I'm in the process of setting up some of my vintage stereo equipment upstairs in the living room, after it's been in storage for the past 7 years or more. I found that both my turntable and CD player need new belts and internal cleaning and lubricating, which is no surprise with them now being 45 years old. Fortunately, there is a Vintage stereo store right in my town, just 3 blocks from my house, and I made a visit there on Saturday.
I decided to buy a second turntable to have on hand as a backup, and to use until I get a chance to service my primary turntable, a Technics SL-7 I bought back in 1981. I picked up a classic Pioneer PL-512 turntable the store had in stock; it was still in very good condition.
I spent all day Saturday and much of Sunday getting the equipment setup and working. I'm using my Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player as my CD player for now, since it has analog outs will also play SACD discs, of which I do have a few. I'm still arranging things and need to figure out where I'll be placing my speakers. Here are a few pics of my "new" turntable and vintage stereo setup as I have it now. The first LPs I played on it were the Noir Soundtrack and the Apothecary Diaries OST albums I just recently picked up at Crunchyroll, and the turntable and speakers both sound so freakin' awesome - I'm ecstatic that I was able to finally dig my equipment out of storage and start using it again!
My Vintage Stereo System:
Onkyo Integra TX-85 Receiver (1984)
Onkyo Integra EQ-35 Audio Equalizer (1985)
Pioneer PL-512 Manual Turntable (1979)
Infinity Quantum 5 (Q5) Speakers with 12" Dual-Coil Woofers and Emit Tweeters (1979)
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player (2010)
I also just bought some reproduction turntable stands for my Technics SL-7 from a seller on Etsy and they arrived a few days ago. The SL7 is able to be mounted in any position, even vertical on a wall, so the main draw for me having the stands is to be able to view colored vinyl spinning hypnotically on the turntable while sitting down across the room. I always wanted a set of the original stands from Technics, but they were going for $350 even back when I purchased the SL-7 in college in 1981. The original Technics stands I see selling for $700-$800 a pair! The set I got from Etsy are 3D-printed reproductions and only cost me $79. I did notice the seller raised the price on his listing to $130 right after I bought the pair from him, so he probably hadn't sold any for a while, lol! I think I am going to paint these stands black so as to match the base of the turntable: