Which components knocked you out on first listen?

No in store demo system has ever done it for me-- I have to hear the component in my own system to be able to judge its character and worth. But in home, I've heard (and bought) some really good ones:

1. Vandersteen 5 speakers; great mid-range clarity and incredible bass-- bought them.

2. Levinson M360S DAC; very musical, and made average digital sound-- well, not digital-- bought it.

3. Sonic Frontiers SFL2 pre-amp. The best I've ever heard, but didn't buy it because of a hum problem, and instead went with the newer Line 2, which sounds very good, but not quite as good as that SFL2. I had it upgraded to SE level and found some excellent NOS tubes for it, and it now sounds as good as that SFL2 I liked so much. I like some tubes in my system.

4. McCormack DNA2 Dlx amp; quick, natural sounding, and with excellent bass control and PR&T-- bought it and later had it up-graded to Revision A which was a nice improvement.

5. Not a component exactly, but Synergistic Research Sig. #2 speaker cables "wowed" me. These thick high purity copper cables were the first wires that clearly demonstrated to me how important wires could be, and I still use a variation of them today.
Cheers. Craig

At the time, circa eary 80's, Klipschorn, NAD 3020 and Linn Sondek LP12. The guys at the stereo shop hooked up the NAD to test a pair of Klipshorns that were just traded in. I was stunned. Awesome "live" gutsy and dynamic sound. Almost twenty years later this level of dynamics is almost unrivaled with modern equiptment. I wish I had bought that pair of K-horns.

There were some electrostatic speakers I listened to back in the 70's made by a man named Harold Beveridge,I think they were just called Beveridge.I think his son is trying to bring back the brand. Some of the best speakers I have listened to.

forgot Telefunken 12 AX 7 tubes simply they have magical qualities. Totally musical. Put pair in my Encore preamp and was totally shocked. Like preamp was a entirely different animal now. Highly recommended.

Levinson 383 with Revel Performa M20's.