Croft Micro in 1987. My first taste of tubes. I rewired it with Holco resistors, doubled up the power supply for each channel and swapped the ECC82 for a black plate CV5042, it was so much better than anything I'd heard like Naim, Classe etc.
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.