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For at least since COVID, when audiophiles reach out to me, the plurality (a) is currently living in, or was from, Southern California, and (b) was born in the 1960s. But regardless of where they come from, and how old they are, I've always loved the audiophiles revealing when, where, and how they entered "high-end audio."
35 years ago, during the Winter 1990 quarter, I was a 17 year-old freshman at UC Santa Cruz. My friend, fellow frosh, and dorm neighbor, Andrea, was a biology major. She and I did not have the same classes, but our finals were done by a Wednesday. Instead of going back to our respective homes right away, Andrea and I got to relax, went into town (on account of the October 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the town was a "tent city," waiting to be rebuilt), and walked along the Municipal Wharf. Andrea pointed at the pinnipeds under the wharf, and said that, if one had ears, it was a sea lion.
If you go back to your dorm, check out the renovated bathroom. On the right are the showers. Note that Student Housing erected the built-out changing area, in front of each stall.
Anyway, Andrea and I hit the showers, and two other coeds were there. One was Nora, a wannabe hippie sophomore, who was a lesbian. The other was Eastern European, whose face I see, but name I do not recall.
Andrea said that she was just going to go home to L.A.
Nora perked up, and said that she was from Southern California. Nora added that she was going to meet her brother, a senior at USC. Instead of spending spring break at home, Nora and her brother were going to go on a road trip, to meet and stay with relatives in Arizona and New Mexico.
And of course, as an audiophile, you wondered what Stereophile's Santa Fe offices were like, and if any of their reviewers lived near there.
The Eastern European girl asked if I was going to spend spring break in Hawaii.
I said, "Oh no no. Although almost all of my relatives live in Hawaii, that is my second home. I will spend summer, not spring break, there."
The EE girl then asked, "Is it true? If you eat papaya, you'll get your period faster."
An incredulous Nora gawked, "Why would you ask him that?!"
The EE girl said, "If John's from Hawaii, they eat papaya there."
I shrugged, "Yes, I've heard that before, but I think it's a wives' tale. You're supposed to rub papaya flesh on your jellyfish sting. I'm not a biology major, but if raw papaya affects your hormones, I can see it having an effect on your period."
Andrea asked what my plans for spring break were, and I had two. One, I could not wait, to see my girlfriend, KJ. Two, my home stereo [Sony CDP-520ESII CD player; Sony TA-E1000ESD preamp; Sony APM loudspeakers] was missing a power amp. So, for my upcoming 18th birthday, I was hellbent on getting a power amp.
Nora laughed, "Gee, I wish I could go home to a girlfriend."
EE girl looked at Nora, and cracked, "Nah, wouldn't you rather have a girlfriend, right here?"
All four of us laughed.
During spring break 1990, my dad took me to various San Francisco audio stores. We went to Eber Electronic, located somewhere near here, on Market near Castro. We had previously bought the Sony ES products from Eber. Looking back, I'm not sure why I passed, on Sony ES power amps.
We then went a couple blocks down Market Street, to San Francisco Stereo Plus, which used to be this triangular building. There, I put together monies from prior holidays and birthdays, and my dad chipped in the rest, to buy the $300 Adcom GFA-535 power amp. For me, this represented (a) leaving mid-fi, and (b) entering "high-end audio."
You never forget. We brought that Adcom GA-535 home, and tried to hook it up. But the angled pins on our Original Monster Cable would not fit into the GFA-535's terminals.
I suppose we could have gone back to The Good Guys, and bought a spool of Monster Cable speaker wire.
My brother was a freshman at Lowell High, near S.F. State. We went to a small audio store called Harmony A/V, out in West Portal. There, a guy named Frank cut AudioQuest F-14 (only 79 cents per foot!). Using that same wire cutter/stripper, he plucked off a bit of the white jacket, revealing raw copper leads. He then twisted the leads together.
At home, this AQ F-14 worked and fit perfectly, on the Adcom GFA-535 and Sony APM speakers. On Whitesnake's "Judgment Day," my brother and I thought the sound was quieter than before. Tired of the long-distance relationship, KJ was moved by Whitesnake's "Now You're Gone." Later, my friend Scylla came over. That proved to her, that the 1989 version of "Fool For Your Loving" "ROCKS!!!," and "Is way better than the original."
Obviously, in 35 years, we've used power amps way better than the Adcom GFA-535. But that product has a special importance, as the one which pulled me into "high-end audio." During my senior year (1992-93), the GFA-535 and AQ F-14 just sat there in my college apartment quietly, while everyone went ga-ga over the GTP-400 tuner/preamp and (especially) AQ Lapis line-level interconnect.
We currently use Simaudio Evolution gear. Most of our friends, and even some audiophiles, like Whitesnake's more recent "Yours For The Asking," but not my wife, who has liked hard rock, since she was in high school. With high-end audio, my wife says that David Coverdale "Isn't screaming, so it's not the same. It doesn't have the same impact."
When we were in college in the 1990s, the Boomers cringed, that popular music from the 1960s had made it into college curricula. Now, those same college classes have added music from the 80s and 90s. Yeah, that makes adults feel old. But here's to another 35 years in high-end audio!
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - 35 years in "high-end audio" - Luminator 00:29:21 03/31/25 (4)
- 1984 "Poor Richard's" store in SF? - Rick58 14:40:09 03/31/25 (1)
- RE: FD-3030 (was: 1984 "Poor Richard's" store in SF?) - bgunn 16:08:36 03/31/25 (0)
- Market & Castro had a Pacific Stereo for many years... - musetap 11:48:40 03/31/25 (1)
- Really?! - Luminator 16:45:48 03/31/25 (0)
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