Your first “high end” system

DCM Time Windows, AGI preamp, Marshall Leach amplifier, Technics 1200 tt with Denon 103d MC cart.  Also had a Teac reel to reel with Dolby, but I can't remember the model number.  It was a nice system. Don't know exactly when I had it because I can't reference the purchase to any specific life events. I still have 7" tapes I recorded from my better records, but I don't know anyone who would want them, even for free. 

Sansui speakers and receiver with AR turntable and Shure V15 also Sony reel to reel that i got in Nam 1968.

Rega Planet, Bryston B-60 and a pair of Definitive Technology towers I can't recall the model. This would be late 90s.

It's all relative, ain't it? One person's high end is another's entry-level. I've listed my journey in my profile if you want to make the call on where it becomes high-end!

Right. Its been many years since I read Robert Harley's Complete Guide to High End Audio. But I could swear he says in there that high end is defined by an emphasis on sound quality and nothing else. High End does not mean expensive. 

My first system was bought with lawnmower and paper route money. But it was bought only after many hours of studying and scrutinizing and comparing speakers and amps and record players side by side. Hard to remember now, because soon I was able to upgrade it all with the big bucks I was earning at McDonald's. But that first system was probably a Radio Shack receiver with a record player on top, and (Realistic?) speakers.