My first "high end" component? That would be my SOTA Sapphire around 1984ish. I ran it with the SOTA Super mat and clamp system, Premier MMT arm and Talisman Sapphire cartridge. This brought me performance beyond midfi sound at home. I was astonished how with standard vinyl, it brought so much life and detail. It solidified what I learned; the head of the chain is where you start with best sound. Still outperforms any CD player I've owned.
The first component I bought that sent me down the rabbit hole for upgrades was a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 10s. The salesman wanted to play the new Mark Levinson gear they just got in. They wanted to demonstrate that the speakers weren't necessarily where to place your money when getting best sound possible, that you start up the chain and degrade the sound as little as possible down the chain. It worked. I never heard so much detail and resolution and it was coming from modest speakers. Their front end was a Linn LP12 with the Ittok arm and Adcom XCoil cartridge. I used these speakers with a receiver and a Technics Pmount belt drive turntable and Shure V15 cartridge and moved up from there.
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