Thinking about the good old days...

@jssmith ... you wrote, " Your Prius analogy is flawed. In keeping with your original cars, I'd take a new Lincoln Continental over a (new) old one. The new model will ride better, handle better, stop quicker, last far longer, be safer, have a better sound system, have more comfortable heated seats, have tires that last at least twice as long, an exhaust that will never rust, a body that will take far longer to rust, and be quieter."

All of that may well be true, but I'm sticking with this 34 year old: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rfpd300/28380971501/in/album-72157648991024725/  

Since listening at night when all had to be quiet in the house, headphones was my first foray to “better” audio.
i knew nothing about placement (Martin Speakers made in NJ). So the separation of instruments on headphones allowed me to listen toELP well Into the late hours of the night. Yup, Koss headphones with a little slide lever to attenuate bass. I was KING of my 6’x9’ boy cave.
after a listening session I had to massage the pain out of my ears, Koss were heavyweights!   Someone turned me on to Sennheisers, barely weighed a couple of ounces, no sealed design yet they put out bass....had to have them.

@bdp24 

Blind testing? I'm going to guess you're not a "tube guy". ;-)

No. I prefer my music to be undistorted and my amps to be no more expensive than necessary to produce audible accuracy, which in the case of solid state is very cheap. Although I have no problem with people who like the sound of tubes' particular distortion when it's audible. Whatever floats your boat. Just don't call it more accurate. BTW, I have participated in two blind tests for amps.

Roger Modjeski (of Music Reference and RAM Tube Works fame), though a completely "modern" amplifier designer, considered the OTL design of Julius Futterman ...

Is that the same OTL that failed blind testing against a $220 Pioneer receiver in the infamous 1987 Stereo Review test?

Some feel the same way about the Quad ESL, another design from the 1950's

I remember hearing the Quads in the mid/late 80's, but I don't remember what it sounded like. A speaker that did stand out to me at the time was a Magnepan MG-III(?) for acoustic instruments and an Ohm F(?). Magnepan was the only speaker that could fool me on acoustic guitar. No other speaker I've heard sounds "real" with that or other instruments. But if someone was going to give me a set I'd chose Revel Salon 2. Dolby Labs agrees.

@mrmb what Halliscratcher did you have? I had a S-120 that I used as a young ham until I got a National NC-125 with a Central Electronics Sideband Slicer. That was deadly. I joined the Columbia Record Club in my last year of High School. One record per month, whether you ordered one or not. Went into the service, and for some reason, my parents continued to pay for records that arrived, for 2.5 years. When I got home, I had a pretty nice record collection (except, of course the Ray Connif Orchestra stuff).
First system, a pair of Fisher monoblocks @ 25 watts per side, a dual 1229 (I think) TT with a Shure cartridge of some sort, and a Knight Kit Tuner/preamp. Speakers were home brew birch ply cabinets containing 12" Ohm brand concentric speakers purchased from Olson Electronics in Chicago. Now that was sound, and yes, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"  was one of my early albums. 
The modern high end stuff sounds great, but totally lacks the magic of my old stuff. Now where did I put my copy of   "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" ? 

@zerobias ... What a great post; thanks!  I too, was a member of the Columbia Record Club... As I recall, one could choose among several genres, I chose "Classical Music"  .... probably the only person in my 62-member Senior Class that actually listened to classical stuff.  Wow, I've always been weird.