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

I own a Sansui AU 7700 and a Sansui alpha 667i...

marvels at low cost no one can called obsolete amplifiers...

Did you always own the AU 9900 ?

My Dad had a Sansui BA and CA 2000 when I was young.    When I was 15 I took all of my paper route money and bought a really nice used Sansui AU9900.    

At 11 years old, in 1981 listening to After the Gold Rush by Neil Young hiding out in my bedroom listing on a portable cassette recorder. Now I’m older and because of Neil young and that little tape deck I’m now pushing past $200k in equipment.

My first audiophile equipment was a Sony 366 reel to reel tape recorder which I asked my parents for after my bar mitzvah (my friends received $3K to $5K in cash gifts, I got $300 during the Hong Kong Flu season-invested in stock market until 19).  Prior to my first serious piece of equipment, I started out with a tube based LP player until an Admiral light tracking LP player with detachable speakers (I had over 1,000 LPs at 10 years old).  By 15, I had a tube Kenwood receiver, Advent speakers, etc. and about 3,000 LPs.  Note that I currently listen to my collection of 48,500 LPs/CDs/78s/R2R and have disposed of 18,000 unwarranted records.   Probably another 5 to 7,000 more to dispose of.

My brother's R2R and 4 Quadraflex speakers with 12" woofers.  That could fill a room...

I could say my 8 track player and greatest rock hits but..

My friend, who worked at the local audio store, had a Big AR tube amp,AR SP3 preamp and Magnaplaner Timpani 3s.  So smooth and natural sounding.  Much better than the smaller Magnapans crammed in our dorm room.