What did your system look like 30 years ago?

How about in the late 1970's?  Philips turntable, Shure V-15, PhaseLinear 400, stacked wood Advents, Kenwood tuner.  1979:  Kenwood marble TT and SME arm replaced Philips.  Forty years ago:  The same amp and pre-amp brand I have now (Audire), but upgraded models, plus stacked B&W DM14's, which are still in use on my televisions, one with Hafler electronics donated by a friend.  

This system I scrimped every penny I could come across to put together at the time.It had a synergy that was hard to beat,and was awfully cool to look at,let alone listen to.Pre amp was an MFA Magus c,MFA D-75 stereo 75 watt tube amp.Most all tubes were NOS Brimar,which really made those both very sweet sounding.Speakers were Flatline hybrid,with a 6ft.ribbon tweeter and cone midrange and woofer.Flatline speakers was owned and designed by Allen Perkins,who now owns Spiral Groove turntables.My table was the RPM-2,with an RPM arm and Sumuko Bluepoint cart.RPM was Allen,s turntable company at the time,and played way above it’s price range for the day.I had a Rotel 350$ CD player,and a Cary dac.Although I wasn’t all that impressed with cd at the time,still was convenient.I had Icor interconnectes and XLO speaker cables and power cords.All sat on Sound Anchor stand with Navcom feet under everything.I sure wish I had kept that system,for the money it made astonishing sweet sound,that was hard to beat.Better than most set ups I have heard through the years.   John. 

1990 -

Turntable: Linn Sondek, Syrinx Arm, Accuphase AC-2 Cartridge
Headamp: Counterpoint SA-2
Preamp: ARC SP-6B
Amplifier: ARC D90
Speakers: Thiel 3.5's, Maggie II's
CD Player: Phillips 880

2020

Turntable: Dual 701, Accuphase AC-2 Cartridge
Headamp: Counterpoint SA-2
Preamp: ARC SP-6A (recapped)
Amplifier: VTL S150
Speakers: Thiel 3.5's, Maggie 1c's.
Disk Player: Oppo 105

Only the AC-2 Cartridge and the Thiel 3.5's are the same ones.
In between I had for eight years switched to a 5 channel surround system, but returned to stereo only when I downsized as I turned 75.

Wow, you people were a heck of a lot better off than I was in 1981 - I was 24, living in my first apartment in Chicago, $385/month, and saving up for law school:

Onkyo TX-15 Stereo Receiver
Biamp 12-channel PA Mixer through which all sources were routed
TEAC 3-head tape deck
CD Player (I think it was a Sharp)
TEAC R2R
Technics TT
Boston Acoustics bookshelves
Quadraflex floorstanders
21-inch Sony TV w/remote
VCR

I thought I'd gone to heaven with all that gear.  Buddies would come over to use the mixer to make DJ-style mix tapes with crossfades. We would even mix in movie quotes I'd saved on VCR cassettes. Hi tech and high times!

This was 45 years ago:
1975 System

Technics SP 10 in custom plinth, AT arm, AT cartridge,* ARC SP3-a-1, Dual 75a and old Quads. I still have the SP 10 and old Quads refurbished and running in my vintage system, and the Dual 75a is just sitting, needs to be refreshed. (Early high-end Shibata)

Thirty years ago, it would have been a pair of Crosby Quads, either an ARC Classic 60 or Dual 70 mk II amp, an ARC SP 10 mk ii preamp and Well Tempered turntable that had been heavily tweaked.