My set up in high school days was a 20 watt Marantz, the simplest of their turntable, likely the lowest priced belt drive maybe a 6100 if I recall correctly. Three way slightly larger than book shelf size Marantz speakers. I'm believing the speakers were nicer than I gave credit but for some efficient rock n roll, Infinity had a 2 way book shelf with the EMIT tweeter that really danced with a low watt system. Would love to hear those Marantz these days and give them some listening time just to know what I was missing and didn't value at the time. They were by no means in the upper end of the spectrum. Shortly after my few years of audio intro, I was in the business so to speak.
I wound up working in a HI-FI shop with nicer equipment than the big box stores were known for, got some experience with nicer stuff, related sales / marketing, etc. For a number of years, my "system" was a mix of components that were brought home to "borrow" from the store. I had a Bogan tube amp, Tandberg cassette, at one time I had a Kenwood car stereo amp running things for giggles. I had an all Onkyo set up that still used the Infinity's around mid 1980's.
1983- CD came to be. Prior to that we were recording live music on VHS or Beta somewhere around dynamic ranges in the low 80 db I believe. We thought that was 'punchy'.
These days for around the house, home theater, patio, it's a simple Marantz/Audyssey with Polks front, center and a Polk powered sub, with Klipsch surrounds and runs Bose environment speakers on the patio.
I think newer speakers with newer materials may offer some durability, longevity benefits, but cabinet, workmanship and sound has probably been lost on much except for the premium stuff of these days. Mid end speakers of the 60's or 70's would be a fun contrast to what passes for mid end today IMO.
*Keep your eyes open, this stuff shows up in thrift stores quite a bit when people cleans out closets, garage or basements.