Earlier I posted that my electric shaver died this morning and I needed to go get a Black Friday bargain at Walmart. Later this afternoon I broke out the Christmas CDs and was happily listening when "snap,crackle pop" - my 25 year old stereo receiver kicked the bucket. Not a peep out of it.
So it was off to Best Buy and Black Friday Part Deux.
The store was busy but everyone was friendly. The harried lady I talked to didn't have time for a lot of hand holding but she listened to my problem and said: "This is really all you need - $150."
So I came home with a shiny new Sony stereo receiver. It cost about 1/3 what the old receiver did in 1989. It has twice the power. It works.
It doesn't have a phono preamp but practically nothing mainstream does these days. Vinyl is obsolete don't you know? However I can get a preamp for $20 later on if I want to use my old Akai turntable. My CDs play again. I'm happy.