Component stereo system?

Casual Fan

Surprisingly nice
Oct 14, 2008
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Roanoke, VA
How many of you ladies have an actual, old-school component stereo system? You know: a receiver that typically contained an AM/FM tuner and amp, along with a separate CD player and maybe (if you're really old school) a cassette deck and turntable? And--of course--a nice pair of speakers that are about the size of a mini-fridge.

I'll admit that my cassette deck died long ago, and I gave my turntable to a friend who's into vinyl, but I have a Kenwood receiver and the same JVC CD player I got for Christmas in 1990. The Kenwood speakers with 8" woofers have given way to pair of Bose bookshelf speakers.

I still have my dad's old 1970s-era Kenwood 5150 receiver:

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(not my photo...who is the dork in the reflection?)

I hate to think that kids today listen to music on this and think they're hearing anythng:

Beats-by-Dr.-Dre-Pill-NeonBlue-Front.jpg
 

memebag

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Oct 11, 2008
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Lake Huntzing
I have an Onkyo amp/receiver, with a Blu-ray player, a Laserdisc player, cable box, console games, home theater PC, turntable and cassette deck. It feeds a TV and 5 speakers and a sub. Don't most people have something similar?
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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Toronto, ON
I have a Yamaha surround sound receiver. It still has a cd and cassette deck attached but never used. Never listen it the AM/FM tuner either

We run the cable box. wii and blueray through it.

Listen it all my music through satrad or iPhone or computer now.


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memebag

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I did have an old school experience last week, though. I bought a phone that isn't cellular for the first time in 20 years. Comcast made me sign up for their voice service to reduce my bill. Memegirl is getting old enough now that we leave her alone at home sometimes, but sometimes she doesn't have her iPhone with her, so a phone that stays connected to the house is suddenly a good idea.

Hooking up a phone is pretty sweet today. I got a Panasonic from Amazon. It has 2 wireless handsets. I plugged the base for one into the cable modem, and the other I could put anywhere. And that was it. I didn't have to run any new cables in the attic.
 

memebag

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Listen it all my music through satrad or iPhone or computer now.


Sent from my iPhone5 using Tapatalk

Yeah, we have a 3TB network drive with the family music collection on it. We still buy CDs occasionally, but just rip them to the network drive.

I've been having a very visceral memory of listening to a used copy of King Crimson's "Red" on my old Technics turntable when was in college. It had no inner sleeve, the cardboard was very cheap, the ink had worn off the album cover in the shape of the disc, and there was a substantial level of noise and crackle. It fit that album more than any other, signaling the end of something.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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Toronto, ON
If it wasn't for the long distance plan on our phone ( through cable company) I would only use the cellphones.


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IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbert is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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Toronto, ON
Yeah, we have a 3TB network drive with the family music collection on it. We still buy CDs occasionally, but just rip them to the network drive.


Yes. I buy CDs at the discount bin and do the same. Don't have the family collection though.


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goreds2

Well-Known Member
Oct 14, 2008
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OH H.....EYE OH
I have an old school stereo set up in the garage in which I play LP's and XM Radio. In my basement, I have an old school stereo with a working LP and 8-Track player.

The chicks dig the 8-tracks! :bigthumbup:
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
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Toledo, Ohio
No component system anymore. It's been forever. I still have some LP's bot no turntable.
Music usually runs through a Bang and Olufsen tabletop unit. (Cd's, my Lynx, and FM once or twice a year.). I have about half of my CD's ripped to a network drive that I haven't gotten around to hooking up to the B+O yet. I usually listen to those from a laptop. I've got a couple of sets of decent speakers in the office and the room with my music stuff. Before I had everything copied to the network drive, I had a run of bad luck where I had 3 separate hard drives fail, and I lost a lot of my mp3 library. I've been re-ripping disks when I can.

Back up your stuff boys! You don't really have your data unless it's in at least 2 places.
 

memebag

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My network drive is RAID 1, so one drive can fail without any loss of data. That sounds great in theory. In practice I started out with two drives that had a built in flaw, causing them to both fail when they reached a certain sector. So I've also got Blu-ray backups.
 

HecticArt

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Oct 19, 2008
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My network drive is RAID 1, so one drive can fail without any loss of data. That sounds great in theory. In practice I started out with two drives that had a built in flaw, causing them to both fail when they reached a certain sector. So I've also got Blu-ray backups.

Mine is RAID also, but I didn't have it networked at the time, and hadn't started to do (what common sense screams at you to do) and organize all of the files from my laptop and a couple of external drives to a central spot that is properly backed up. Now, the majority of it is on the RAID, and I keep a copy of that on a portable drive. I'm still working on the organization and trying to simplify the backup routine (the less I have to think, the better off I am) but I'm not at risk like I was before.
 

Vols44

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2008
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It was considered accepted status to have a component system in the Army circa 1980. Started with a Technics turntable. The first album was Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. Later on came a Sansui equalizer, Pioneer tape deck and a Technics 120 watt integrated amp. saved money for three months to top off things with a pair of legendary Bose 901's and an open box dedicated Bose equalizer.

Got rid of most of the items via garage sales except for the 901's. The sentimental value is priceless. One of these days I will try to pair them with my TV to enhance my listening pleasure. An alternative is a little know Bose buyback program to get a discount on a surround sound system.
 

Aaron

Moderator
Oct 10, 2008
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South Louisiana
It's been years since I had a stereo system like that. Now my entire music collection is digital. I listen mainly on the iPhone through iCloud MusicMatch. I use Carbonite for backup.
 

Casual Fan

Surprisingly nice
Oct 14, 2008
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Roanoke, VA
In college, my stereo system (simply called my "stereo") came home with me on breaks. Two weeks without music blasted through 120W speakers? That's sensory deprivation!
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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How many of you ladies have an actual, old-school component stereo system? You know: a receiver that typically contained an AM/FM tuner and amp, along with a separate CD player and maybe (if you're really old school) a cassette deck and turntable? And--of course--a nice pair of speakers that are about the size of a mini-fridge.
I find this really sad; aren't some of you at least former audiophiles? After all, this is a digital radio forum.

I have my surround sound receiver and multi speakers in my family room (with the TV), as pretty much everyone does. But in another room, I have a good ol' high-end component stereo - you know: amp, preamp, CD player, turntable, and (not mini) refrigerator-sized speakers. I listen to CDs and albums. I also have much of it in mp3 format for portable use.

I don't know how people who grew up listening to good quality music (and perhaps playing it too) can suddenly forgo that for the rest of their lives.