When was the first time that you heard great sounding speakers?

The classic B&W 801's (no idea if S1, S2, or S3) in an audio store (The Stereo Shoppe, Ann Arbor).

For me it was much more recent - 2016 at John’s store audio connection in NJ - it was a pair of Quatros - love at first listen.

@asahitoro Hehe, choose wisely, I good wife if is harder to find than great speakers.;-)

Cheers,

Scott

I'm also going to throw in the *second* time I heard great sounding speakers.  It was at Hawkeye Audio in Iowa City in 1997 or 98.  The speakers were JMLab (as they were still known, then) Spectral 913's, driven by a CJ MOSFET amp and BAT front end.

It was a religious experience.  It really was.  I went back and back and back, listening to those things for hours.  About 6 months later, after I had moved to another state and made a little money, I called them up and had that very same pair shipped to me.  

I still have them.  They're in storage, but I still have them.

Sydney-early ‘80s
CLS - ARC Classic150/SP11 (transparency oh yeah)
Seeto, Audio Excellence (Drumoyne)
on other end of spectrum...
Duntech Sovereigns - Big Krells (talk about thump in da’ chest bass!)
Len Wallis, Lane Cove

Being a Uni student those years couldn’t afford those big boys toys. However, later on managed to scrimp and save some, ended myself buying from Joe, Audio Connection, quite a nice sounding set-up...
Magnepan MGIIIa - VTL Ultimate pre, VTL225 / Krell KSA80.. Sony ES cdp and Nak Dragon cassete deck, with some nice Cardas Hexlink cabling.. TaraLabs was just starting out w/their Space&Time solid copper line!
^These got me through till graduation. Oh miss those years when so called high end was still relatively affordable vs today’s standard!