want to know is not how you got into this hobby but how do i get out!

Probably until your hearing goes.

[L.J.]

I must say, this thread is making me feel very young. Not that I'm complaining. Everyone is like"back in the 70's or 80's. I was born in 76. I have alot to learn and alot to look foward to.

Thanks for the great stories everyone. I did not think I would get such great replies. Keep em comin.

[topspeed]

I'll lay blame with my obsessions on my dad. If he wasn't tweaking his Hafler, building tubes amps, or messing with AR speakers he was waxing the E-Type or SL (the last two are cars for the heathens amoung us). Lo and behold, guess what I'm in to? When I was 6 years old, I got my first drum kit and practiced in our game room. This only intensified my love for music and music reproduction.

Over the years, I inherited my dad's throw-aways as he upgraded. Various Wharfedale and AR's followed. I still use and love his Marantz 2230 in my bedroom rig. This went on until college (Fight On!) when I used my first bonus from an internship to purchase my first rig: a PS Audio 4.6 pre, B&K ST140 amp, and Mission 780a Argonauts.

This basic rig served me well for over a decade. I'm rarely bit by the upgrade bug and tend to keep my gear for a good, long time. In fact, my progression from 2 channel to multi-channel was instigated by the gift of a Denon AVR for Christmas 3 or 4 years ago from... guess who? To this day, I'm still not sure if that was blessing or curse. I went from being completely content with my old 2 channel rig to needing a few stiff drinks after gazing upon the back panel of a modern AVR. For a guy used to a simple passive stereo preamp, the sheer number of RCA's on the Denon was enough to yell "Elizabeth! This is the Big One! I'm comin' for ya, darlin!"

After months of auditioning, out went the Missions (hey, you try finding a matching cc for 15 year old speakers!) and in came the B&W's. Music sucked in 2 channel with the Denon so I added the HCA2, a solution that has worked famously. Just recently I added a 52" JVC DILA set, upgraded to a DirecTV HD-DVR, and replaced my Sony dvd player with a Denon 2910 universal. When you're stupid enough to have $1200 surrounds, you should at least listen to hi-rez through 'em.

Through it all, music has always been the priority. When I buy my next house, there will be a music room. In this room will be a dedicated two channel rig, my drum kit, and whatever instruments my kids want to play.

Huh, why does this sound so familiar?

[ericl]

I must say, this thread is making me feel very young. Not that I'm complaining. Everyone is like"back in the 70's or 80's. I was born in 76. I have alot to learn and alot to look foward to.

You're older than me LJ.

[L.J.]

You're older than me LJ.

Why thank you! I feel so much better now. I have not hit the big 30, just quit yet. I have a another whole year of being in my 20's.

[Woochifer]

Wow Wooch, that's one heck of a story. You are a very patient person. I learned the hard way and wasted some money, but O well, that's been my life story anyway.

Well, stubbornly sticking with my equipment is kind of my story! It helped that a lot of my friends were also into the audio hobby and/or worked at various audio/video stores. That gave me an opportunity to do a lot of listening and viewing, particularly when the first Dolby Surround processors started showing up in stores in the mid-80s.

Living in Westwood with all those huge single-screen theaters and state-of-the-art sound and projection systems, and constantly seeing movies with six-track soundtracks set the bar for my movie enjoyment ridiculously high. Any home theater format without full range split surrounds wasn't going to be good enough, and that probably saved me from buying at least one or two other home theater systems in the meantime. Dolby Surround/Pro Logic just never provided a big enough upgrade over two-channel for me personally to justify investing in an all-new system at that time.

Like I mentioned, it wasn't until DD and DTS made their debut on the Laserdisc format that I even considered going to surround sound. That was the first time that a home audio system could give consumers access to the exact same movie soundtracks that the best movie theaters got, with true discrete multichannel sound. The chance to create a home theater system that can rival all but the very best movie theater systems did not come about until then.

To me, the two most important milestones in home theater (at least on the audio side) were full range two-channel audio (starting with the Laserdisc in 1978, and stereo hi-fi VCRs in 1983) and the debut of 5.1 Dolby Digital with Laserdiscs in 1994. Those were the biggest jumps in audio quality that we got with home video. The debut of the DVD in 1997 made 5.1 multichannel sound the norm, rather than the exception.

Interesting that most people responding to this thread seem to have gotten into the HT hobby relatively recently.

[caniac]

I grew up listening to my dad's stereo, a big old monolithic-looking Yamaha and some old Pioneer speakers. I loved the way that thing sounded, and it still sounds great.

Anyway, when I was about 12 (circa 1986 or so), I wanted my own stereo, so my dad took me to some local AV store and got me a bare-bones Yamaha two-channel receiver, which I used with some Realistic speakers my uncle gave me. When I got old enough to work, I saved up and bought my first CD player, also a Yamaha. A year or so later, I bought some of those monstrous Cerwin Vega speakers with the 15" woofers and adjustable tone controls. Man, those things were beasts.....and still are. That system is in my bedroom now. Amazingly, the receiver and CD player are still gloriously ticking along, although I expect the CD player will bite the dust pretty soon.

That served me well for a long time, until a few months ago, when I got the Star Wars original trilogy box set. One of my friends came over after work to watch it, and suggested that since I already had a big TV, I should think about getting a home theater to make the sound as big as the picture.

