Did Your Dad Get You Started?

[goodman]

My dad was classically trained in piano and was an opera buff. He worked in the post office, so he couldn't afford high-end, but he liked music. In the 1940s, we had a big Philco console radio that was way better than the typical table radio. I spent a lot of time in front of that Philco. In the 1950s, he put together a system consisting of a Pilot tuner-preamp, Pilot amp, Garrard turntable and an Electrovoice triaxial speaker. Yes, I said speaker, since this was a decade before the advent of stereo. I probably got to listen to his system more than he did, because he worked at least two jobs. That remained his system until he died in 1985. If a high-end existed then, I didn't know about it.
In the 1960s, as soon as I got a real job, I learned how to solder by buying and assembling a Dyna Stereo 70 kit, then a Dyna PAS3X or 4X preamp, and fed the signal from a Dual turntable and Ortofon cartridge, through them in to AR4X speakers. That system, which lasted for many years, was followed by a series of nondescript receivers and speakers. In the 1980s, my system evolved into a Pro Logic, then Dolby Digital and DTS home theater, fed, in turn, by video tape, laser disc, then DVD, then progressive-scan DVD and high definition TV.
Since then, my system has progressed to the point where it looks and sounds pretty good, even if it isn't high-end. I wish my dad could see my eight-foot wide high definition picture and listen with me to SACD surround. I think he would enjoy it.
Did your dad get you started?

 

[Unregistered]

Neither of my parents really knew anything about hi-fi equipment (nor do they now...) but I would say that they did expose me to music at a very early age. I can remember alot of 45 rpm singles of 60s and 70s music they had (60s and 70s).

Alot of those bands are currently in my colllection. In fact, I spent a few hundred bucks getting 'hits of the 70s' type discs to get all of the songs I could remember.

So my parents did influence my love of music, but I picked up the 'audio enthusiast' bug all by myself.

 

[nick_danger]

My dad would always tinker with speakers, radios, and receivers in his limited spare time. He's built and repaired a lot of what he owns now. He's definitely a reason that I'm into technology now.

 

[Rob Babcock]

My parents had zero interest in audio when I was a kid, although both are musicians. Over the last couple years my dad has become mildly interested, mostly with setting up a cheap mini system that I've connected his PC to.

 

[rob_fed]

When I was in elementary school, we didn't have "hifi" in the home, but my father had a few 8-track, underdash mount, players in the garage, along with some very crude surface mount, rear deck, speakers. He let me play around with these players with an old 12v car battery. I eventually mounted an 8-track and 4 speakers to my bicycle by 6th grade. My dad watched, and helped with some fabrication of small parts, but left me alone for the most part.

As for video, when the first VCRs were mainstream, my dad bought one for $999.99, I think it was a Quasar brand. He liked video, not so much the hifi aspect.

As for me, my interest comes and goes. 10yrs ago I had Dolby Pro-logic with in-wall mounted speakers powered by a pair of RCA "home theater" amplifiers. Then, the TV was a 35" Toshiba direct view. After moving, I lost interest with "home theater".

I just purchased a Samsung 50" plasma - HP-P5071, I didn't even realize that it did not actually come with speakers. For now, I modified some Altec Lancing computer speakers to mount under the screen.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I think my school library had the biggest impact on me. We (my HS) subscribed to a number of magazines, one of them being Stereo Review. I always liked science & technology, and I got interested in gear from that mag. By the time the CD came out, I'd already been reading for years. My first step down the road to audiophilia was a boombox! Sure, it was crap, but it allowed me to buy & listen to my own music in my own room. A love of music came first- the love of the gear came later.

The defining moment of my early years had to be my buddy Warren's CD player. It was a home/portable model, shaped like a wedge, and pretty much a POS by todays standards. But I'll never forget the first time I heard it. He'd hooked it up to my modest Sony rack system & cranked up Boston's "3rd Stage" disc. Again, pretty cheesey music, but I was stunned at the way the Launch built from dead silence, and seemed to swell to room shaking volumes. I'd heard some pretty steep vinyl rigs, but that dynamic contrast between dead silence & full tilt just knocked my **** in the dirt.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Hey, you sexist. What about moms?

Anyway, my Dad isn't musical. My background is blue collar. But my mother always has had "aspirations" for us kids and was always quick to glom onto and encourage any interest my sister and I showed in "the Finer Things". So when I somehow developed an interest in classical music at an early age (I think by overhearing Karl Hass' "Adventures in Good Music" program"), classical records and trips downtown to the Detroit Symphony's Young Peoples concerts followed quickly. I was briefly a music major in college. Now I am a classic case of "champagne taste and beer pocketbook"!

The interest in audio was an outgrowth of my musical interest and my slighly geeky "alter ego" that, had I not been so hopeless at math, might have lead to a tech career path. Audio or recording engineer perhaps...?

All of which might explain why I recently took up DIY electronics as a means of eventually assembling a system that I hope will be far superior to anything I could afford at retail.

 

[djoxygen]

The interest must skip generations in my family.

My paternal grandfather is a HUGE classical music lover. He has a beautiful old console in their living room that, about 10 years ago, we gutted (several pieces of it had ceased to function) and updated with a CD changer, new receiver, and new speakers. From the outside it looks just as it did when it was built.

