What started you on your audiophile journey .

The first tape I remember playing over and over again was David Bowie's "Golden Years," a compilation. I was also really into the Police. This was around 1984-85, before I entered high school. Music was always a part of my psyche, I'd go to sleep with headphones on, I'd crank my Dad's old Credence vinyl to deafening levels. He was an electrical engineer and built his own speakers. I always had a decent cassette player and a backpack full of tapes, and I went to CD as soon as it came out, because it was so easy to get to my favorite song. I had that metal stalk with the spring platform connected to my front seat in my car, had to use that cassette with the wire that had the mini-plug on it to get the CD sound into the tape deck, remember those...?!?
My college roommate opened my eyes to hi-fi, he ran a pair of Paradigms with a Luxman integrated and a SonyES changer. I never knew music could sound so good. I'm still trying to upgrade the sound in my system, I'll never stop.

In my early childhood my folks had a Zenith console I used to play their 45's on. In my mid-teens I heard a set of JBL L100's a friend had powered by a Kenwood amp. Used to dream of Marantz separates.
Joined the military in the 70's and thought I had the best when I bought most of Pioneers top of the line stuff, along with a Teac A6300 RTR. Still a greenhorn.
Then I walked into Sound World many years later to pick up my amp (Marantz 1250 integrated) which was in for repair, and was placed in front of a $45K system which was comprised of CJ, Classe, and B&W. Was blown away. Thought that soundstage and imaging was all BS, just something the big spenders said to justify the cost. Now my system was garbage and the quest was on.

A friend of mine in junior high playing me Flim & The BB's "Big Notes" on the Dynaco/AR setup his father passed down to him.

Ahh, those were the days. :)

Lots of interesting stories to say the least .

My journey started when I was about 5 years old; sitting on the floor in front of an old Magnovox mono record player console with a single 6 inch speaker as I was banging away on an old tattered paperback book with a pair of drumsticks while a Beatles album was spinning. It was off to the races! 48 years later, I still get chills sitting in the sweet spot in my listening room.