Players were heavily used, suitcase styles were thrown around under beds, and decks left out and open on shelving digesting dust.

Generally, the more electronics involved, the greater the degree of mechanical complexity (stacking and playing multiple records for example) and the more likely you’ll have trouble with the piece. Whether you are in the market for a suitcase or a turntable to link up to an amplifier, speakers and the rest of your retro hi-fi equipment, there are a few things to remember.

Speakers attached to the carrying case, or formed out of the lid, could hinge out or be completely detached for stereo style performance from 78s, 45s and 33s (numbered for their revolutions per minute). With integrated amplifiers and speakers they allowed the user to pick up and take their music anywhere there was as power outlet. Portable, self-contained record players were a sensation in the 1950s. Still, it’s a unique nostalgic audio-soup sure to bring a small audience to a stop at any fair, boot sale or bring & buy. Old records and old players offer a unique sound baffled by dust, imperfections on the old vinyl, failing speakers, and the gearing of the player arm. Prices have surged for the most bog-standard suitcase player in playable condition, and reproduction players with CD capability, radios and a USB port that allows you to record to your computer from vinyl are everywhere. I’ll leave that to the velvet wags at Rolling Stone, but one hit is climbing the vintage charts and that’s the mid-century compact record player. Is the market already so tiny, even with Tesco stocking it alongside CDs and Spotify credit?

Is it simply the sad buys of nostalgic baby boomers? The arguments rage on in the music press - is vinyl back as a medium? Those speakers bounced up off the G-plan, changing shape, like monsters inside them were punching out the tweed. We sprawled, bell-bottomed, on the tangled shag pile, believing no-one over 16 understood this magical planet of feeling.

Pelted in rosewood with records in singles and gloriously illustrated gate-front albums - it was that vital currency of acceptance amongst our friends, the weekly discoveries of strange lyrics urgent with meaning, with licks and riffs.

Record players for sale in ireland