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KEF Cresta speakers, Armstrong 521 integrated amp, and a Garrard SP25 Mk2 with Sure M3DM. Year: 1969.

Not counting the equipment my parents bought for me, my first purchase was my first system. A Crown pre/power combo— IC 150 & DC 300. A pair of Janzen 412HPs and a B&O 3000 turntable. It sounded like heaven, if heaven could crank. It was 1972 or there about.

It was 1969 at the tender age of 20. I bought a Dynakit Stereo 70 and PAS-3x (used) to push a pair of KLH 17s. The front-end was an AR turntable with a cheap Empire cartridge. The whole rig cost $300.

Garrard 40B turntable in 1974.

About 1967, I purchased a pair of Electro Voice LT-12s for which I built cabinets, with an Eico reciever and Garrard Lab 80 turntable. I thought I was in hi-fi heaven.

A all in one record player when I was in high-school!

BSR HT70 deck, Teleton SAQ-206B amplifier, and Wharfedale Dentons in 1971 (aged 16).

My first "real" audio system, assembled around 1972, included the Large Advent speakers, a Pioneer stereo receiver (SX-???), and a Dual turntable. I still own and enjoy listening to the Advents—and, to my surprise, I was even able to replace the foam surrounds successfully as a DIY project. I also still own a later version of that first Dual turntable, though I haven't played LPs in years.

McIntosh C-20 preamp in the mid 1960s. I still regret selling it.

Sansui quad receiver, four unknown-brand speakers, and a Garrard turnable with pre-mounted Shure M44 cartridge in 1974.

My first system was a $400 Tech Hifi special purchased in 1978 when I was 19. It consisted of KLH bookshelf speakers with paper cones, a 20wpc Rotel receiver, and a Phillips belt drive turntable. But my first high-end component was my Linn Sondek turntable with Basik arm and cartridge for $895 in 1986. I was really interested in the Basik turntable, but the Sondek was so much better sounding, even when played through an NAD integrated amp and Snell E speakers, so I emptied by piggy bank for the Sondek. Twenty-two years and various upgrades later, this was the best purchase I ever made on pretty much anything.

My first true high-end item was a Creek 4140 integrated amp, which lasted me almost 18 years! Before that, I had the bug, but it was all basic Circuit City gear. When I heard that Creek, I knew I had entered a better world.

Kenwood 75Wpc receiver in 1971.

Sennheiser 414 'phones. Bought them in '72, they worked till about four years ago.

A Philips turntable, in 1988. Stayed with us for a decade.

i bought a Realistic receiver with student loan money in 1978.

In the summer of 1977, I bought a system deal: Kenwood KA-3500 integrated amp, matching tuner KT 3500(?), Technics SL-23 table, and some kinda bookshelf speakers—AR maybe, that I traded in a couple of months later for some The New Large Advents. Bought two more Advents a year later, and went double Advent for over 30 years.

In 1960 I bought a small transistor radio (hot new product) with my own money so, like my compadres, I could run the earplug wire through my shirt & listen to the World Series games in class. Not to miss Roberto Clemente. Teacher caught us.

A Pioneer receiver (don't have the model number handy, it was 22 years ago), a Kenwood CD player, a Technics TT and cassette deck and a pair of Celestion DL6s. Not "high-end", but a major step up from the "all in one" Emerson TT/Cass/Speaker set I had before.

Tannoy M1, 1998. It was a thing of beauty that immediately taught me I didn't like the British dip!

1970 AR-3a speakers, AR receiver, and an AR turntable.

In 1983, I bought a pair of Dahlquist DQ10s for $2k or so.

A Lafayette receiver, Lafayette speakers, and a Garrard turntable. 1965.

Fisher 500 TX receiver, Dual 1209 TT with Pickering XV-750 cart, Dynaco A-25s, and a Teac 350 top-load cassette deck. Even my non-audiophile wife, Diane, loved it. 1970/71 I think.

Dad always had a hi-fi, even when it was mono. What caught my attention was after my parents' divorce, when he built a Dynaco PAS-3X with a stereo 120, driving a set of Bozak speakers (which my brother still has) with an AR-XA turntable and some kind of Ortofon. It sounded like nothing anyone else I knew had. Later he set my brother and me up with some Lafayette stuff that still blew away all my friends' parents' systems. It was Dad all along.

AR turntable. Shure V15 cartridge. Quad 22/202 pre & power amps, Tannoy 15" Dual Concentric Gold drivers in home-made corner horns. 1965 {?}

When I was 13, my grandmother gave me my late uncle's Pioneer receiver from the mid '70s (since gone). The same year, I got my hands on a pair of Zenith Allegro 2000 two-ways and built a pair of speakers using prefabbed enclosures and drivers from PE. I bought a pair of Kenwood KL-777s for $100 when I was 17, that same year I really got in to car audio. Now I have a nice Yamaha HT receiver w/ a pair an Infinity CS3006s, Polk audio CS400i (want to mod or replace), a pair a modded Optimus Pro 88av's and a Cerwin Vega sub. The bedroom has a Vintage Marantz Quadraphonic receiver with an oscilloscope, a Sony DVP-C600D, a pair of Canton Karat 920s and a pair of DIY stands. I'm currently working on the PC sound system and a few more. I love audio. Now if I can only get my hands on a McIntosh pre and tube amp, a pair of Maggies, a pair of Klipsch Heresys, and… and the list goes on and on…

In the summer of 1968, 40 years ago, I went to Lafayette Radio in Jamaica NY and bought a Fisher KT-80 FM-stereo tuner kit. I built it in just one day. It worked great and I listened to it over the years with many girlfriends during my high school and college years. I still have it. It still works.

2008 Marantz DVD player and 2008 Onkyo THX receiver.

Concord receiver, PE 3012 turntable, and Dynaco A-35 speakers, maybe 1974. I thought it sounded great, but then I was high most of the time anyway...