Need HELP setting up home stereo

[Bloodhound]

It appears as though my son's interest in the Conion Boomboxes has evolved and taken the next step. He wants to build a stereo setup with a Turntable, Receiver etc. With Covid he's been forced to wait FOREVER for the Conion boombox cases to come back from paint so he's on to this for the time being. We're waiting for the parts machine for the Aiwa M700 cassette deck so that's on hold as well. I told him to raid the basement for whatever he could find and he surprised me. He found a few things I forgot we had. None of it is high dollar vintage hence my request to help him choose which components to use if at all. He wants giant floor standing speakers. I think he figures they'll be loud and sound good. Is that true? His budget is $250-$400 of his own money. Can anyone recommend a set in that price range that are decent? He listens to a lot of 80's metal which I absolutely approve of LOL! I just hate to see him blow his hard earned money on garbage. Here's what he dug out of the basement. I told him he could have it all. 2 Receivers.. 1 Technics SA-DX930 and a Kenwood VR-705... 1 Turntable Realistic Lab-430...2 sets of speakers (Infinity reference 2000.4 8ohm 15-150 watts) and a set of Jensen 2652 book shelf speakers. Lastly is an RCA subwoofer model PRO-SW220P. That coupled with what we hope will be a working Aiwa 3 head cassette deck is what he's working with. Will a good set of speakers help here or is his money best spent elsewhere? Thank you!

 

[Superduper]

Personally, I like classic silver brushed aluminum faced gear, which generally are very reasonably priced, especially if you are not getting the top dogs in the lineup. If you want the top dogs, forget it... they cost in the thousands because everyone wants the TOTL unit in a lineup, which really is unnecessary. The old school receivers really output a huge amount of power, and you'll never use 160wpc. I'm talking "real" power, not the fake creatively measured stuff of later years. The receivers you currently have looks like newer audio video receivers (surround sound type). Nothing wrong with them, and certainly good enough for a starter set, but they aren't the ones you are gonna fall in love with for life, nor are they good stereo systems I would say. Stereo systems, as in (2-channel) and not surround sound 7.1 stuff -- good for movies, not nearly as good for music listening in my opinion. Excellent receivers in the classic era for budget pricing are: Kenwood KR-9600, Sansui G-8000, G-9000, Sansui 9090, Pioneer SX-850/950/1050/1250/980/1080/1280/1980 (<-forget the last one, it's out of your price range, haha) and other similar stuff. It's the classic ones that everyone falls in love with and baby, and keep dusted, and covered etc. With your son's budget, I'd say just stick with what you already have. In the old days, everyone had a receiver (or separates: tuner/amp/preamp), a turntable, a tape deck, an equalizer, and at least 1 set of nice speakers. Infinitys made good speakers but the ones you have probably aren't gonna blow any eardrums, nor do I think the later stuff sound all that clear for classical music. Heavy metal... ok, any loud speakers will do, lol. If you are wondering what I'm using, I have an assortment of Sansui speakers -- old school stuff with the lattice grills. Man, they have very high SPL and sound awesome, but aren't bass monsters. For classics, pop, and sounds of the 70's/80's, they are hard to beat for what they cost. I also have some Carver Amazing loudspeakers but they are niche speakers. I also have a set of JBL L-300's. Each one is the size of a washing machine and weighs 150# each. Google them. Also I have a pair of Polk SDA-SRS 1.2TL. I absolutely love them, will never sell them and will die with them. Can you get better? Yes, if you pay $10k & up probably. But for the price, extremely hard to beat. Oh, and they WILL blow your ear drums out if you want them to. Google either the JBLs or the Polk models I mentioned if you wanna know more.

 

[Bloodhound]

Wow Superduper! Thank you for the crash course. You've clarified things for us and we appreciate your suggestions. After reading this he's decided to save his money for an old school receiver and set of speakers. I think he wants to build this from the ground up. He's already asked me to take him a few towns over to look at a set of speakers. First thing he said was they look old and have lattice grills just like that guy on the forum said... You've made and impression that's for sure!

 

[Bloodhound]

Again ABSOLUTELY MUST thank Superduper for his time and effort here. We're going to begin the process of building a proper vintage system. Thanks to Superduper's assistance and direction we were able to purchase a set of Sansui SP-Z9 speakers like the one's pictured off craigslist for $220.00.... I was a bit taken back by the size and weight of these, not to mention the 320 watt rating. Next we'll be looking for a respectable receiver/amp that can power them. With a little luck we can resurrect the Aiwa M700 deck we found and be off to a decent start.