Your first audio "wow" moment?

[ski2xblack]

Fuzzy memory of this, so long ago...

It was big. It was green. It was a monstrous Magnavox console owned by my folks. I recall listening to Peter and the Wolf at loud volume and with much amusement, about age 5. (Yep, I picked up the disease very early.)

 

[zieglj01]

Not quite wow, however close >> When I replaced the Bose 201 speakers,
with the DCM CX07.

 

[avnetguy]

1. Listening to a friends' JBL 4311b's about 35 years ago.

I wonder how many of us had the same experience with the 4311. For me those speakers played a significant role in bringing me over to the dark side, as in wanting more from my audio system. The first time I heard them was in a recording studio and was amazed by what I heard. The worst part was, being so young then, I couldn't afford them.

Steve

 

[j_garcia]

There were plenty, but music has been a part of my life since I can remember. My parents took me to concerts before I even knew what was going on. Some of them are hearing new music for the first time and going "wow" literally, some are when I brought home those new speakers, hooked them up and fired them up for the first time. A few were listening to some nice gear in some expensive stores. Another was the first time I heard an SVS Cylinder sub

My first REAL wow was when a friend brought over his GR A/V-1s for a little bookshelf shootout I put together. I had never heard anything else that sounded that good. It was jaw dropping. I now own that exact pair of speakers; I bought them from him years later when he built some new ones.

 

[sterling shoote]

I wonder how many of us had the same experience with the 4311. For me those speakers played a significant role in bringing me over to the dark side, as in wanting more from my audio system. The first time I heard them was in a recording studio and was amazed by what I heard. The worst part was, being so young then, I couldn't afford them.

Steve

For me it was back in 1974 at an outdoor party as I recall, the guy hosting had a pair of JBL L100's connected to a Marantz 2270 sourced by a Dual 1218 on his back porch. I do not remember what record was playing when I turned the corner entering the guy's back yard but I was immediately struck by the clarity and detail from the L100's. It was my first wow moment. I also knew immediately I wanted a pair but at the time I too could not afford them.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Other than music and "boy that gets loud!" it was these:

DCM Timewindows (im not even sure what version they were...I was in a Silo store in a closed off sound room circa 1990. I would like to find a pair just to see if they really sound that good. They imaged like crazy!

The song was Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover.

 

[Rickster71]

When I was 17 a friend of a friend had two Cerwin Vega's hooked to a turntable, a pre-amp and amp set.
The wow moment for me was, not only that I'd never seen separates in person before, (only catalogs) he would buy two copies of every album. Just in case one wore out.

Being from the wrong side of the tracks, I couldn't believe someone could afford that system, and be able to buy two copies of every album he had.

 

[JerryLove]

The Bang and Olufsen room at my local HiFi store in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

 

[cpp]

Wow moment, seeing Jimi Hendrix at the Atlanta International Pop Festival (1970), on July 4.

Speakers: TAD Reference One, unreal..

 

[zieglj01]

DCM Timewindows (im not even sure what version they were...I was in a Silo store in a closed off sound room circa 1990. I would like to find a pair just to see if they really sound that good. They imaged like crazy!

TimeWindows and other DCM speakers, show up on Ebay from
time to time. > DCM did make some good sound with some of
their speakers, during their time.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Then I heard Harman's Revel Salon 2.

That was one of mine too. Still the best imaging speaker I've ever heard.

My first real wow moment was hearing the Martin Logan Monolith at Stereo Design in San Diego in about 1990. I was mesmerized by the reproduction of this CD. I went out and bought the CD, and I still use it for speaker comparisons to this day. Only one other speaker has made it sound so real, another wow moment, the Sound Lab 1PX. The Salon 2 is good on this CD, but a level down from the Monolith and the 1PX. Unfortunately the Sound Lab isn't practical for me right now, but maybe someday.

At the time I considered putting a second mortgage on my house to get the Monoliths, but they flunked playing this Chopin CD. You could hear the transition between the electrostatic panel and the cone woofer on the Bosendorfer, and my then-current ADS L1530 speakers sounded better. I'm a solo piano junkie, so the Monoliths were out.

Another interesting wow moment that occurred recently was when I recorded a few minutes of my wife jamming on her DW Collector Series drum kit with my handheld Tascam digital recorder. I just set it on the edge of a coffee table about six feet from the drums. When played on my Salon 2 / DD18 Plus system it sounded so real my wife and I were both astonished, about both the speakers and the recorder. I used to own a single microphone that cost many times what the Tascam cost, and I can tell you I never just set it on the edge of a coffee table. In fact, since the Salon 2 is so accurate reproducing the Ziljian cymbals I've wondered if the extraordinary violin reproductions of the Monolith and the 1PX aren't euphonic colorations of some sort.

 

[fuzz092888]

Mine was when I was 5 years old. My Dad took me to see Jurrasic Park and that T-rex stomping around, especially the classic water moving scene, blew me away. I'm still chasing that feeling

 

[Adam]

I'm still chasing that feeling

Explains some of your recent posts in the boring thread.

 

[fuzz092888]

Explains some of your recent posts in the boring thread.

I sprayed a litte bit of my beverage when I read that

 

[DTS]

Mine began a bit differently, the year was 1976 as a junior in high school. I had just purchased a Pioneer Super Tuner AM/FM-Cassette player to go under the dash of my 1970 (1/2) Camaro RS and 2 6x9 Pioneer speakers. After installing and firing it up and tuning to the good rock and roll channel the "stereo" light lit up up and the speakers came to life. It sounded sweet. Fast forward a decade or two when I added a 12in JBL sub to the mix of speakers I had for my first 5.1 system, and between that and now, an all JBL sound field topped off with my SVS Ultra.

 

[TheWarrior]

I was 19 in my first apartment. I was able to make a deal on a 5ch Bose 301/201 VCS setup and bought myself a Denon 1703. I think the combination of all 3 provided the real WOW experience.

A few years later, and my regular reading of this Site had me selling the Bose and buying the RBH WM-30's on clearance from EMP. The RBH's provided my only other personal Wow experience at home. I've heard a few other highend models in showrooms, but they were less than ideal environments.

 

[j_garcia]

Seeing Sting, U2 and Peter Gabriel in one show at Amnesty International.

Seeing Sarah McLachlan at the college event center.

Hearing the DVD-A of Porcupine Tree's In Absentia for the first time.