The draft lottery continued for men born in my birth year 1955, and 1956 even though the active draft ended in June 1973. My birth date was somewhere between 340 and 350. So I, regardless of going to college, would not have been drafted during the Vietnam war. I knew one person that served, and the experiences he conveyed of the stress, anxiety, and trauma endured were awful. I am not afraid to state that I question if I could have handled it. All those who serve our country are special and deserve our most sincere thanks. I contribute biannually to the Wounded Warriors Project.
Regarding the equipment from the war era, and the brands mentioned, I remember them well. My father was sort of an audiophile at that time with his Pioneer SX 828, Large Advents, Thorens TD 161 and Stanton 681. The music of the time was different IMHO. It had either meaningful social commentary to stimulate change or songs of true love in the era of love. Pop now has social commentary, but rather to stimulate change, it appears to try to only illicit reaction for the purpose and experience of that reaction.
Someone recently posted asking for comments comparing your reference system to your retro system. I still have a retro system in a VT vacation home (my dad’s Pioneer, DCM Time Windows 3, and a Linn Unidisc SC). I responded as follows: my retro system produces music that is warm and comforting like mom’s Sunday sausage and meatball tomato gravy over spaghetti. My reference system produces music with the fresh clarity to the pallet, and dynamic and vivid flavor profiles of the tasting menu at the Michelin Star Le Bernardin, NY.