Which components knocked you out on first listen?

Magnapan's with Conrad Johnson in 1981. That system got me into High End audio.

Spica TC-60s. Incredible value. But, they're a bugger to position. Got 'em two weeks ago, and am still trying to find the best arrangement. They don't respond as expected to position changes. They were muddy, flat, and imaged poorly on 26" stands 5' from the front wall and 2' from the side walls, toed-in, in a 12x19 room. At 4' from front wall and 18" from side walls, imaging was great, but bass was still thick. Pushed 'em toward the corners for furniture reasons, expecting bass to get deeper. Nope. At 2' from front wall and 6" (six inches!) from side walls, bass is evened out, lower midrange is no longer congested, and imaging is going gangbusters. Counterintuitive, but furniture-friendly. Still experimenting. The one absolute of positioning these things is that they have to be aimed right at the throne.

Imaging is hot on the heels of $3,000 Gallo Reference 3s and Martin Logan Aeons.

Hill Plasmatronics 1A. Still do! One reviewer made an apt comparison. The Plasmatronics are the audio equivalent of an SR-71A Blackbird... everything else is a Cessna 150. When you play back a recording of a telephone ringing on a pair of Hills, everyone in the house walks over to the phone and picks it up. Nothing else even comes close...

For daily listening I use Quad 988's and 63's, Gale GS401A's, and Lecson HL1's... The Gales are best for getting dressed in the morning, the 988's best for sitting down and reading to FM classical music, the HL1's for something a little funky.

Years ago: Audio Physic Caldera Loudspeakers, the older, three box version. Nothing else ever came close, listening to multiple speakers over a span of several years, until I found Intuitive Design Summits, which I think may be even better.

The Aesthetix IO - After 25yrs in the hobby, it blew me away.