Cool thread!
Early high school age: My father's old idler wheel Rek-O-Kut built into a cabinet, with Audax arm and GE mono cart.
1976 - Technics entry level manual belt drive 'table with Stanton 500E cart.
1984 - one year out of college, big purchase for me then (I was not going to re-buy all my LPs as CDs, and I figured turntables would soon dissapear - ;-), a Thorens TD-166MkII with a second arm wand. Still own & use it today, but was modded in 2010 (new footers, damping, and leads), with Ortofon OM-30 Super and Denon DL-160 carts.