Mid ‘10s: purchased Clearaudio Concept w/Maestro v2 cartridge. Knew nothing about audio at the time.
Ignorantly made vast improvement to source when I could’ve just gone to thrift store and found a good, working, vintage receiver for an infinitesimal fraction of the cost. Thus, a roller coaster of cartridge/tonearm-alignment-education, and multiple pursuits of improved front end and downstream pieces commenced.