Who remembers component stereos?
 

Back in the day, the best systems were mix component systems. You had your receiver, phonograph, and one or more tape decks. Way before CD's came out, so mine never had a CD player.
I don't recall exactly what all mine were. I know my favorite receiver was a Maranz that was stolen and replaced by a Poineer. And I always used the BSR McDonald turn table. I had a Teac cassette player. Never went for the reel to reel, but had friend that swore by them.
What kind of system did you have?

The best I ever had was quite a while ago. It was on loan to me from a friend for a few years. I don't remember the brands of the components but.... Besides the usual, it had a quadraphonic reel-to-reel and four speakers. This was before the days of multi-channel surround sound in home systems. That reel-to-reel was the best music source I've ever heard. Of course he only had a handful of tapes but it was wonderful for the time.

I have three different component stereo systems spread around my house and in my studio. One of the receivers I have is an HH Scott receiver I built as a kit back in 1970. It's in the family room, which is really a music room with a nice piano. The receiver still works just fine, and I use it to drive a couple of old Fisher speakers from that same time period. I use only the FM receiver and the CD player, though recently I connected a TV up to it so that visiting grand kids could watch the minimal TV they watch in the house.

I like watching a movie with good sound. In my studio I have a 42" LCD TV connected to a newer 170w/ch Denon receiver using two Rectilinear III speaker systems from the late 1960s. My wife and I watch TV up there, almost exclusively movies, so that we don't have to have a TV in the house (except for visiting grand kids). Truth is, we don't watch TV very much.

We have a component stereo in the living room hidden in a corner with some small Kenwood speakers and we use this system for listening to CD's. The CD player is a changer, capable of reading a USB flash drive or CDs with MP3. I'm listening to Nat Cole's old album, "Love is the Thing" as I write this. My dad used to listen to this album on vinyl when I was a kid back in the 1960s.

- Glenn

What kind of system did you have
 

When I started working in '78, I bought a Technics SA-300 receiver, Akai GX-M10 cassette deck (that is awesome to this day!) Technics SL-D1 table and a pair of Acoustic model 312 speakers. By about '82 it had morphed into much more expensive gear, and my main 2 channel audio only system is still "components" (didn't know there was any other kind??) to this day.

JVC QL-50 table w/ Grace arm
Yamaha CD-700S CD player
Adcom GP-565 preamp
Adcom GFA-5500 amp
(The good old Akai cassette!)
Energy C-9 speakers
or
Athena ASF 2 speakers (depending on what mood I'm in)

Actually back in the day and still today the "best" sound systems were and are actually separate component systems . With separate Pre Amp, Power Amp and separate source units.

What I have now:

Marantz 2270 Receiver
http://www.hifiengine.com/images/mod...c_receiver.jpg

Marantz Challenger VII Speakers
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...lengerVIIa.jpg

I remember before receivers. My father in the mid 50's had a mono power amp he built from scratch by duplicating a kit, together with a Heathkit preamp and Fisher tuner, a Rek-o-Cut turntable, mounted by him on a board, and a large Bozak speaker. All tubes, of course. This was all not replaced until the early 80's.

I don't remember what all the components were (there was a mix of Sony and Panasonic) but the best I ever had was the one I brought home in 1973 after being in Vietnam. Added to it for years.

I remember mine and I'm still using it!

Still using it. Denon amplifier, Denon CD player, Paradigm Acoustics speakers. No turntable anymore but still have the LP's.

I still have my first reasonably serious integrated amp, an old Pioneer SA-5500 II watt job with a brushed aluminum faceplate, sitting in a bag in the attic. Still works.

http://www.hifigoteborg.se/photo%20a..._Front_800.jpg

Bob

When I first started working, back in about 1982, I got a Sansui amp, a Pioneer deck and Wharfedale speakers... used to play records all day on that rig while trying to play along with a butchered (but original) '72 Telecaster running through a Roland cube that I bought off someone..

This is what component meant when I was younger. Didn't have it. Did have a Nakamichi receiver back then that I still used to music-fy a tv until recently. It's in a box now.

Yep, still to this day & not much of my current & fairly humble setup's been changed in last 10-15 yrs except TV which is sort of integrated into it.
- 2 x Jamo 407a speakers
- Onkyo receiver/amp
- Aiwa CD
- Marantz DVD
- Panasonic Viera LCD TV
- Lenco turntable, picked that up used in 1980, swiss made, early 70s, still very good, figured turntable technology never peaked past the 70s anyway.