My first feeling of stumbling onto something special was the result of a combination of a well mastered reissue of Miles’ My funny Valentine and Jobim’s and Getz’s samba record that when I played them through some Mirage Omnisat speakers in parrallel with the chewed up Advents I had that played music that took me there and breathed into the room also. Another special recording with that stiched together Craiglist set up that floated my boat was Robbie Robertson’s first solo release. I’m sorry I realize the question was which component was the first special one but it’s hard to say it was just the little Mirage speaker that was special and gave me a spaciousness I’d not been exposed to. But Id have to say it was my first personal experience of a system synergy that was special aided by those Mirage Omnisats’ in consort with certain recordings.
Your first component that was "special"
I got into hifi 40 years ago. I had a Pioneer receiver, Kenwood table, various entry level cartridges (ADC, Stanton, Empire) and Studio Design speakers. I wound up buying a Shure V15 Type 3 cartridge. That was the first piece of gear I bought that was way beyond ordinary. I had kept the cartridge until about 2o years ago- I sold it because by then no decent replacement stylus was available. Wish I still had it.