Word: stereos
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...careful, buying a stereo can be a lot like finding a mate: you can spend much time shopping around, take what looks best, and then, once home, discover you're stuck with a lemon...
...newspaper advertisements and then visit a few stores to see and listen. The turntable--usually a Garrard--and receivers will be decidedly mediocre. The real difference will be in the speakers. Don't go near any combination system with what look and sound like $20 speakers. Sound from a stereo can only be as good as the signal from the weakest component in the system; it's a waste of money to get decent sound through all those transistors and capacitors in the amplifier only to allow inferior speakers to mangle it. Also, ignore everything the brochures and salesmen tell...
...audiophile who is determined to spend your summer paycheck--$300 to $1500--on a complete component system, then shopping for a stereo can be a tormenting experience. The first thing to realize is that, unless you're a physics major, you know nothing about the electronic workings of the systems you look at. Advertisers and salesmen will come at you with "the 400-millisecond miracle," "reverberent field dominant," and "silver-lined circuitry." Don't worry if you don't understand these terms; you're not supposed to. The companies are preying upon your technical ignorance and attempting to dazzle...
Before purchasing anything, however, you should obtain Stereo Review's annual Directory and Buying Guide, which contains summaries of features and specifications for all products, accompanied by helpful "how-to" articles. Then visit your local hi-fi dealers to listen to his equipment. Don't let your dealer demonstrate an inexpensive turntable by playing it through a $1000 Marantz amplifier and Bose speakers--insist he hook it up to other equipment in your price range...
...feel guilty or timid about applying anything I've suggested. The stereo industry, through differentiation of product, is trying to exploit your ignorance about electronic equipment. No dealer is ever selling an item below cost and it's your right to get the lowest price...