That may be true, since Pioneers were the winner in the wattage. Marantz had the best look and style (and cost more) Technics receivers held their own with Yamaha; Sansui; and Kenwood. IIRC, all of those were around the same price. The only Pioneer I could afford was a Super Tuner cassette player for my car. Man, Pioneer made some great car audio around this time.
A off topic question:
What were the differences between the 901’s and the Panaray 802’s? I knew a friend who had two pairs of 802’s that he used to DJ with. He said they needed a ton of power to drive them, and was more of a PA type speaker, which only played well with other speakers like highs (rows of tweeters); and lows (large folding horns). He also said that he had to replace the speakers from time to time as well. Did the 901’s have problems and individual speakers need to be replaced often? I would think that the older versions had to be re-done.
Was Technics one of the winners in the “Receiver Wars” of the 70’s & 80’s IIRC? Technics was the step up brand of Panasonic, and their receivers were very good in a period of some great brands like Yamaha; Marantz; and Pioneer. Technics held their own. That’s why their gear is desirable. Wish I had one when they came out. They were price comparable to Marantz and Yamaha.
I’ll just have to disagree with you on that one. You can put an early (between 79 and the mid 80’s Pioneer Super Tuner II cassette deck with a set of Jensen Co Axial or Tri Axial speakers and it would sound amazing. I would compare Alpine to Blaupunkt and Clarion for best car audio during those times. You are right that Kenwood spent more time making better car audio than their home audio