Back in the Jurassic age of this hobby ( early to mid 70’s) in my university residence dorm soaked in beer and the wisps of Maui Wowee…. I had a killer system for THAT time. (emphasis added)
MARANTZ 2245 receiver
JBL L100 bookshelf speakers (referred to as “studio monitors” cuz they were widely used as such by recording studios)
ELAC MIRACORD turntable with SHURE V15 cartridge
OEM unit throw-in IC’s and zip cord speaker cables.
This system still sounded great in that early emerging audio hobby era with that ethereal “ California Sound “ (… Google it …) with big frequency curve humps in the bass, mid, and treble. They were perfect for 60’s pop and 70’s rock . Why? Because that’s the way the recording engineers mastered those era tunes. If you are a nostalgia fan and bass-head …rock on!
However, this old ergo “vintage” system gets smoked performance-wise by even the modest high-end build offerings in today’s offerings.