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

In the 4th grade my friends dad left home but left behind a big beautiful Mono thing that playe loud and we played Rubber Soul on that all day everyday. I still recall that acoustic guitar sound so clearly. Later of course I was witness to the famous Wall of Sound by The Grateful Dead all of ‘74. And there was actually a proto wall in ‘73 (say at Universal Amphitheater LA) that sounded darn good. Tho not as famous. That HiFi had about a 15” woofer and was 3 way and open in the back and mono. We would stand in the front yard high on lsd and blast live Dead. GG CA.

Lovely thread. I am 62 and have been into hifi since I was 14. My first gear was Technics receiver and turntable with old Zenith speakers from my parents. Been chasing good sounds ever since. 

1965- Stereo shop in the Fox Theater building, Atlanta,Ga. Heard a full Macintosh set-up with electrostatic speakers. Could not afford even one of the knobs on the Macs.(19 yrs old).  Soon bought a DynaKit 35 watt integrated amp to build myself - worked the first time I plugged it in. Lahti cube speakers and Garrard table. Sold all during Viet Nam. At present have DynaKit ST-70 ( modified) power amp with Bottlehead 300B preamp. Clearaudio table. Fun times.

i was 16 when I accompanied my parents shopping for a stereo console (brown goods).  We were perusing the Magnavox’s, Zeniths, RCAs, Motorolas, etc when I saw a rack of components in the corner of the store.  When I asked about them, the salesmen replied they were better and much more expensive -- on a different level.

While I did enjoy the Magnavox console my parents chose, I decided to save my lunch money and eventually got a 3 piece Fisher system, that’s 2 speakers and a unit with a turntable mounted on top of a receiver.  It sounded so much better.  I spent my evenings listening to it.

But the audio bug really bit me hard after I went to college.  Most guys in the dorm had some kind of stereo rig.  And my little 3 piece Fisher was close to the bottom in cost and quality, so much so that some guys would be reluctant to lend me their records lest the rudimentary BSR turntable mounted on the Fisher might damage them.  Sound quality-wise, i could hear the difference visiting my buddies’ rooms, and I started to really want to trade up; it became a need!

So my first real upgrade was an Acoustic Research Amplifier rated at a whopping 50 watts per channel.  Got it cheap from a dorm-mate whose father worked at AR.  Before graduating, I had added the matching AR Tuner, a Benjamin Miracord 50h turntable, and a pair of Rectilinear 3 High Boys.  I took them home and they made an elegant ensemble with minimal stylistic disruption in our living room.

Like many here, I discovered separates in the late 60's, having been born in 1948.  

After enlisting in the Army (to avoid being drafted and being infantry) I was stationed in Hanau Germany and we shopped at the Air Force store in Ramstein AFB.  I only had enough money to buy a decent setup when I made SGT with the grand salary of $340 a month before taxes.

That said, I slowly acquired a system with a Dual 1019 turntable, Sansui AU-555 amp, Sansui TU-555 tuner and Sansui SP-100 3 way speakers.  Later I bought an AKAI reel to reel with cross field heads.   After growing up listening to cheap all in one units, it was nirvana.  

After getting out in 1970 and going to college, my apartment was the center of all my friends social gatherings as I had the best stereo.  Thus began a lifelong journey with audio.  Luckily, I made some decent decisions and later in life I found my way the big Maggies (3.6) and McIntosh amps and preamps.  While the sound is amazing, the gratification is probably lesser than that of my first system as hearing really good sound the first time is such a major jump from the weak stuff I had before that.