I don't really have good enough audio-video gears/ setup to talk much about. However, I think this thread is more about sharing our hi-fi journey than the hi-fi gears, so I am jumping in.
Like many of you the interest and passion was mainly on music. Mother had learned vocal (Hindustani classical) and Sitar, though she couldn't pursue further post marriage. Remember my early childhood days - watching my mother painstakingly cleaning her Sitar and harmonium during the weekends - I used to wonder why she wanted to keep those unused instruments neat & clean always. I think it was her influence that got my elder brother and myself into learning music during our young days. Both of us started learning Tabla. My big brother was more serious and surely more gifted/talented - so he went on to complete his senior diploma (6 years course) in music (Tabla, before even completing his 10th standard), performed and won in many district and state level music competitions and also played a few times in the local radio stations (All India Radio). I quit tabla after 4 years, but by then I (along with my brother) was hooked on to music. But that time our only source of audio/music was a big (almost as big as a current 15" CRT) Philips radio (I am talking about very early 80s here) - and the music that were being broadcast by AIR - mainly Bengali and Hindi songs. Soon (I think in 1982) I was gifted a tape recorder for something - I think I won some district level recitation competition or something like that. That is when we started listening to serious music - mainly classical/ semi classical (Hindustani), plus Tagore's songs, Bengali & Hindi songs, also instrumentals (Tabla-Sitar jugal-bandi, Sitar, Sarod, flute). Almost all of our pocket-money were spent on buying cassettes. There was always so many good audio cassettes - we always used to feel we will never be able to have all the collections that we would like to have. As we grew up, we also got attracted towards ghazals (mainly - Chhote Ghulam Ali and to a very limited extent Pankaj Udhas). I was also into serious sports - mainly badminton and later TT - played till district & state junior level tournaments. Other than school hours, I think I used to spend my time mostly on either playing (badminton/ TT) or listening to music. This continued till 10th. When I was in 9th standard, father bought a colour TV and that was the beginning of my fascination with video. During my PUC (11th/12th), I had little time for anything other than studies (had to give up badminton/TT completely), but still managed to keep in touch with music - courtesy that cassette player and lots of audio cassettes (mostly HMV & some T-series which just started flooding the market) and the TV.
Joined engg. college (Trichy) in 89. First few weeks were the ragging period, so had to manage w/o any music. First time I went out of the campus (with friends), I managed to find a few electronics shops (near RockFort temple) and after some audition-ing bought a Sony Walkman. That walkman was really a good one and served me well for the rest of my college life. In 3rd year, I managed to build a small system with 2 speakers (housed in 'matkas') and an amplifier and enjoyed my music.
Passed out of college in 93, joined a job and was staying with my elder brother in Hosur. We had a Philips cassette player (double deck) system and an ONIDA TV. In 98, I was looking around to buy a better music system, settled for the AKAI HT system with CD player (1000 W PMPO) - got 50 VCDs free with the system. Enjoyed playing music - mainly cassettes played from the cassestte player connected to the HT and some (very few) audio CDs. My love for ghazals grew further and by the end of 98, I had almost all of Jagjit Singh's collections besides many cassettes of Ghulam Ali. Also enjoyed watching movies with the HT.
Got married and moved to Bangalore in 99. Managed with the same basic HT and a TV till 2006. Moved to my own apt in mid 2006 and then started looking around for improving the AV setup - first bought a Sony HT - AZ7D - 530 W RMS (5500 W PMPO). I still have the same HT. Within a month after buying the HT, bought a 32" LCD (Samsung LA32R71). Enjoyed listening to music and watching movies using that setup. In 2008, I moved to bigger apt (a dulex). This time I could afford to have one dedicated room (actually a family room on the upper floor) - though not all that big (13.5 X 12 feet), but good enough as an entertainment room. Had the same setup (Sony HT + Sammy LCD) till 2009 end. This year, I am again in upgrade mood - bought a 42" LCD (42LH90) in Feb & A PS3 in March. Enjoying my movies, while my young (9 years) son is enjoying the gaming. But Music remains the main attraction - still spend a lot of time listening to my favorite music (ghazals, hindi songs, some semi clasicals, instrumentals) - I am still immersed into Indian music, not found time or developed much interest on Western music. And the journey continues ...
I now plan to get a better HT system and also try to have a projector-screen setup sometime soon. The temptation to upgrade will never end I guess ... especially when you are part of a forum where people have such wonderful and truly hi-fi AV systems ....
hyeah: 
