the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile

In 1972, A $200 Sanyo phono/radio/cassette/speakers integrated stereo I was gifted at age 13.   That was a big step up from the portable tape players and radios I owned prior as a kid.

5 years later I was working at Lafayette Radio selling the good stuff and graduated to a 40 watt Criterion (Lafayette brand) integrated amp, turntable and speakers with HEIL Air Motion Transformer tweets. 

Then to infinity and beyond..

My migration to the "other" side originated in a pair of Bud Fried R speakers sourced by a Transcriptor T.T. with Grace 707 arm with a Denon 103C cartridge powered by a Threshold 400A class A amp back in 1977ish...Preamp was a Luxman...Moved up from these to a Threshold 800A, then a pair of Dayton Wright XG8 MKIII electrostats and a Dayton Wright SPA preamp...Dave Grusin "Discovery" was the "demo" disc of choice back then...

Hello foggyus91,

Great subject to start a thread.  To answer your question my "gateway" into the audiophile universe was a Dynakit ST70 kit that I received as a Christmas gift back in the 60's.  As many know, David Hafler, one of the pioneers of "hi-fi",was the founder of DynaCo.  Although my dad and one of my uncles were hi-fi buffs it was the Dynakit ST70 that got my audiophile juices flowing.  Thanks for your question as it brings back some great memories. 

Enjoy the music.

My love for audio equipment started in the late 1968 when my father upgraded from his Motorola tube console to separates (Large Advents, Pioneer SX 828, Thorens 161, and Stanton 681).  Soon after, with money saved from my gardening route of four neighbors on my block, I had my bedroom version (Small Advents, Pioneer SX 628, Pioneer direct drive TT, Stanton 681, and Advent tape deck).  This accompanied me through college.  However, the revelation came after receiving my MS with new affluence from a real job.   I was intending to drop my budget at the large discount box stores on Brooklyn and Long Island NY, Crazy Eddies or PC Richard’s.  Across the street and down the Boulevard I chanced on a  store called Audio Breakthroughs.  The sales staff sat me down in front of equipment brands never heard by me (B&W DM7s, PS Audio Separates, SOTA, Gram, Dynavector). I could not believe the timbre, dynamics, staging and imaging.   I was hooked and frequented another LI store American Audiophile  (Vandersteen 2s, Counterpoint separates, similar TT setup).  I ended up with my first low end/hi end system (DCM Time Windows 3, Amber Preamp, Amber Series 70 Amp, Nakamichi 680ZX, Walker TT, Dynavector Ruby).  I was addicted.  
 

PS My father’s Pioneer SX 828 and my DCM Time Windows are still producing music and retro sound enjoyment in a Vermont vacation home after 40+ years.  

I think I was 13 years old and did some babysitting to make some spending money in the Montreal suburbs. One of the couples I sat for were pretty cool and worked in downtown Montreal, and drove an old purple Volvo fastback. They had an incredible stereo set-up, I have never seen anything like it. It was my first experience with listening to an excellent turntable, tube amplifier and large 3 way speakers, I don't remember the names of any of it, but boy did Led Zepplin II ever sound amazing! I was hooked.