My journey started when I purchased my 1st vinyl record, Linkin Parks Hybrid Theory. I had no player, no system no nothing. I only bought the album as a way to remember and have something in memory of Chester Benningtons after his passing. I ended up buying a few LP posters and another vinyl record of theirs a few months later. And now owning a few records and appreciating the art and reading how so many enjoyed the sound of records my curiosity began to get the best of me. SInce I had the record I began to tell myself, it would be neat if I could play it. Knowing nothing about nothing when it came to audiophile gear I went into a audiophile shop here in northern Ca ran by a couple from England who introduced me to all sorts of very interesting equipment. The sticker prices were a little shock to the system especially when your new, but I eventually settled on a very lightly used Naim amp, focal speaker and rega tt. That was my first sytem, I’ve had many since, and today have what I consider my end game system. That being said I still have my first sytem.
the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile
@foggyus91 suggested/pushed/encouraged me to start a thread about this. It was related to Darko's post about 12 audiophile misconceptions. One was that we are all about music - vs gear. I think that subject has been chewed up already a 100 times. I am not sure anyone has anything new to say.
However, that made me think about the day I turned into an audiophile.
It was when I bought my first "gateway" product that was affordable but audiophile quality and led me to explore more and tweak and switch and experiment and never be fully content but always be smiling when I turned the power on. It's been about the sound and not the music and that's fine. But I realize now that those Monitor Audio speakers I bought from craigslist were my gateway drug 
Were you always an audiophile or was there such a moment and a piece of hardware that made the difference?
(Lastly, I am very uneasy and on the fence about this forum and starting a thread - for my last correspondence with the moderators. What I learned should bother anyone who cares about fairness or even the appearance of it. I can't discuss it because it will get removed - I tried, my comment lived for less than 5 minutes, )