My grandparents were also primary facilitators (along with my parents) of my music and audio education starting in 4th grade orchestra and continuing all the way through my Bachelor's degree in Music.

My mother likes to listen to music and plays a little piano and sings on rare occasions. She has driven the few audio purchases in their house. The last music my father bought was probably The Door's Greatest Hits on 8-track. He'd much rather watch the game. Pretty much any game.

 

[BluesDaddy]

Yep. As a kid I remember my dad's old Eico integrated amp (mono) and a home built speaker with a 15 inch woofer. He had this huge belt drive turntable, don't remember who made it, and a norelco reel to reel. He also had an Eico tuner. Later, in the late 60s, he built a Dynaco PAT-4 and Stereo 120, bought a Dual changer and a pretty nice TEAC reel to reel (a version of which I just got off of Ebay). That pretty much got me started, along with a love for music. I remember cobling together a stereo system using that old Eico for one channel and my older brother's guitar amp for another. Can't remember where I got the speakers. In '74 I built my own Dynaco (SCA80-Q), bought a used AR turntable and built a pair of speakers. I was in heaven!! So my dad started it all. I can still remember lying on the floor of our den, my dad's Sony headphones plugged into his PAT-4 and listening to Led Zeppelin II with all the lights out.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Aw, man, you just reminded me of how I used to drool over those Teac and Revox reel-to-reel recorders!

 

[annunaki]

I forgot about reel to reel. My dad used to have one of those as well that I remember listening to.

 

[Pat D]

My mother was the musician. She played piano pretty well and could even transpose music into another key pretty well.

My father was tone deaf but he liked music. He did put together a big box speaker system--sounded lousy as I recall-- and it fell into disuse. He played some recordings of classical music, show music, and jazz.

We had the Met broadcasts playing on the radio on Saturday afternoons and sometimes there was classical music on the radio.

One of my brothers was into high fidelity early by his late teens and I suppose in one way my interest was to compete with him. We all sang, of course, and they also played instruments. I still like to sing classical songs, show songs, opera, and oratorios.

There were an ensemble of influences.

 

[Mort Corey]

When I was frist born, my dad owned a radio repair shop. We always seemed to have the latest and greatest gizmos. He kind of lost interest right after stereo/hi-fi but I picked up the ball and have carried it forward.

Mort

 

[toquemon]

Yes, my dad introduced me to audio. He liked jazz very much, the very old one, i think it's called "percussive jazz". He started with a Gradiente amplifier that sounded pretty loud as far as i can remember, then he had a Marantz with Mirage speakers(i liked it because it had some kind of spectrum analyzer in the left side of the front panel); i remember that the Marantz sounded excelent. After my father died i kept using his equipment but eventually the amps got fried and my mother couldn't believe a "stereo equipment" with a pair of speakers will cost more than $100, so i had to buy my own gear.

I started with an Onkyo Tx-906 with Cerwin Vega big speakers and i was very happy with this monster until i discovered the Home theater; then i made one of my biggest mistakes ever: i bought an Onkyo TX-DS575X receiver for home theater and the same day i sold my TX-906 because i tought that it would be the same. BIG MISTAKE!.
When i connected my new home theater receiver i cried and cried, it sounded horrible.

Anyway, now i'm an onwner of a Yamaha RX-V1400 and i´m very happy with it.

 

[JohnA]

Different for me

I can't say my folks introduced me to music/audio but rather film and movies. And as a result I'm a movie junkie. Being a child of the 80's (best years I think )I grew up watching vast genera of film types, from sci-fi (Star Wars, Alien(s), the Thing (both orig, and 1980's vers.), wresters, a lot of war movies, etc... That has turned me into a film nut who loves all genres, and a lover of the music in the film, which is what draws people into a film. Now on to Audio....it wasn't until high school that I got into music. My first exposure was 80's rock; *-N-R, Poison, Warrant, etc....but that turned into a love of all music (and yes I mean all) from rock, jazz, punk, funk, R&B, Blues, Rap, World, and my favorite Celtic/Scottish. Through the years my love for film and music has continually grown into what it is today, all in part to film.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

My parents didn't get me into music. My Dad liked (and still likes) two kinds of music. lawrence welk and circus music (!! !!). He used the same no-name "bookshelf" (they were three foot cubes with a tweeter and a 10" woofer) speaker up until last year. Now he uses the micro-cubes that came with a JVC HTiB. (The L/R cubes are towed outwards, and the surrounds are on the floor behind the couch).

What my dad does like: Wiring speakers into walls and ceilings. It seems he went to a Burger King or something and thought that in-ceiling speakers were the greatest invention ever. Now he wires them into every room with no respect for stereo reproduction (most rooms have 1 speaker, some have three).

I personally got into home audio when I read the intruction manual for my Kenwood HTiB and learned about proper speaker placement and level setting. (My brother still sets his subwoofer by ear using the "18 wheeler vs. bank van" scene from HEAT). Of course once it worked, it was small matter to get around to better speakers, equipment, yadda yadda.

But now I'm babysitting a 16 year old cousin while her parents are out-of-state on a job. I'm doing my best to teach her that good music doesnt come from MP3's and computer speakers. There's some sort of audio medal of honour for teaching kids about this stuff, right??