Age 16; devoured HiFI News & Record Review for months then spent all my savings and bought a Connoisseur BD1 turntable, SME 3009 S2 imp arm, Shure V15 III cartridge all mounted in a Howland West plinth and feeding a Sugden A21 amp. With no cash, left initially used Wharfedale Isodynamic headphones. KEF Reference 104 speakers followed and then my first "upgrade" to Quad 33/303 amplification which sounded worse! Even though everyone knew turntables didn't matter as long as they went round at the right speed perhaps a Garrard 401 or that cool suspended Thorens TD125 would make my system sound more like live music?
Then it happened. The new Linn Sondek LP12 turntable £77 with plinth and SME cut armboard advertised in Hifi News and stocked by Griffin Audio in Brum. Sounded better but I missed the Sugden Class A amp. Then lightning struck again. Derek Whittington opened Sound Advice in Moseley. He set up my LP12 properly, replaced the Quads with Naim NAC12/NAP110 and my 40+ year Linn / Naim journey had begun.
This week I will travel to Loughborough to buy a WTL Versalex from Derek Whittington.