I just found this account's information after a long hiatus.
I started getting excited about high end audio from reading the hydrogenaudio forums, then many other boards when I was an early teenager. I signed up here when I was 14. I can't believe it's been 18 years. More time has passed from my signing up to now than from my birth to the day I started pining for hifi audio!
I saved up for my first set of M22 when I was 16, working at a low end retail job. I bought them with a harman kardon 3380 or 3480 stereo receiver and a used HSU STF-2. I got a set of thiel cs 3.6 for $1500 on audiogon years later and gave the axioms to my dad and he's loved them ever since. I now have a set of vandersteen 3a signatures, and a set of M60 for my office which I absolutely love.
I am looking at the prospect of buying a house soon. It's insane how the hobby evolves - I am at the point in my life to buy a home and a big part of me is browsing based on which one has the best living room for audio, imagining the positioning of owens corning 703 panels/bass traps, etc. I don't want more bedrooms, bigger dining room/kitchen - the rest of the house can be outside for all I care. Give me a big ol' listening room and enough space to no bother the neighbors when I crank it and I'm a happy man.
This forum, and hydrogenaudio, were the two most important ones to ensure I didn't fall for BS - magic cables, $10,000 DACs having audible differences, always use an ABX test or the results are irrelevant, etc. And for just learning the science of high end audio. I remember the regulars like 2x6, pmbuko, alan, etc and their helpful posts.
How many of you started in this hobby as teenagers aspiring for your first job that'd allow you to buy a set and grew up, all under the same account? Those M22s my dad has from 2005 will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't know how much you guys can measure return on investment on people like Alan who posted here regularly, but he definitely got at the very least the sale of the M60 & M22 out of me.
