Your first system and your journey...

And to add a bit of nothing to my original post, one of my best friends Mom had a truck stop/diner near a small Iowa town.  She would let us use the quarters with the fingernail polish on them (so she would get them back) to play early 60s rock until she couldn't take it any longer.....had our 8th grade "Graduation Party" there.  It was the beginning of the British Invasion and I went to sleep every night listening to WLS from Chicago or KAAY from Little Rock.  Went through a great deal of paper route money on 9-volt batteries. 

Many of us that served in the military during the Vietnam War, whoops-I'm sorry....conflict, bought Japanese electronics while in Southeast Asia.   A great number of Sansui and Kenwood units....pre cd so turntables and most of the Japanese speakers looked good but were not that great sonically.  So I stuck mainly with speakers from the U.S. or England.  To put it mildly, even as a youth, some of that early gear was great for helping add to an alcohol induced headache. 

Yes, I was at first pumping gas, repairing tires..etc.  Then I got a job at a high-end mens clothing store.  By the time of my senior year I was taking one 7:30 class, working full time, wearing great clothes and driving a one year old GTO...a great time that came to an end with my service in the Vietnam War.  However I survived and way too many, including my 1st cousin/friend did not.  Watching a B-52 crash with no survivers and being in situations of picking up dead bodies make a person grow up a bit too quickly.  My interest in music and stereo gear was part of the survivial.  Too many of my fellow service members got into drugs and some died......a very long time ago.