Here's my vintage stereo Christmas gift to myself. A setup I've been putting together a few weeks now and I almost have everything ready.

After having a similar setup in the 70s when a youngster, and then many moves later, not having it, I decided to attempt a recovery of sorts

It currently consists of an Elgin stereo amp/receiver with 8-track, probably from K-mart or Woolco. I wanted a cheaper system since that's all I had originally. The speakers are 70's Sanyo bookshelf speakers which I upgraded with better quality speakers placed inside rather than the cheapo originals. There's a Panasonic mini-sized turntable. Probably Panasonic's cheapest but still a really good turntable. Finally there's a Marantz cassette deck, not a cheap one either. My original tape deck was a Realistic from radio Shack, but couldn't find one like it.

So total cost of thise system so far:

The Elgin cost $10 at a thrift store.

The speakers were $5 at same place, and the better quality replacement speakers I got at a junkyard for $5 each with no case.

The Marantz was an yard sale find for $10 a few months ago.

The turntable was on ebay for $20 and it finally got reduced to $12 in a special sale, plus shipping of the same amount, and it is a rarely used turntable, like new.

The record is an original 1967 Vanilla Fudge premier album purchase as a jr high student, and came from a collection of about 100 albums that my son managed to get for me from my ex-wife before she sold them at a yard sale. I hadn't seen them since the 1980s! There's also original Doors, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, etc, but this Fudge album is one of the best albums of pop cover songs redone in Psychedelic style.

The only missing item, if I could ever find one, is a CD player that has walnut finish and some chrome trim. I have the vintage walnut shelf & rack unit for everything, just not set up yet.

Around 1984 Sears sold a CD player under their LXI brand name - it was silver with wood trimming and looked like something designed in the late 70's. So do searches for Sears LXi CD player and maybe you'll find just what you want.

One day I plan to have an original 1hour SL-7600 Sony Betamax with the mechanical Betastack tape changer and a Mitsubishi VS-50UD one piece front projection console big screen television. All fully working, of course. And a collection of the few Prerecorded Beta tapes from Magnetic Video that they released in the Beta X1 (one hour) speed.

I believe I have that Betamax player with the optional separate tuner unit from the original owner. It needs belts and the typical rubber parts that go, that's all. I really don't want it, so you can have it for shipping. It isn't light.

Nice vintage buy. How's the tape decks heads?

Haven't tried it yet. Not hooked up and I have to find my tapes that are packed away. Found the 20 or so 8-track tapes I have. Just took the photo for showing here.

Oh and the belts and motor as well. Good luck hope it starts up without a hitch.