I started with a marantz integrated with a built in turntable when I was 16. I kept this through college and med school. In my residency, I was gifted $500 by a staff surgeon which when pooled with some meager savings allowed me to purchase entry level Klipsch speakers. When I started practice, I bought a NAD amp/preamp and disc player-my record collection saved (fortunately) in a closet-during the CD craze. One day my disc player died. Naples was a small town at that time and there was only one HI-FI store. They had a Meridian disc player on sale for $3500. This for us was an immense amount of money at that time and I was sure my wife-AKA CFO-would shoot this crazy idea down. I was actually scared to make the call to her. To my great surprise she said it was a good month and we had the funds and to go ahead and get it. I couldn't believe it. Anyhow, the sales person kept going on and on about how great this player was, that I was gonna hear all kinds of things I never had before, blah, blah blah. He even said that I would call him the minute I got home after playing a disc. I thought-enough BS, you've already made the sale. When I got home, I set it up, put in a well known disc and I couldn't believe my ears! It was exactly as he said. That moment was when I fully understood the difference between higher end and mid range gear and the immense improvements to be had. From that point on there was no going back. Over the next 20 years I have slowly put together what I feel is a great system. But, that was the gateway moment. And yes, I did make that phone call.
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, )