Early 80's - late 70's best audio products

Yamaha CR2020 receiver. Solid Walnut cabinet. Looks, class and performance in one package.

Maxx

Most open reel to reel tape decks. They were built like a tank, and lasted 4 ever, well almost. After 28 years + I had to replace the soleniod switch and with complete overhaul cost me $ 2.50 approx. money well spent.

I still use (after 30 years) and have just purchased two more pairs on Ebay, of Yamaha HP-1 and HP-2 headphones. Together with the Yamaha TC800D (wedge shaped) cassette deck these were all designed by the legendary industrial designer Mario Bellini. The HP-1s have an effortless, fatigue free and open sound. Most of all, they are all beautiful to look at as well as use. That makes a difference!
My DBX 118 dynamic range expander/compressor was the most invaluable addition to my hi-fi of that era. I compressed records when dubbing to tape and expanded on playback to restore dynamic range and lower the noise floor. Brilliant. My amp was a Pioneer (silver) SA7500, average, but still in use today and well worth a listen.

ARC D79B Tube Power Amp,and ARC SP-11 Preamp,Koetsu Rosewood Phono Catridge,Oracle Turntable,SME V Arm,Quad ELS 63'S or ,Soundlabs A1,RH Labs Subwoofer.If I'm forgetting anything I will post again.

76doublebass has it right - that would still be a killer system today (although I might get triple stacked original Quads!).