As A Youngster, What Unit Puqued Your Interest In All This?

At 11 years old, in 1981 listening to After the Gold Rush by Neil Young hiding out in my bedroom listing on a portable cassette recorder. Now I’m older and because of Neil young and that little tape deck I’m now pushing past $200k in equipment.

My first audiophile equipment was a Sony 366 reel to reel tape recorder which I asked my parents for after my bar mitzvah (my friends received $3K to $5K in cash gifts, I got $300 during the Hong Kong Flu season-invested in stock market until 19).  Prior to my first serious piece of equipment, I started out with a tube based LP player until an Admiral light tracking LP player with detachable speakers (I had over 1,000 LPs at 10 years old).  By 15, I had a tube Kenwood receiver, Advent speakers, etc. and about 3,000 LPs.  Note that I currently listen to my collection of 48,500 LPs/CDs/78s/R2R and have disposed of 18,000 unwarranted records.   Probably another 5 to 7,000 more to dispose of.

My brother's R2R and 4 Quadraflex speakers with 12" woofers.  That could fill a room...

I could say my 8 track player and greatest rock hits but..

My friend, who worked at the local audio store, had a Big AR tube amp,AR SP3 preamp and Magnaplaner Timpani 3s.  So smooth and natural sounding.  Much better than the smaller Magnapans crammed in our dorm room.

In 1956, as a student at The Eastman School of Music, I found that it was very convenient to pass by Craig Audio which was owned by a doublebass player in the Rochester Philharmonic, Dave Craig.  It was only a block out of my way and was located in a tiny little bungalow on a side street.  It didn't take long for me to convince my parents that it was an essential part of my musical education to own a decent audio system.  It consisted of a 10 Watt Bogen amplifier [mono] , a Bogen turntable with GE Variable Reluctance Cartridge and a 12" Electrovoice coaxial loudspeaker in a tunable infinite baffle cabinet.  I still have the receipt !   The journey from then has been a joyous one and definitely the best hobby imaginable !  A set of Bozak "Symphony I" speakers still create an unbelievable sound even though they are in my garage [I'm also a gearhead] . Thanks to the OP for this trip down "Memory Lane" !