Is your now then?


What was your first significant experience with quality audio (then) and how does it compare with your present system (your now).
Do you think we strive to return to the past and remain in those influential times? Are our choices psychological, nostalgic even....?

Mine is a mixed bag. Solid state with turntable were my beginnings. Presently SS with digital sources trumping my TT most days. I am still enamored by albums and uber turntables, but budget constraints and the ease of digital is presently winning.
jpwarren58
I remember a baby grand piano ,behind it was a jades amplifier, and two speakers on stands , the setup was simple, no rack , Many people  in the building were talking about Victor , with a new invention that would make cd, sound better .   Many years later I called him , his company was fanfare int. I purchased a audio  valve  , second hand from a store, and he was nice enough to send me the literature I needed. 
Inscrutable, we had a Lafayette store in our neighborhood for a short time when I was a kid, Really had no sense of high end audio, but seeing inside all this electronic equipment brought about sense of wonder. As an adolescent, good friend purchased a Lafayette receiver,  best memory of that, Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf played over and over.
My first exposure to the high end sound was in a stereo sales shop in the mall. Perruex amps driving large ADS towers with Teac reel to reels. Wow that sound coming from those speakers! Tight bass, quick, dynamic. I never heard percussion so good. The smooth sounding equipment was the Yamaha line. It was 1981. The salesman played Crime of the Century from Supertramp on Mobile Fidelity half-speed master recording and it was amazing. Anyway, that started it all. I just got my ADS L1590 Towers restored by the tech that does them now. He used to work in the factory long ago. 
I was raised in a house of music. My dad had a McIntosh system playing through a set of Klipschorns. 1970s and the music was getting so good but my dad was stuck in the 50s. Had to play my albums when he was at work, he just could not get into Led Zeppelin. But dam I could rock the house when he was not home.
My first personal system was a massive Sony receiver and a top of the line Sony bio-tracer turntable thru some Advent speakers. I took that system to college for four years but upped the speakers to Klipsch Cornwalls. My room mates and neighbors loved me but only on the weekends.After college I married my high-school sweetheart and moved into a nice townhouse. She was soooooo pissed when she came home one day to a set of Klipshhorn (in a freaking townhouse). That quickly faded after she listened to them for a while. She married crazy so she has to deal with crazy.Twenty years of kids and work slowed me down but music was always playing in our house. My oldest son got the bug early and took advantage of me and my gear when he got his own house. He took all my albums and the Bio-tracker turntable and some of my dads old mac stuff and built a killer setup while I was playing Golf.So not to be outdone by a kid (he's 29) I kicked it up last year and now it is game on. He can try but I have crazy on my side and a wife who loves music and puts up with crazy. 
I started my journey in 1975 with B&O receiver and TT with small B&O shelf speakers.Graduated to Luxman L81 amp and Linn Sondek TT feeding Rogers Studio 1 speakers in 1979. This has been replaced with my current system only in the last 6 weeks. The new system comprises,Sonus Faber Sonetto V speakers, powered by NAD C298 power amp & C 658 preamp, still with the Linn. Also a 6 year old NAD CD player.
I'm still on this journey and so much has changed in the last 40+ years. Surprise surprise. I have so much to learn. I am happy with the new system but still refining it with cables etc.
Needless to say it is a completely different experience to my old system. My son will get use of the old gear. Love to hear your thoughts on my new system,suggestions and comments welcome.