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Low-end components from the early 1970s ?

dee bee

dee bee

New Member
Hello all,
Does anyone have any brand names or models of low-priced stereo components from the late 60s early 70s? Something a high school kid could have bought at Woolworth's or somewhere similar. RCA? Kenwood was from Sears. Stereo components that he might move up to after his portable record player.
Thanks.
 
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Airline from Montgomery Wards, they had low $ stuff that wasn't bad at all. That's where I started with an Amp & BSR turntable combo. Served me well in Middle School & High School.

They had more expensive stuff which wasn't always better and much better equipment that wasn't always too expensive.

Mark Gosdin
 
Sears LXI for a step up, Lloyd's, Radio Shack Clarinette (step up, Realistic), and Lafayette spring to mind.
 
I remember the system my dad bought ,and installed, in our home when I was about 8 years old..
Readers Digest quadrophonic system.. eight track, turntable, am/fm.. four bookshelf speakers that he proudly hung on the wall..
I think Fisher made it..
 
Generally saw Lloyd's, Soundesign, Emerson, Craig often department and discount stores had all in ones - tuner, maybe turntable built in, and 8 track or cassette with a pair of speakers. Some will still show up at Goodwill or thrifts.
 
dee bee said:
Kenwood was from Sears.
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I think you may have confused Kenwood with Kenmore. The latter was Sears' appliance brand (OEMed by many different manufacturers over the years). To my knowledge, the Kenmore brand was never used on electronics.
 
My first and only stereo receiver was an Electrophonic T600 acquired when I was 12. Complete with 8 track player and blue backlit escutcheon. ;)

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Sears' electronics brand name was Silvertone.

WT Grant had Bradford.

There were also the catalog retailers with brands like Olson, Burstein-Applebee, Trutest, Truetone, Calrad -- and, of course, Knight and Realistic.
Allied and Radio Shack also had Knight Kit and Archer (kit brands).

Some of the Japanese brands we'd later get to know well had some odd names in the 1960s in the US -- e.g., Delmonico and Nivico (JVC), National (Panasonic -- not a brand they used much, if at all, in the US, perhaps due to National Radio in the US), Crown (Japan) -- not to be confused with Crown, etc.
 
I too had that same exact T-600 Electrophonic as E-Stat posted above, as my first " Im a big boy now" stereo. Bought it as a whole stereo in a box kind of deal. Included a pair of "Air Suspension" 8" 2way speakers. They were In some nice real walnut veneer cabinets. Plus a Garrard turntable and dust cover too. I was so proud of that setup. Listened to it for hours on end.

Prior to that it was a fold up suitcase type turntable/speaker unit. At least it was a stereo suitcase.

I've been adding a couple of these low end units to my collection. Everyone turns away from them because of brand name. What I've found from them is when hooked to a quality set of speakers, they usually sound surprisingly good.

So far my favorite one is a GE RA-200A. I call it the showboat. The black/chrome/blue dial color scheme is just awesome in a dark room. Sounds surprisingly good hooked to my Coral 1200e speakers.

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I'm showing my age, but I remember pretty much all of those brands. Even as a kid, I remember thinking that stuff was cheap. It's not like I owned anything at all though... but my family did have a KLH compact that, though it may not have qualified for Hi Fi, was decent enough sounding and looked really great. The base unit thing was finished in teak as were the speakers. It was probably the kind of thing that was top rated in Consumer reports or some such thing because it seemed that a lot of families that I knew at that time had them as well.... it was sort of a token of a certain kind of upper middle class life.
 
Had a Capehart 3pc in the early 70’s from Kmart. The tuner/amp and tt in one. And two speakers with a 5” woofer(?) and a Oxford horn tweeter with a single resistor crossover. Later added a Panasonic rs272us auto reverse cassette deck. Bought from Stereo City in Detroit.
 
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I'll add a little to the Sears lore as I have been really digging around trying to learn more about some of their equipment. What I have found out is they contracted with multiple manufactures over the years. So most of it is from various makers. The first three numbers in a Sears model number are the vendor ID number. Some were only used for a year or two. I have a unit from vendor #570. I have no idea who that vendor was. However it is a quality piece. FWIW it has the same knobs as my Sansui 201. I'm not saying it's made by Sansui. Just shares the same knobs. My guess is a good quality Japanese company.

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Here it is in the 1971 Sears Christmas Wish Book Catalog

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The unit itself is just labeled Sears on the dial. Not Silvertone.

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K Mart had a house brand whose name escapes me. "Yorx" was another in the Emerson, Electrophonic, Lloyd's, Soundesign class. RCA, GE and Westinghouse were big electrical companies, but not big in component stereo. Woolworth's in the USA had Decca of all things, not sure it was a house brand, though you never saw it elsewhere...it was cheapoid Asian stuff. They also used "Audition" as a brand.
 
It wasn't all as it seemed...I had a Montgomery Ward tape deck I found that had the identical innards to a buddy of mine's Harman Kardon deck...
 
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