I kinda dismissed it, thinking that what I had was good enough, but then I wandered into Circuit City one day while waiting for my wife. After that, as the kids say, it was ON.

[L.J.]

Interesting that most people responding to this thread seem to have gotten into the HT hobby relatively recently.

Well speaking for myself, it was my budget that held me back. If I would have knew back then, what I know now, I would have been patient and made wise, meaningful upgrades, instead of a bunch of unmeaningful small ones. Upgrading from one HTIB to another did not accomplish much of an improvement, but I could swear I heard a big difference in sound. Funny how the mind plays tricks on ya. Only after upgrading to my current setup and finding this site, have I realized some truths about this hobby. The difference in sound, when I upgraded to my Energy speakers, proved to be a huge jump. Proper calibration and setup also made big differences. I can see all the money threw away, easily now. At least I can go into the future well prepared.

[E-Stat]

I'm just wondering how everyone got into the hobby of HT?

While I've been a two channel guy for thirty plus years, I'm a recent convert to HT. Sure, I always enjoyed watching a good film (or IMAX), but most home theatres with large screens just accentuated the pixel size like a giant pockmarked face. Not better, just bigger. Which looked worse. What changed that for me was the introduction of HDEF.

I clearly remember the first thing I saw on a HDEF monitor - the winter olympics a few years back. What amazed me was the ability to make out individual faces across the arena at an ice skating event. Now that was more like film. It was like the first time I heard Magneplanars driven by Audio Research amplification back in '74. The illusion of reality was there - it was not like watching a TV.

rw

[westcott]

I guess what I want to know is not how you got into this hobby but how do i get out!

eric

Thanks for the story Ericl. Short but fun.

As for how to get out of this hobby? My guess is in a pine box. Or do you prefer planers?

You will never get out, but if you get married, that just may slow you down a little! Have children and it might just kill you!!!!!

[Tarheel_]

"You will never get out, but if you get married, that just may slow you down a little! Have children and it might just kill you!!!!!"

Kids do not kill the hobby...they promote it...sure you may be watching Cinderella for the umph-teen time, but it's still nice to enjoy your hobby with the family....my 3 year old only knows 5.1 TV and movies.

[Worf101]

I grew up poor in the 40 Projects of New York City. They got their name from P.S. 40 which was one of the biggest buildings in the neighborhood. Needless to say, audiophilia took a back seat to staying employed getting fed etc. We had a variety of HiFi units including one of those godawful black/cream/pnk combo's that play 33's 45's and 78's. Wow. The only thing I knew about stereo is that we didn't have one. Fast forward through High School, College, the Army, College and finally I landed a job that paid me a wopping $14,000 a year... Wooo Hooo!!

I immediately went out to "Mon's stereo and bought some cheap JVC 3 ways (still being run by an ex-girlfriend to this day) that I mated to a used Pilot 300 Watt amp that I bought used from a pawn shop round the corner. I put these on milk crates and they did me fine for almost 15 years. I could never crank the thing anyways as I always lived in apartments. However as I earned more money and matured, I finally bought my own place. Around 2000 I got a house and decided to get a home theatre system... I came here, did a leetle research and put together my Frakenstein system... a mismatched affair that I bought on the cheap on the bay and other places. That's how I got started...

Da Worfster

[GMichael]

More and more great stories. Thanks to everyone for sharing.

Anyone else?

[L.J.]

Kids do not kill the hobby...they promote it...sure you may be watching Cinderella for the umph-teen time, but it's still nice to enjoy your hobby with the family....my 3 year old only knows 5.1 TV and movies.

I second that. Being a big kid myself surely helps. Plus some of the best soundtracks can be found on animation(Monsters Inc, Lion King, Incredibles & so on).

[shokhead]

Listening to the Beatles and Monkys on a Hover portable,trying to figure out if indeed that was really a bad word we heard{not},i knew i needed something better and it was on. About a year latter i upgraded to a am/fm 4ft tall standing radio from someones garage and went down to the high school and borrowed a loud speaker from the football field and put it on my roof. I have advanced sinse then.

[Kam]

great thread LJ, and awesome stories everyone!

i pretty much got my first taste of solid music at my best friend's house, where he was running a pair of mirage m3's with a parasound amp and preamp. he was big into audio and pretty much put the bug into me as well. he convinced his parents to spring for the mirage/parasound set up and we definitely took advantage of it more than they did. we'd put in peter gabriel's passion soundtrack and just dive into tracks 6-7 (that's still a disc i always take with me to audition things) or pop in aliens and fall in love with the director's cut. made me appreciate two-channel first and foremost, although those m3's could really create an enveloping soundfield. growing up we had a pretty simple stereo and record player, and i only remember listening to two records, one was a superman record where he was fighting against mtzlplckd (sp? the guy with no vowels in his name) and a batman record where batman went in to ape city to fight grod. i'd listen to those records a million times, till i had them memorized. flash forward to college and my first jobs and the process of building my own HT began! kept saving up and slowly building a ht piecemeal with some pieces taking longer to acquire than others! started out with two channels and denon, and thought i liked klipsch, but in less than a year, the klipschorn technology grew very tired to my ears, i switched to nht/marantz and never looked back! (although i've flirted with mirage again since then, i'm still in a healthy, committed relationship with nht.)

viva la casa teatro!

peace
k2

[L.J.]

Great stories everyone. There's alot of patient guys out there.


Anybody else gotta story?

Come on, don't be shy.