Stage 1: AR-4x / Sansui Integrated / AR-XB Listening to Mississippi John Hurt in a small off-campus apartment, but the speakers were set up properly and I heard a stereo image for the first time. Might have been the pot, though.
Stage 2: Bose 901 / McIntosh C26 and 2105 pair / Thorens TD-160 + Shure V15-III Listening to Pink Floyd. The 901s were hung from the ceiling on chains. Once again cannabis may have been a factor.
Stage 3: Large Advents / McIntosh 5100 Integrated / Thorens TD-160 + B&0 SP-12 Listened to this rig a lot in a friend's dorm room. That was a nice system.
Stage 4: Magnepan Tympani III w/subwoofer / Audio Research SP-3a, 2- ARC Dual 76 Amps + Phase Linear 400 for the subwoofer / Thoren TD-125 Mk II + SME Arm + Supex MC cart. We listened to Joan Baez 'Diamonds and Rust', Joni Mitchell 'Miles of Aisles', Dan Hicks & Hot Licks 'Live at the Troubador'. Only got to listen to this for a couple hours, but that did me in. I'd heard some pretty good systems by this time, but this triamplified vacuum tube/transistor triamped hybrid with these immense panel speakers and dual KEF B-139 transmission line subwoofers was so far beyond anything id ever experienced. The sound was so immense, so transparent, and the acoustic spaces rendered so palpably, I was slack-jawed. Would probably be so again if I heard it today. From something like that, there's no turning back. I was officially an audiophile.
I have had all kinds of systems since then, some large, some small, a couple vintage, more Magnepans, plus 3 dedicated home theaters. It's been fun, and even if my hearing isn't what it was half a lifetime ago, I still know how to listen to the music, a skill that many have never learned.