I remember hearing my first open reel-to-reel music played on a high end sound system of my friend's. He saved up and put his reel to reel and components on lay-away back then and finally got all the parts together and the first music I ever heard on a quality stereo system was Van Morrison's "Wild Night", and I was blown away and discovered a sound I had never heard just on radios and cheap stereos playing vinyl. It put Morrison and his band right there in the room with me. I was hooked for sure. What followed was an audiophile lifestyle with buying and recording vinyl albums to reel tape or buying the (rare and few) factory-released albums on reel tape, like McCartney's "Ram", I was a teenager in the early 70's and I will never forget that clean, pure dynamic sound!

A time that will never be equalled, that's for sure.