Your first component that was "special"

In 1973 I used an experimental circuit design from Motorola design notes for a 200 watt solid state amplifier. I designed and etched the printed circuit boards, wound my own power transformers from defunct colour TV sets, built my own chassis and put 2 of these mono amplifiers side by side in the same box. Wish I still had it today. LOL!

A Krell KSA100s.  I was shopping for my 1st tube pre and Krell was sitting quietly in the corner.   Only read about Krells in magazines and never heard one so ask dealer to hook it up.   WOW!!!  My brother and I were mesmerized.  We spent the whole afternoon in the showroom.

I bought the pre and at dealer's request, big mistake taking Krell home to enjoy for a week or so.   Dealer knew it wasn't coming back and I bought it.   It was 30% of my gross but well worth it.    I truly enjoyed it and eventually bought 2 more Krell amps.

1982 or '83 Oracle Delphi Mk. II that my mother helped me obtain.  I FINANCED it with her co-signature!

 I bought a used Grace 707 tonearm and an Audioquest cartridge, best I remember.  All set up by the Oracle dealer who sold me the TT new.  Still have the turntable and don't use it nearly enough.

Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable cd player. 
http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/480/#RhZKQv396MtTLqMk.97

Rogers LS3/5a  :-)