As A Youngster, What Unit Puqued Your Interest In All This?

As a teen, I installed car audio at Soundquest in El Paso. Between cars I would sneak into the listening rooms and check out the Wilson Audio or B&W gear. It was the Meridians that blew me away. For music they were awesome, but with home theater they were shockingly good. The piano lacquer, incredible bass and built in tech impressed the Hell out of me. Then I heard a pair of 7-foot tall Maggies (I could be wrong about the height; I was a teen) and that was it. I had wanted a pair of Maggies my entire adult life, and last November at 48 years old, I got my first (but not last) pair.  

My college roommate from the 1970s had a tremendous system. What I remember most is the real to reel tape, a. TEAC. Amazing component. I think he had a pioneer receiver, and KLH speakers. 
pretty sure his system was worth more than the trailer we lived in. You could hear the guitar pic sliding across the strings. I couldn't exactly get that sound out of my cheap eight track.

My dad had a stereo in the living room of our home. It was an XAM receiver and speakers from Korvettes with a Gerard TT. Loved playing his 33s and 45s in it. I was hooked after that. I was 5 yrs old. 

An interesting question that didn’t create a single argument. Sincere congratulations. 

In collage I was first exposed to at first mid Fi but what really grabbed my interest was when a friend got a job with real high end place.  He let us come over a few times and bring our favorite albums.  I still rember the McIntosh amps arrayed on rows of racks with those meters glowing.  I was hooked but it was a couple of decades before I could afford moving up from mid Fi.