[BobG55]

1979, when I was 24. I quit drinking and other recreational substances and saved my money. This is the system I bought with the money I saved :

This was my first really good turntable, a Phiips 312 belt drive turntable. It had touch led on/off buttons that lighted up when touched. I used an Ortofon cartridge but don’t remember which exactly.

A Marantz 2238b stereo receiver & integrated amplifier. Overall I liked it though I found the sound to be a bit too warm.

A pair of Castle solid oak speakers quite similar to these, maybe the same but a darker colour of wood. They weighed a ton. These are Castle Kendal speakers.

 

[TheDJHastings]

My introduction was through DJ'ing. Someone in a video recommended the Allen and Heath Xone XD-53 DJ monitoring headphones. https://images.app.goo.gl/MspAvXwHieyHCB616

These were and still are absolutely amazing. They lasted for about 8 years until one of the drivers started failing. After that point I started looking for replacement headphones and discovered that very few headphones sounded as good. All these years later I've tried seemingly every headphone there is under the sun and few can match its separation, clarity, and punch.

 

[RF330]

My intro was when I bought a Luxman R-117 receiver and a set of speakers from a local custom shop that built them there. Still have the R-117 and even bought another one for a basement home theatre.

 

[Rackhour]

I seem to recall that the first time I spent more than $100 on headphones was for the Shure 215 a good decade ago or so. It was a revelation because I didn’t know until then that you can achieve a high degree of isolation with the right shape and tips. I wasn’t sensitive about sound signature then; it was the fit that hooked me.

It lasted me a good few years of daily listening in all weathers before one of the buds died on me due to wear and tear. Fast forward a few more years and I’m in a store trialing the Etymotic ER4XR and Audio Technica LS200iS. I chose the former again because of the isolation, and since then, I’ve paid more attention to personal audio.

 

[lifeson]

Rega planar 2, a Cyrus amp and some Castle Durham speakers.

 

[Lindholdt]

It started out with Cerwin Vega's for me, back when I was a teenager that just wanted to blast thumping loud music into my room. The CV's did very well here!
When I got older, I first dabbled a bit with Dali, and then Klipsh. But it wasn't until I heard the Buchardt Audio S300's I got hooked. I had used BD 770 Pro's for many years at this point, but more as a tool, than something to enjoy music on.
With the S300's, I also got into room acoustics and thing just escalated from there.
Now I've joined the head-fi community for real, as I have a newborn son, and I can't really use my speakers that much. Started out with a pair of Sundara's, but I expect to get either a set of Arya or HE1000's this week. The never ending story....