Components I would have died for when I was a wee pup

Those Vandersteen 2a's were my grail-which I thankfully got 34 years later in the form of 3a sigs.
Dahlquist 10's, Maggies, and a brief fling with Shahanian obelisks also piqued my interest. I was obsessed with speakers, as you can see.  
Funny that I wasn't thinking about amps/preamps. I guess not having discretionary income actually saved me from a load of frustration.

frogman:

"****what did you have in your cross hairs when you started out?****

At 18? The pic next to your moniker is about it 😉"

Hilarious and so true.

Best to you frogman,
Dave

When I was a little older than a wee pup and totally into this hobby in my mid 20's, I would venture into a few Phila area stores and pretty much wanted everything

Sassafras Audio:  Perreaux, cj walker, Maggies, cj, Audio Research, Tandberg, Sonographe

Chestnut Hill Audio:  Rauna Tyr's, Moscode, Counterpoint

Danby Radio:  Sequerra Met 7's, early Thiels, Nak Dragon TT, McIntosh

Stereo Trading Post:  basically a musuem of the coolest high end used gear, you name it, it was probably there in the mid-late 80's

There were a couple of other joints Community Audio & Sound Service (aka David Lewis Audio) but I didn't go there that often.

I almost forgot:
The Ampzilla
Thankfully, I never got one.
B