Nerdy Audiophile Teen Years

I blame my brother to a large extent. He introduced me to the world of vinyl record collecting in my early teens. By the time I could pay for things myself I had quite a few albums, many purchased in sales for ridiculously cheap prices or in secondhand record shops. I don't see so many of those these days but I used to like nothing better than catching the bus to Birmingham and spending most the day in second hand record shops rifling through boxes of vinyl records hoping to find some classics at a cheap price.
My equipment for listening for hours and hours on my own in my bedroom started out with some pretty rudimentary hand-me-down stuff. I was given my dad's old Sony stereo system. The tuner, tape deck and amplifier were all in one box and it had pretty decent turntable, I used to treat the amp with scorn but thought the turntable was passable. When I had saved up enough money I bought the components of my first stereo system. It took me a long time and I bought audio equipment magazines to read reviews, to try and find the best matching components - to hear the music at its best, you needed a separates system not something mass produced by one manufacturer in a stack. No, no stacked hi-fi system would do. I had to go and hear what I was going to buy before I would make up my mind. I bought my turntable first. It was manufactured by a small British company called Rega Research. It looked amazing with a square black plinth, smokd perspex lid and the turntable was heavy because it was a thick glass disk covered with a felt mat. My amplifier was made by Denon, I think they are a Japanese company. My speakers were made by Mission. I couldn't afford a tape deck and I thought tapes were a bit past their sell by date, even in the late 1980s. Instead I bought a Marantz CD player for which, I have to admit to you now, I bought Soul Provider by Michael Boulton and thought it sounded lovely. I couldn't afford a tuner either because all my money went on the pieces I saved up for. I had to make some compromises, not like a friend of mine who spent what must have been a fortune at the time on a Bang & Olufson system. I heard it one lunchtime from school in his small bedroom and I thought it sounded naff. I was probably being a bit sniffy because B&O made systems not separates. I had to admit though, the B&O systems were very pleasing on the eye - like the Ferrari of the hi-fi world.
I loved my hi-fi set up. It didn't last for long though. I moved away from home to university and apart from some brief spells at home after that I had left home to get a job and boxed up my system. My wife has never seen it. It has been in my folks' loft for 20 years. I'm going to be reclaiming it finally. I am in fear and trepidation because this plan is a secret from my wife, who will probably not speak to me if I bring it into the house. Am I right to reclaim it and bring it into my family world? I want my son and daughter to hear the wonderful sound a record can make. They have never heard music from such equipment in their life.

My Hi-Fi Separates System

Denon amplifier

Mission speakers (not quite the model I have but very close)

Rega Planar 3 turntable (a beauty)

Marantz CD player