These are what I remember that our family paid:

Parents paid:
1996: $700 for a 27" Sony Trinitron back then
1996: $400 for a Sony Hi-Fi VCR+
1997: $350 for a Panasonic Hi-Fi VCR+
1997: $600 for a Sony Stacked 5 disc CD/FM/Tape Player with 2 floor standing speakers

I paid:
1997: $1500 for a P1, 100mhz, 16MB Ram, 2GB HDD AST Computer (work $7/hr, $12/day, for the whole summer, cash, to earn $3000)
1997: $600 for a 2X External CD burner when it first came out.
1998: $350 for a Sony 15" Flatscreen CRT Monitor


And now I'm complaining about the $400 PS3 being uber expensive,,....lol..