Your 1970, $1,000 system is about $7,000 today. I would venture that if you spend your $7,000 carefully, you can easily get a system that sounds better than the 1970 $1,000 system.
I started out in 1970 with a system that cost about $700 - and that included a Dual turntable, 35 watt stereo amplifier, TEAC 10-inch reel-to-reel. I built the speakers myself.
Today, that $700 system is the equivalent of about $4700.
The first job I got after graduating from college in 1971 paid $9,000. With some bonuses the first year I made about $11,000. Doesn't sound like much does it? Well, in today's dollars that's equal to $70,000.
What I'm suggesting is that you have to adjust your budget thinking. The "low cost" systems of the 1970's, in reality, represent a larger amount of money spent that the "low cost" dollar amount sounds.
I started out in 1970 with a system that cost about $700 - and that included a Dual turntable, 35 watt stereo amplifier, TEAC 10-inch reel-to-reel. I built the speakers myself.
Today, that $700 system is the equivalent of about $4700.
The first job I got after graduating from college in 1971 paid $9,000. With some bonuses the first year I made about $11,000. Doesn't sound like much does it? Well, in today's dollars that's equal to $70,000.
What I'm suggesting is that you have to adjust your budget thinking. The "low cost" systems of the 1970's, in reality, represent a larger amount of money spent that the "low cost" dollar amount sounds.