Hate me for this, but my iPod. When I learned I was able to put CDs uncompressed on it, it was a nice treat, to say the least.
Second was a suprise gift from my Father, who at the time I thought really didn't care much for me (I was an artistic and musical type, and quite a runt of the litter- he was an all-american football star and quite a large fella). He gifted me a GE boombox at age 10/12 (can't recall), even though he hated the music i listened to at the time, Quarterflash, Dr. Demento, The Sugarhill Gang, the Who... he only liked Elvis.
Third was a pair of high-quality (not stereotypical CV gear) Cerwin Vega CV-3000s that really put it out nicely. Actually the nicest of the above three. Kind of severance pay for fleecing me in a bad business deal.
Otherwise, I've only got a busted Zenith Console that was severely moisture damaged, a broken Yamaha natural sound cassette player that's still inoperable, and a Soundesign all-in-one stereo. The former was a hand-me-sideways from my mother who was throwing it out, the latter was a gift from a wonderful girlfriend when I was 18 (18 years ago). She meant well, and if she knew better, she'd have landed me something much nicer. but we were college students and despite knowing everything, we really knew nothing. This of course wasn't figured out 'till we were in our late 20's...
She's still one of my best friends ever. Despite this oversight.
I've gifted much better- my brother-in-law will be geting a completely rebuilt and serviced, diminutive Technics SA-80 with a pair of Boston Acoustics A-70s. My sister got a vintage Pioneer Receiver. My friend Marybeth got a Sony receiver and some mediocre Sanyo- vintage Canadian built speakers. My friend Laura got some vintage Radio Shack "Planoramic" speakers. My buddy Derek got some ultra-high end VCRs and a very nice Sony Laserdisc player and stack of laserdiscs. My neighbor got a Technics deck and a real high-end audio rack. and that girlfriend got a Technics 5.1 system with a fair-quality Jensen speaker arrangement, and a nice Panasonic DVD player. Others have got some gear to start off with as well.
