What were your humble beginnings on the path to high end audio?

Thanks vintage_heath for the great starter thread!
My first venture into the high end (late 70’s) was a pair of KEF 103.2 speakers and I think I recall a Onkyo receiver and can’t remember the turntable, Shure cartridge; probably $1,200 all in. A nice starter system. I still have my first speakers which I use as my surrounds in my video setup. In the early 80’s I would go to a small record shop and talk to the owner about the “good stuff” audiophile recordings. That store owner later opened Nuts About HiFi a true hi end store. I was able to sit at leisure and listen to the best the hi end had to offer which formed the ear education. Thanks for the education Bill!

Not long after high school I had a janitorial job working graveyard at a local Sears store where they had some decent Fisher gear. Making minimum wage ($1.25?), I couldn’t afford their better stuff. So I took a chance and ordered a small system of “separates” from a catalog; and man did I get lucky! It was a company I’d never heard of called Denon. The system had a receiver, turntable, and bookshelf speakers - about 14 inches high, deep, and rather heavy.  With shipping, everything was about $200. That thing sounded as good as or better than anything we had in the store! It served me well until about 1973 when I got a Marantz 1060 integrated, Philips turntable (don’t remember model), and large Advent utility speakers.

Circa 1977, Montevideo, Uruguay.

My first serious job as a young (very young, -19 years old-) clerk in a bank and I could afford...

Pioneer SX-650 that a co-worker´s brother brought from the US
Garrard TT with Shure cartridge
DIY loudspeakers with Phillips drivers

Nikko reciever, dual turntable 12XX ?, and I believe they were ar speakers. They had a big orange looking tweeter, looked like a fried egg! that was around 1970 I believe.

As a little kid, I remember a small record player with an assortment of colored 45's...most likely Disney stuff.  My next recollection was a portable Zenith player that was wedge shaped.  By then, I was purchasing albums that were often times sold within grocery stores on the West Coast...this goes back many years.

My parents had purchased a Sear's Silvertone stereo console...my next memory and a major improvement over my Zenith player. From there, my dad purchased a Sansui receiver and Garrard Lab 80 turntable. I think he had Sansui speakers....

My first purchase was a 30wpc Sony receiver, Sony cassette player, and a Sony turntable. I purchased JBL100 speakers...which were most certainly under-powered.

Next system was a Mac 1700 receiver, Tandberg cassette player, Dual 1229 turntable and Grado cartridge.  My speakers were ESS Translinear II's and ESS AMT's (don't remember model number).  I thought this was a killer system until someone told me to listen to Quad ESL's.  I should note that Bose speakers were very popular at that time and the same person who told me of Quad's suggested that I listen to the Bose for at least 30 minutes, I did and I would found myself suffering from fatigue.  Listened to Quad ESL's and I was high-end audio HOOKED.  Sold off my entire system for Quad ESL-57's, a Quad pre-amp, Audio Research D-51 amp (highly modified for a UCLA music professor per Jonas Miller), a Sansui tuner and a Linn Sondek LP-12 with Grace 707 tonearm....I was in music heaven. For the first time I could hear fingers sliding up and down frets...could hear singers inhale before singing...could even hear a mouse fart in the recording studio.

Next, a divorce. Sold off my system as well as my prized Corvette.  Bummer....but it needed to be done.  Between then and now, purchased nothing to brag about JVC, Denon, more Sony, Dynaco, ITT tubed and other equipment.  Now, many, many, many years later...I have Audio Research, Esoteric, Manley, Acoustic Signature, Martin Logan and some other gear waiting to be energized.  And, yes....I still believe LP's offer the best sound.  My progression is nearly complete...the only thing I see might be speakers and/or cartridges.