The first-best-last analog item you ever bought

REL (Radio Engineering Laboratories) Precedent FM tuner, from 1954! Purchased by me in 1991, and used in conjunction with an H. H. Scott LM35 multiplex adapter for stereo.

Regards,
-- Al

My first analog was BSR (Cheap) record player. It was not much, but it was mine and it started my passion for vinyl. I followed it with a couple of other players before getting a dual 721 which served me well for 20 plus years. My best (and interestingly last) analog purchase was a maplenoll apollo table that had been personally owned and modified by Lloyd Walker. I have been enchanted with the Maplenoll line for several years but this table is in a level above the rest of the maplenoll line. It has the standard features of the standard maplenoll apollo (vacuum platter, air bearing platter and arm) but it was modified to include an on the fly VTA adjustment, an external motor, and a different airbearing spindle and tonearm. It was owned by a fellow agoner and his move to france made this table available to me. It is a dead quiet table and performs flawlessly. I know a lot of people have issues with getting these tables right but this one (once i got it set up) is flawless. Vacuum system pulls the record down flat, tonearm floats perfectly, and the platter is so smooth and balanced that uncoupled with the motor and belt, it will spin for close to 5 minutes just spinning by hand.

Nagaoka MP-50, MM cartridge -- wow.

Not the first - not the last, but the best single analog item I ever bought was the Fidelity Research FR-66s pivot tonearm. Heads and away the best tonearm - sonically and from stability and everyday handling - among 27 different tonearms I have owned in 3 decades of audio-mania.

First: probably a really bad 45rpm single in the late 70s. I used to get $3 allowance and bought top 40 hits from 1978 through about 1985.

Best: Rega Planar 2 turntable. It was the "best" not on quality but because it got me back into records in a true hifi way, enjoying the music, the collecting and the ritual.

Last: Wife bought me a Roksan Radius V turntable last week.