My friend and I went to “Natural Sound” in Framingham, MA in 1975 or so and listened to their high end setup, which I vaguely remember had Mark Levinson amp and preamp, and I think Dahlquist speakers. I think the speakers were big squares mounted on stands. I think the whole thing at that time was $30K or maybe even more. It sounded like the band was right in the room with us, it was so real. Maybe its just a golden memory, but I have chased that type of sound since then. That was a formative experience with equipment.
With music, hearing Electric Ladyland on LSD was pretty impressive, too, LOL. :)