Cambridge Audio MicroWorks - My first taste of decent audio. Little active sub-sat PC speakers with a big-ass sub (well, seemed big at the time) that were waaaay better than any other PC speakers at the time. Pretty much started the trend for PC speakers designed with sound quality in mind. Got 'em for Christmas, probably '97.
Mission 773e - My first proper "hifi" speakers. Got them along with my first proper hifi, courtesy of Mr. Richer. After spending all of 1st year at uni drooling at the Richer Sounds shop around the corner from my flat (my room was too small to accommodate proper speakers) I splurged on a 900 quid system consisting of Cambridge Audio D500 CD player, A500 amp, and the Missions. Sounded stunning to my young ears, though I quickly succumbed to upgrade urges with the electronics...
ATC Active 10 - After moving flat to a smaller room and utterly failing to stop the reflex-loaded, twin-woofer, floorstanding Missions from booming madly, I took the opportunity to launch an ambitious 2-month search of every hifi shop in Edinburgh and Glasgow for the perfect quality standmounts - budget initially 500 quid, ended up considering the 1200 quid Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk IIs....
Anyway, after much demoing and a couple potentials, I ended up in the Audio Salon in Glasgow listening to a pair of ATC's brand new Active 10s driven by Sugden Bijou electronics. It was a eureka moment - after all the various "house sounds" I'd heard over the preceding months, these speakers just sounded
right. Like they made a point of not leaving their mark on the music. It was such a relief I bought them on the spot for the princely sum of 995 quid (note the current price is nearly 2K....!) They worked perfectly in my room and inspired a total system upgrade soon thereafter.
ATC Active 20 - After 2 and a half years with the 10s, and having some difficulty getting them to sound good in my new flat, I felt it was time to test the waters and see what else was out there. I bought a 2nd hand Classe' power amp and tried out a number of passive speakers, including JM Lab Elektra 905s (the very ones Ditton ended up buying and then selling on) and ATC SCM-12s. They were different, and I liked the bigger weight and scale of the bigger woofers, but nothing I heard was as good as the actives.
I then got the idea of trading in my then-mighty home cinema system (inc. three Active 10s and my ATC Concept 4 sub - a real beast!) towards a pair of Active 20s (then 2700 quid). I had doubts about whether the 20s would be a significant improvement over the 10s, but after hearing them in the shop driven by an EAR valve preamp I knew I needn't doubt - compared to the 10s the treble was sublime and the bass some of the best (deepest, cleanest, tightest, most dynamic) I'd ever heard. They also had a sense of ease and utter confidence that the 10s lacked (presumably due to their smaller woofer and cab). So I goodbye ass-kicking home cinema, hello Active 20s!
After a solid year of experimenting, I
finally got them positioned
just right, and they were sounding gloooorious. Then I got kicked out of the flat. I've since been living in a new flat with a bigger, much more accommodating room, and got them set up right after just a couple weeks of tinkering. They sound gorgeous and I have yet to hear speakers I prefer (though Bub's 100s are seriously drool-worthy and Neat Ultimatum MFSs are also extremely good).
Eventually I hope to get myself some 2nd hand Active 50s or 100s, as the current room can almost certainly handle them. No hurry though!
Dunc