Components I would have died for when I was a wee pup

In approximately 1985 I was totally obsessed with Carvers Amazing Platinum Loudspeakers. A shop in Emporia Kansas had a pair with Carver mono-blocks that I thought were the most "amazing" thing I had ever heard or saw. I was, at the time,  $7 per hr oilfield trash. Not a chance in hell. Oh well.

An all Revox or Tandberg set up with Snell A/IIIs and the room to put them in. :)

I started a little later, like the mid '80's.
So, more like a Rega Planar with a SME 3, a pair of Vandy 2's, I forget what I wanted for amp and pre- but the preamp was tubed. 
A pair of DQ-10's also made me drool. I ended up with a BIC Soundspan 600's, which weren't that bad. (Sold them to my ex who liked them, too).

Oh well, it took me 30 years, but I finally got the Vandy's.  I am glad I still remembered.

Erik
when i worked at the now defunked "Discerning Ear" in md. We sold the full tandberg line . We had the whole rig including reel and cassette, pre , power , tuner ran through the all new mg3a in a treated room . It was and still ( sentimental i guess) one of my all time favorites.. It outshined even the big class A luxmans at the time . Vpi hk and an lp12 w/ a maggie tonearm oh the memories..

I started out with a Harman Kardon 330C but the cats meow was the Nak Dragon cassette and the RX505 auto reverse table and all the Bang & Olufsen stuff.  When I went to college a few years later I remember loving the Mitsubishi receivers with the rotary tuning dial and gorgeous huge Denon TT's.