The first system you had that was "high end/audiophile", by you standards

@ihasaguy In 1970 I put together much the same system, except for the speakers which in my case was the Pioneer 63DXs. ALso a Teac 4010s R2R. I used the Shure V15 type II cartridge with the Dual 1219. I thought the Sansui AU555 to be a great integrated.

 

@mijostyn- prices of Marantz 7 tube preamps are through the roof- I’d love to have one that was clean. Do you now regret selling it?
(I thought the "C" denoted "with cabinet," which was extra $, so I distinguish the 7 from its later transistorized counterpart by too many words-- the 7C designation was commonly used at one point to refer to the tube version of the preamp).

The original Phase Linear 700 (not the B with the rack handles and lit up face plate) was a statement piece- sort of industrial looking, but the 400 (I was slinging hi-fi as a kid) sounded better in my estimation.
One of the first true high end systems I heard was double KLH 9s with all tube Marantz gear. This was back before I had the money for any of this stuff- I was a kid.
My "mini-HQD" system with a single pair of Quads, the Decca ribbons and a small-ish powered sub (those were not as commonly available in the ’70s and early ’80s as they eventually became owing, I think, to the home theatre boom in the ’90s) was sweet sounding, but the coherence of the Quad was lost in the mixture of different types of drivers that were added top and bottom. I’d love to set up a full on HQD system but it would have to go in the main listening area- that set up is just too big for the front parlor where the Quads now reside.

I have had quite a few nice components but never a whole system until now.  Several setups are probably disqualified because of the use of black stock RCA and lampcord.

Circa back in my university dorm days (1974) ….. around the same era as General George Washington was hunkered down with the Colonial troops in Valley Forge…

MARANTZ 2270 receiver
JBL L-100 studio monitor speakers with their characteristic “California sound” and orange foam cube grills, 
ELAC MIRACORD turntable with a SHURE V-15 cartridge.

It was considered top-end rig back in the Jurassic era of hi-fi, but this “vintage” gear gets completely smoked by even modest components today. 

@daledee1- Back in the '70s, we were all pretty much in the same boat as far as wire was concerned. You could find bigger gauge for speaker wire, and perhaps put together some home made interconnects, but it was Fulton, followed by the mass marketing of Noel Lee that got the whole cable thing going. Some of my early systems used molded plugs and zip cord.