At age 13 in 1964 my older brother built a Dyna ST70, PAS3, FM3 while I was away at camp. When I returned home he took me with him to buy speakers from a nearby stereo shop in Ridgewood, NJ, where I got my first glimpse of a demo room with a TD124/SME w/V15, McIntosh electronics and an array of speakers. We compared and chose KLH 17s. A few years later I heard Rectilinear 3s at Leonard Radio in Paramus...they were ear opening in comparison to the ARs and KLHs. The final straw was a trip to Victor's in Chicago and hearing Quad ESL57s, IMF TLS80s and Tympanys w/ ARC electronics. Hooked. I couldn't afford that stuff, but the quest for "the closest approach to the original sound" was on.
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.