I'm Mike from London. I started out on my HIFI journey during my early teens when I started to get some income from my paper rounds. I got my first turntable given by my father, a Sansui SR 212 I think, the one with spring suspension and a cartridge that look like a cheap audio technica, and a Sansui amp. As a young lad I could only afford headphones instead of speakers and treated my self to a Sennheiser. When I auditioned these I couldn't believe the sound quality and fell in love with these. Then when I got a real job I got some Tannoy Mecury speakers and upgraded the amp to a Trio (forgot the model no.).
Like most people I lost interest in records and moved over to CDs then digital downloads. I was thrilled about the lack crackle and pop from records. When I bought records, the initial listening was an anxious moment waiting for that dreaded surface noise. Must have had countless times when I had to return records for replacements.
Anyway fast forward to the present day, I've gone full circle and back to records. I bought a used Rega P5 turntable with a Dynavector 10x5 cartirdge and a DIY Muffsy aka CNC Phono preamp, a Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 headphone amp upgraded by Mike at Rock Grotto. Due to family pressures I mainly use headphones now and have Sennheiser HD700.
To be honest I've been a lurker here reading interesting messages and following with interest the homegrown phono stage designs, e.g. Arkless and Firebottle, for ideas on my next upgrade which is a phono preamp.
Sorry for the rambling ... feels better getting it all out