What was the first system you heard that made you think the high end made sense


I am sure I cannot be the only person here who can recall the day, and indeed the very system that made them think 'oooohhhhh yesssss - I get it - I understand - and I absolutely love it!'

In my case I attended a HiFi Show in Heathrow at the Renaissance Hotel. It was the GT Audio room hosted by Graham Tricker. The parts comprised:

DPS turntable- Schroeder arm - jan allaerts cartridge
Tron Pre-amp
Avante Garde Uno's

In all honesty I still remember the day now. It was so musical and had the ability to connect me to the music. When I went for a full demo at Grahams home I came to understand the magic of horns, valves and imaging. 

lohanimal
Churchill Audio in NYC around 1977.  I had been using a SONY HP-161 all in one turntable/ radio compact.  I walked in to buy a pair of Pioneer headphones and the salesman plugged them in to a top of the line Technics FM receiver and the song playing was the Beatles' Yesterday.  I had never heard anything so magnificent.

Rich 
At a cousin's home. 1969. He had a Marantz 2230 receiver, KLH 6 speakers, and a Garrard TT with Shure cart. The clarity and bass really caught my ear. I loved music but wasn't quite to audiophile status back then.
@bdp24 

I bought my Infinity 2000A's at Sound Systems in Palo Alto. They was the first high end shop for me also. I lived in Redwood City at the time where you could by a nice house for $32,000, now $1.5 million, same house.
Yes, Sound Systems. Nice people.

Damn near bought the T-IV's, then T-IVa's. Each time was side-tracked with something else - mostly losing investments. Now it's different - I don't invest in anything but immediate gratification. Hence DIY. And Quads, of course.