My first record player I got for Christmas in the early 1950s. It was pink and blue plastic. It was a "kiddie's" player.
My next was a hi-fi I got in the early 60s for Christmas.
My first stereo I bought in the Navy in 1971 or so. It was a portable unit with detachable speakers. It met all my needs in my "barracks environment."
I also went the 8-track route. Oh, my, yes. M-o-o-n, that spells 8-track cassette deck. I had three or four different ones over the years, all the way through 1977. My mom still has a component unit that was mine back then. I had a portable unit she and my dad left (along with my Italian wicker chairs) at their lake house when they sold the property in 1989. Sigh.
My first serious turntable was part of a component system I bought at the Army/Air Force Exchange in 1973. I bought a Pioneer receiver and a Pioneer PL-50-A turntable...still a remarkably beautiful thing. Sadly, it's impossible to find a belt for it, but as late as 1983, I was offered a bundle for it by a guy at a store that sold all sizes of turntable belts. I can't even remember the speaker brand. They weren't one of the big names, but they were highly rated and served me beautifully for more than a decade. In fact, I'd still be using them had they not been stolen from my villa in Naples, Italy, in 1988.
In the late 1980s/early 1990s, I had a small Sony component system with turntable. I just wasn't going to invest more money into equipment that could be gone when I came home from work. This was, still, in Italy.
Since then, I have built a new system of various types of equipment, primarily Sony, but with a Pioneer CD burner and a Toshiba VHS-to-DVD recorder. My turntable was made in Eastern Europe and has a glass belt-driven turntable. It's quite interesting.
I never play cassettes any longer, but I have a cassette deck in my component system along with a Sony laserdisc player and a Sony 200-CD Carousel player. Add to that my Sony BD player, my Toshiba HD-DVD player and my Panasonic plasma HDTV (37-inch) and the world is quite sweet.