Which components knocked you out on first listen?

I believe a system that has blown me away the most was
probably at a montreal hi-fi exibition in what was called
the audio Center room,here in this huge listening invironment
was a Marklevinson and wilson set up.
First there was one pair of Grand Slamms in the front and a
pair of wilson Maxx in the rear combinded whith a watch-dog
in the middle.Electronics composed of a pair of H33 mono-
blocks by ML,the rest was reference stuff by ML.
The sound was soooo large and awesome even though it was in
a gigantic room still to this day five yrs later I seriously
wonder if Ill ever have the chance to here something as
jaw dropping as that set-up.

I had a Classe 400 that Was doing a fine job, until I sat this little Acoustic reality ICE amp down next to it. Way more open on both extremes, much better bass, and a much cleaner sound without being digital. I could not believe all that from 12 lbs monoblocks, crazy.

The radio in the fire engine as I responded to my first fire over 23 years ago.

And the job is STILL exciting!

JBL L150A's........ONE OF THE BEST SOUNDING SPEAKERS EVER MADE!...........

Passive preamp!

Totally blown away when I first tried a passive pre. It was the reference line preeminence 1b. My jaw dropped.

That and when I started making my own thick solid core cables and interconnects.