When I was in law school, living in a cheap apartment in the early 1980s, there was an electronics store that sold used stuff. I bought an Aiwa tape deck and a cheap reel to reel. I was an aspiring musician playing in a band and writing music. I used it to record songs I was writing and would bounce tracks back and forth between the tape deck and the reel to reel. Also used the cassette deck as a master from a PA System to do a "studio" recording (I call it more of a "psuedio" recording) of songs we were playing.
Where did you buy your first audio gear?
I bought my first audio gear in a Post Exchange PX store in Baumholder Germany. I was a young soldier about 20 yrs old and bought a SAE amp and Preamp, Bose 901 speakers, Sony CDP-101 CD player and a Thorens TD 320 turntable. Where did you buy your first audio gear? What did you get?