When did good gear start getting your attention?

I bought a Mac 2300 amp to use as a PA power amp, ca. '74.  I kept going back to the store.  I was a Mac/Tandberg guy for quite a while and then could no longer afford the hobby.  Picked it up again 10 or 12 years ago.  My old system never sounded this good (although it was louder, which seemed important at the time).

Back in the 60's.  My uncle had a JBL Paragon with Mac electronics and a Thorens tt.  I knew back then that this was special.  

My first taste of the high-end was the time I visited my friend in his college dorm, and his roommate had McIntosh tube equipment. It was then that I knew I needed something to replace my old fold-up, GE stereo. When I could finally afford it, I bought a used Fisher X-101-ST (still have it!) at a stereo shop and a Garrard Type A from a friend's father. I still needed speakers so, somehow I ran across some EV Wolverines that needed cabinets. I mounted them in cardboard boxes until I could afford the materials to build the huge cabinets in the plans supplied with the EV's.  

I'd had offhand discussions a time or two leading up to then about what gear might possibly be considered good, but it wasn't until the late 60's that I heard my first bona fide hifi: a friend of my brother had an all Mac system paired with Bose 901's in his large carpeted basement. It knocked my socks off at the time...made quite a first impression. To me at the time it was certainly something to aspire to.

My first speakers were the 301's...you can imagine my disappointment...

1986/87- I discovered a Yamaha stack (pre, power & cd player)
that blew me away. We do not get many chances in being exposed to a "first" time...