You know, where you separately bought the receiver, CD player, video (VCR/DVD/Bluray) player, and speakers, all with their own power and connection wires so you get that spider’s nest of wires behind your entertainment center that you dread having to ever undo?
I’m NOT talking about “surround sound speaker systems,” where you get the receiver and all of the little speakers in one box. While you can create a surround sound system with a component stereo, it doesn’t all come in one box, you have to buy all of the speakers separately.
Still have one of those (that you use)?
I have my old system just sitting in my basement. It was all bought in the late 1990s, early 2000s, and it hasn’t been set up since about 2007, but I just had a friend express some interest in it, hence this question. I don’t use any of that stuff anymore; I’m not sure the receiver would even work with my modern TV, because I don’t think it has RCAs. I suppose I could get a converter, but it’s not really worth it to me.
None of it’s top-line stuff, I was working with a supermarket checker’s budget at the time ;), but it worked. JVC receiver, Sony floor speakers, Sony VCR, Sony DVD player, and my one “high-end” item was an Onkyo 6-CD changer that was cutting-edge state of the art in 1988, which I inherited from my father who had since bought a MUCH better one.
My living room stereo is like that. The newest component is a CD player from the early 2000s. The rest of the components (tuner, turntable, cassette recorder/player) date from the 1980s.
I still have one, which I bought when I started working in '89. Receiver / amp, turntable, CD player, dual tape deck. I haven’t turned it on in years; I know that the CD player is broken, and the turntable likely doesn’t work any more, either. I should probably just scrap it.
My current CD player for my cool system is an old PS2. In a bedroom, I have another component system with a receiver that uses a VHS/DVD burner/player as the CD player. Whatever, it works!
Sadly, I no longer have room for a component system. I gave away my last one to my wife’s niece and her husband after we bought this small house. It was the smallest system I’d ever had, with a 5.1 amp/receiver and B&W bookshelf speakers, but still too much for this small living room. We now have Sonos for our musical needs.
Yes. 16YO receiver, 24YO CD/DVD player, 10YO Blu-Ray player. Main speakers (Boston Acoustics) are 30 years old, but I replaced the woofers in them about 12 years ago. Bought matching speakers about a decade ago to serve as surround speakers, and likewise replaced the aged woofers in them. I made a separate subwoofer about 20 years ago, fantastic for home theatre.
And yes, it’s a freakin rat’s nest behind there. There’s also the TV and the TiVo, so altogether a gazillion audio and video interconnects and power cords.
Can’t remember the last time I used the CD/DVD player. Blu-Ray player gets used once in a great while when I bring back anime from Japan. Other than that, we tend to stream movies on an Amazon Fire stick (so yeah, one more video interconnect and power cable…).
I have an old BSR/DAK system that still works aside from the display backlight not working. It’s a receiver/CD changer and I also have the subwoofer and equalizer. I haven’t used the CD changer part for easily a decade but it still works as far as I know.
These days I use it to play my TV audio for movies or games, and listen to FM radio on it sometimes. In the past I had a cassette deck hooked to it.
I haven’t even had a dedicated stereo system since about 2002 (when I pawned my midi system). I rarely listen to music at home but when I do I use my computer, or to a lesser degree my wife’s Echo.
Got rid of the component system a few years ago. Have a multiroom Sonos speaker system that connects wirelessly to a variety of music sources including my home PC. Also have a turntable that connects to the Sonos system as well.
I just got rid of mine about 6 months ago. I had a receiver, cassette deck, 5 CD player, turntable (2 actually) and 4 large speakers. All were components I had purchased separately over the years. It finally got to the point that I never turned it on anymore and couldn’t justify moving it to our new house. My son got the speakers and Goodwill got the components, although I did keep the USB turntable so I can convert vinyl to digital.
Yes. It’s ancient, and lives in the basement. I still have a lot of music, though I rarely use the stero for anything other than vinyl. One day we’ll downsize and get rid of it all.
Yep; including a turntable. And I have plans of hooking an old 8-track to it as well unless I can get someone to convert some tapes I have to other media.