Well, you did ask...
My starting point was aged about 13 listening to A Question Of Balance by the Moody Blues on a friend's dad's system of TD-125, 3009, V15III, Quad 33, 303 and huge Celestion Ditton 66 speakers. I never realised music sounded like that, and from that moment wanted a decent hi-fi. My own system at that point was a 1950s vintage mono valve radiogram, a Bush RG71, and that was far better than most of my friends had as it had two 8" or so Celestion speakers. The deck was a bit brutal though, I literally wore some records out.
Two or three years later I came into a few hundred quid when an aunt died. I used it all to land a second hand Lenco 75, Quad 33, 303 and a pair of JR149s, which are a canned version of the LS3/5a. That was a great system for a 15 year old, it saw me through the late 70s and early 80s. I quickly added a second hand FM3 tuner too, which I still have. This was the post-punk / new-wave era so I was mainly spinning Factory stuff and Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrops, Magazine, Dalek I etc. I have very fond memories of this system and would love to revisit the 149s at some point.
Next I started reading the magazines, and learnt that my idler deck, Quad amps and BBC derived speakers were all utter crap and needed replacing immediately. I started with the deck, replacing it first with a cheap Leak 3001, which was crap, and then with a Ariston RD80 / LVV which was little better. I replaced the horrible Linn arm with an Audio Technica AT1120. The cart that sticks in my mind the most from that period was a FR101, but I went through quite a few and have owned many of the MMs now regarded as classics. I started playing with cables too, I remember having the Quad / 149 system hooked up with solid core twin and earth for both speaker and mains. It was a nightmare soldering it to the mini-Bulgin plugs!
I went through a lot of kit changes in a short while, almost always blaming the speakers for booms and honks that in hindsight would have been caused by poor set-up and poor deck positioning. This was a big learning curve. Passing through: Kef 101, Tannoy M20 Gold, Gale 301, Musical Fidelity A1 and a small mountain of cartridges.
By about 1985 I'd moved around a bit and ended up living in a flat in Liverpool, where, predictably, within a year or so I was burgled and had my system nicked. I was insured, and with the insurance money I bought a very early Roksan Xerxes, RB300 and Onix OA21, the burglars had left the Gales. This was a good system. I really rate the Onix.
In 1988 another aunt died so I had some more hi-fi money. I bought a Naim 62, HiCap, 140 and a pair of Kan IIs. I ran this system for 8 or 9 years without doing anything more than changing cartridges (Stilton modified ATF5 for much of the time) and adding a CD player, a Rotel RCD965BX.
By 1995 I'd retrained from being a semi-employed bass player / sound engineer or whatever to computing, and had started contract IT work in London, and had way more money than ever before, some actual disposable income. I went and bought second hand the system all the mags had told me I wanted back in the 80s when I was skint: LP12, Ittok, 32.5, HiCap, 135s and Isobariks. It was fun, and folk would laugh out loud if they saw the minute London flat I had it squeezed into. I didn't keep it that long as, even when I'd moved it to a bigger room, I still couldn't get the bass as well controlled as I like, it could sound wonderful on some things, but completely over-powering on others. I eventually swapped the Briks out for a little pair of ProAc Tablette 50 Sigs. I bought a Rega P9 too as I was sick of 33rpm only.
I realise this is the most boring post ever placed on the internet, but I'm only up to the late 90s, so I'll keep going. In 1999 I moved back to Liverpool in order to buy a flat (couldn't afford to buy anywhere I liked in London). The Tablettes didn't work in the room, just boomed and farted, so I bought another pair of Kans. In fact I bought two pairs in oder to see if I preferred MkIs or IIs (I prefer IIs).
I'd bought an ex-dem Dynavector XX1L cart whilst still in London, but I didn't like it much. I found someone who really wanted it, but didn't have any cash, so I swapped it for a Nait 1 and a Ortofon MC10 Supreme. I plugged the Nait in and was amazed by how good it was. Sure, the 32.5, HiCap, 135 was better, but not by much at the comparatively low levels I listen at. I decided to keep it and flog the big Naims. I ended up with a system of LP12 (yes, I went back to it as I never really got on with the P9), TE Microgroove, Nait 2 and Kan IIs. During this time my OCD took over and I bought and sold about 12-14 LP12s in order to build an absolutely perfect one. I did too, with a Zeta arm and a clone Armageddon PSU made by a friend. A beautiful Linn. I made good money in the process too. I also made some good cash out of Nait 2s – I'd stuck a wanted ad on hi-fiforsale for one, got offered about 6 and bought them all, they went for about twice the buy-in price on eBay!
The next changes were when a pair of stupidly cheap Harbeth Compact 7ES appeared on the pfm forum, which I'd started in 2001 or 2002, can't quite remember. They were priced at least £250 under what they were worth, so I landed them with the view to revisit a BBC type monitor and flip them at a profit in a month or so. I just loved them, within a week it was clear they were going nowhere. I kept them for about 6 years! For the first time ever my system would play any type of music without bias. Also around this time a Spacedeck and Densen Beat 100 appeared. Yes, I was sick of 33rpm only again! And I didn't need to keep fiddling with the bloody deck setup.
The two final phases, and where I am now: the first a result of the huge amount of internet buzz about Lencos and the nagging feeling I've always had that I 'got it wrong' with my old L75 – there was something I loved about that deck that went when I went to the RD80 etc, really it took a Xerxes to get back, and maybe only partially, even if other things were hugely improved. Anyway I landed a cute 1963 vintage L70, flung a cheap Pickering MM into the comedy arm, plonked it on the floor in front of the Spacedeck and spun a record. I burst out laughing as it had no f***ing right to sound as good as it did. Ok, the Spacedeck did the 'hi-fi' stuff better, quite a bit better to be fair, but that Lenco just boogied like a bastard. I bought a 301 and a 124! I've still got the L70, in fact I have two.
The final thing I learnt is that I love high-efficiency loudspeakers. My first exposure was to a pair of Klipsch Heresy. Despite not being the most subtle transducer on earth they have an agility and speed I've never heard out of inefficient speakers and big amps. A flea powered tube amp will fling them around in a most satisfying manner. I have a pair in my TV / office system. I also lucked-out with an amazing eBay buy it now that meant I landed a pair of 15" Tannoy Monitor Golds along with a TD-150, 3009, Quad 33, FM2, 303 for 130 quid the lot! I'm driving the Tannoys with a Prima Luna tube amp and that can fling them about in a tighter and more agile manner than I ever got / have heard from the likes of Isobariks, but with similar weight, it's that high-efficiency thing again. I suspect whatever I change from now on in I'll remain conceptually with solid high-torque decks and large high-efficiency speakers. The 303 that came with the Tannoys has been for a service and is now partnered with a passive pre and is driving the Heresys in the TV system.
I think I'm done, but I have actually missed a fair bit out!
Tony.
PS pictures of all my current stuff on my flickr account
here.
. The Pro-ject gave way to the Technics SL1210 with an SME III arm and a V-15 III cart. The Pioneer gave way to a cheap Denon multiplayer and then last week to a DVD2900. The tape deck became a Nakamichi CR-2E somewhere along the line and a couple of Minidisc decks also came and went. A Denon 5.1 receiver and some extra speakers were sourced from a kind wammer on SOTW and we are now up to date. 
. Tube-rolling improved sound quality even further, but still no band ever gelled and sounded like a band. The Canary went back.
