How old were you when audio gear first caught your interest?

Born in 49. I bought a kit amplifier I bought in the early 60's. I do not recall the brand but it was not Heathkit. I also bought some speaker kits from them. I do not recall the turntable brand. It was fun building the kit and my first record was a Ventures. 

~ 8 years old. My dad owned a TV/Stereo business called "Audio Sales" in California.  He would take me into the shop on Saturdays.  Him and his partner would work on repairs and misc..The smell of grill cloth and solder sucked me in.  He sat me down on the floor with an old destroyed turntable for me to work on. 

  We had a console stereo with records that my mom played all of the time, but for me it was all about the gear.  I got my first set of separates (Receiver, Warefdale speakers, and a turntable) when I was 15 and started buying records. Then it became more about the music AND the gear..

Probably around 11 years old, I was always interested in music having played several instruments. Christmas gift was a close-and-play that I used to listen to 45 RPM records. I used my weekly allowance to buy a new 45 every week if I could.  I was 16 when a friend demo'd his father's system for me comprised of separate components with unfamiliar names like Dynaco, Pickering, Empire, and Wharfedale.  I was taken aback by the bass, clarity and separation of instruments while listening to Ten Years After Cricklewood Green album. It was like I saw God. That was the beginning.  Within 2 years I had saved up enough money to buy my first system built around a Marantz receiver.  Marantz was a big name in audio back then, still is.

Age 8, I heard ’Short Fat Fanny’ and I was instantly hooked on a little transistor radio I got my hands on, ’Purple People Eater’, ’Battle of New Orleans’, I’m Your Handy Man’ ...... are jumping out of the recesses of my mind.

Decent Gear, that started with some Wedding Money, age 20, off to Sam Goody’s near Grand Central Station, NYC, up that long escalator got a Fisher 200T Transistor Receiver, AR-2ax Speakers and a BSR Changer with I don’t know what cartridge.

Age 30, Inherited my Uncle Johnny’s Fisher President II Console

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/11420

That was a big leap up

TT, was given a Thorens TD124 and SME 3009, both needing repair which I promptly did. I’ll never forget writing SME, asking about the rubber sleeve that isolates the counterweight section. I expected a response: send us $____ for this part. Instead, I promptly received the part, with an invoice which they trusted me to pay. Those were different times. 

I worked on 44th Street, NYC, between 5th and 6th avenues: surrounded by Stereo Shops, and Music Stores: so many lunch time trips to see/hear/find this or that.

When Cassettes pushed 8-Tracks out of the stores, one shop has 6 for $5. I decided I would take a chance on music I would never pay full price for, maybe listen when I retired. I had no idea the foam pressure pads were dissolving the whole time they were in storage. Oh well.

Did you ever take an 8-Track apart? You scratch several body parts trying to figure: how can it come off of the inner small circumference wheel, and wind onto the outer wide circumference wheel? It defies physics. Finally you realize, it's the slip sheet, the tape is constantly slipping backwards inside the cartridge as it winds, tightening toward the center, which of course puts a lot of pressure and stretching force on the tape, not to mention getting yanked up off the inside hub, over the reel of tape, constant wear on the bottom edge of the tape. The were designed for Radio Commercials, have just enough tape for the commercial (never a lot, never a heavy amount to pull), throw them out at the end of that AD campaign. But, convenience, ability to travel, in cars, to friends players was revolutionary.

I started with a Realistic turntable with accompanying speakers, then graduated to a Craig 3-in-1 (with 8-track). The thing that got me into wanting high end gear was my cousin’s Pioneer SPEC gear (with Oscilloscope, Equalizer, Cassette, and R2R). He had a Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4002 that was fascinating. Sounded great, too. Today, one of my systems has this turntable paired with a SPEC 1.