Ask S&V

Q I hope you can help me. I am old school: born in the early 60s, rocked out in the 1970s.  I had a nice JVC stereo receiver that I bought in 1985, but it died after a couple of resistors got fried. What can I buy to replace it?  I would like to play my vinyl records so I need a phono input. I also have a nice Onkyo Cassette Tape deck and a Technics Compact Disc player I want to use (both with the old red and white jacks).  Plus I have four speakers that use copper wire to clip to the back of the receiver.  Major volume potential is a requirement as I need to crank my 1970s rock! I don’t want to break the bank doing it, either. —Scott Wellington, Marietta, GA

A Before I get into details, I first want to say how much I enjoyed your message. You want to gear up for the best reason possible: unabashed love of 1970s rock, cranked loud! (I, too, am a ‘70s rock fan.) I also love that you own no gear with digital outputs—just two analog sources and an old-school CD player, Technics, no less.

These days, it’s hard to find a receiver that doesn’t pack plenty of HDMI and other digital connections in addition to “old red and white jacks,” but they do exist. Your best bet is to look for a basic stereo model, which is still sold by companies including Cambridge Audio (Topaz SR10), Yamaha (R-S700), and Marantz (SR4023). Each of these options can be had for under $500 and includes a phono input for a turntable, speaker A/B outputs to connect your Quadrophoniac speaker setup, plus plenty of analog inputs to accommodate source components. All three receivers have solid power specs, too, which means that major volume potential is within the realm of the possible. Rock on!