My parents built a home we moved into in 1963 when I was 9.
They had installed an HH Scott Receiver teamed with a Garrard TT, Sony
R2R with Bozak Speakers. That system was likely super warm
but we loved it.
How long ago did you catch the bug?
My first inkling was about 1972 when a friend mentioned such things as Dual, Thorens, AR, Scott, etc. By '74-'75 I knew about all the Japanese manufacturers (courtesy of a military PX catalog) and about McIntosh. By '76 was using a hand me down all in one Panasonic compact system. The compact system did not last long and very shortly after, '77, came a "proper" 1970's system with such names as Pioneer, Kenwood, Shure, AR, Teac.