I love you guys, (and gal)! (I just turned 50 this year, so I was feeling really old, but you've reminded me that I am not so old for an Audiophile!)
In 1960, my turntable was one of those kid's turntables that had a kind of a slide projector that pulled the strips of slides in, and when played with the appropriate record, not only told a story, but showed pictures that were timed to coincide with the story. (Pretty cool technology for the time.)
And of course it also worked as a regular turntable, albeit with dubious sound quality, and for all I know, it played in mono. Although, for a kid, it sounded fine.
I did not have a stereo turntable until I borrowed the family portable turntable that we got when I was about 13 or 14, (which would have been about 1974 or so). I did not get my own stereo until I was out of college, and had a job at age 20, (1980). (And of course it was the standard Japanese receiver, turntable and speakers). But from then on, I was pretty much hooked, and have upgraded my rig on a semi-regular basis since then, (say every 5 or so years).
