I've got 3 uncles and a godfather who are are serious audiophiles. I would visit their houses as a kid and listen to the wonderful music from their systems and then marvel at their gear. One uncle had these immense looking Threshold and Audio Research gear. His speakers were these tall Magneplanar speakers. They would sometimes bring me to stereo stores when they were buying or auditioning gear. Everything looked so expensive I just sat and looked at gear. My dad has some gear from my uncles to. My Dad's bedroom system had a McIntosh receiver, a Reel to Reel and DIY speakers. His main system was a Nikko stack with Shure pro speakers.
In addition to that I've also always liked to listen to music. From taping music from the radio stations as a kid to buying tons and tons of CDs, to digitally downloading or buying. I always to listen to music. When I finally got a house I was more into HT but then when I found I didn't have as much time for HT I got back into 2 channel listening after just listening to music via headphones.
