First , it was my Stepfather, who taught me how to take care of LPs when I was a kid...that's why most of my LPs from the 70's (and of course, the rest..) sound almost new...
He was the one who bought a Quad Panasonic 8 track/receiver, and CD-4 turntable , but NEVER a CD-4 LP , only SQ.. if only I'd known back then...
Anyway, I always liked great sounding stuff..., a friend of my sister's who was in the Army in Germany brought home a LOVELY system with a couple of "Maggies"...that didn't work!!!!
Still it was always fiends of my sister who had some nice stuff..I remember another guy , who died in 2001(!!!) with a GREAT Sansui setup...
When I was a DJ in an FM station, I loved the Technics TTs and the Yammys that we used to CRANK UP...
Later, when I went to Berklee to learn how to record and mix I learned what REAL HiFi was....those were the days....analog heaven...
I can't afford Hi End systems, but I'm happy with my Pie In Ear behemoth from 7 years ago that cranks out 150 per channel x 6 with my humble JBLs E80s and my Oppo 980H....let's not forget the Technics Linear Tracking (one of the 1st ones) SL-QL2 with an Ortofon OMP-20 cart!..and for Headphones, I will ALWAYS be a Sony MDR-V6 (or 7506) Lover...