rkopperman, did you use a .38 or a .357?
Was the seller otherwise in mortal peril, stoned to the beejezus, or suffering from dementia? I mean, really. |
1. Perfect Quads ESL for $400 on craigslist
2. Innersound Kachinas for $950
3. JBL Lancer 44- famous LE8-T for $9.99 at goodwill |
Last year, I grabbed a near mint pair of KEF 103.2 for $15 at the local friendly Goodwill Store, and then a week later at the same Goodwill Store, a pair of Magnepan MMGs for $35, again in near mint condition. Haven't seen anything but junk there ever since. |
Klipsch Heresy's MIB, $70, off craigs.
AR-XA turntable, Dynaco FM-3, Dynaco PAS-3, Dynaco ST-70, AR-3's, all essentially mint, $115 at a yard sale where I was looking at records and the owner asked if I was interested in old stereo stuff.
Revox B 795 TT, McIntosh 2505, McIntosh C-26, TEAC X-1000R, Sansui QRX-7500 - $400 - asked at a neighborhood sale if anyone had any old hi-fi gear. Guy called me two months later.
Old home made plywood speaker with WE KS12025 horn and WE 728B (mint), $10 late in the day at a yard sale.
Dahlquist DQ-10's, $50, church flea.
ESS Heil AMT monitors, $50 at an estate sale.
Marantz 4270, near mint, picked up off the curb on trash day.
Pioneer SX-980, mint, $15, second day of moving sale.
Sansui G-6000, mint with manual, $15, yard sale. |
Two Scott LK-72B integrated amps - one pristine; the other a little dinged up, both with all tubes intact.
All from the dumpster for free. One man's trash...
-Richard |
Last month I picked up a McIntosh MC-2100 amp off of Craigslist for $100. Not perfect condition, but fully functional and amazing sounding.
Traded a pair of NHT 2.5's (which I got for $130 from Craigslist) for a pair of Thiel CS 2.2's.
I'm still waiting for my "jackpot" find. |
Sony Playstation 1 CD player, $35; Dynaco Dynakit amp: $10. |
A Marantz 150 scope tuner in perfect condition for $300.00. |
MIT Z Stabilizer II. under $300. |
I bought a Sansui TU-717 tuner in great condition from a pawn shop fpr $75 |
Magnepan 3.3 in perfect condition for $700. |
I bought a pair of Klipsch KG-4's at a yard sale for $20.
They must have been her ex-husbands. The tag said 250 with another small 0 like they were 250.00 and forgot the last 0 so I asked how much she wanted for them she looked at them and said $25.00 so I offered her $20 and she said OK. She must not have liked them she said when she came home from work and the garage door opened up she could hear them blasting. |
2 pair (4) vintage JBL 4312 studio monitor speakers, in excellent condition for $15, at a yard sale. |
Used MIT conditioning & isolation gear.
Not the complex all in one stuff, just units intended to be effective at one thing. Surprising,no, exciting value when used properly. |
Sonus Faber Electas with Target stands
Muse Model 100 amp
Aragon 18K preamp
Theta Cobalt D/A
Esoteric P700 transport
PIoneer Elite F-91 tuner
OCOS speaker cables
Van den Hull 102 MKIII interconnects
All for $500. |
I picked up an ADCOM 545 II for 20 dollars at a garage sale. Brought it home, hooked it up and cranked up Dark Side of the Moon on my old Klipsch speakers, my wife could hear the houses heart beating from the back fence!! Too funny! I got out of that garage sale in a hurry, just hoping the unit wouldn't be DOA. Sold it for $225 six months later. That sir is a deal. |
I think with the bargain find, we should include the circumstance around it (estate sale, goodwill, etc.) Yeah I'm lookin at you, Reelsmith. ;) |
It was a Craigslist deal. They were moving and had to get rid of it all that day. I asked how much they wanted for it and they said "$500, but you MUST take all of it."
No problem. |
Here's to Craigslist!!
*Cheers* |
McIntosh c20 tube preamp...mint...$20!!! Elderly lady was selling her deceased husbands stuff at a yard sale....should have bought the tuner and a couple Dynaco's she had. After a couple years of ownership it was stolen during a break-in. Good things go as quick as they come. |
marantz 7c for $65 in a pawnshop in 1977. I had a 1060/105 combo and had craved the 250/3300/120 trio. Went to a pawnshop with a friend and there it was. I had to wait a week for it to clear. I was waiting for the guy to open-up on day 7. I asked him about it and he just said: "I don't know what it does, ya gotta plug it into something!" Had it modded in 1986 (based on the Sid Smith mods) Sounds great and it is a "daily driver!" |
Over the last 3 years:
Most recently pair Tannoy 15" red GFR Rectangular all original. Was advertised on Craig's for $900. When I arrived, seller said he had calls with an offer for $2000. I offered $1500 and accepted, would've match.
Pair Klipsch Heresy $40
Sansui TU7500 & AU7500 mint $25
Jbl L166 & L88 $50
Box ot tubes with 10ea 45/80/6sn7/2a3 $5
Sansui G7700 in mint $30
Pair Tannoy 15" Golds $850
Pair Jensen Type H $150
Altec 755a $150
Hickok 539b $140
Marantz 2250 $25
Jbl L100 $175 |
The best bargain ever was the SOTA TT circa 1985 that I sold (like an IDIOT) for $150. You didn't say I had to be the recipient! |
God bless craigslist. Found a pair of Aerial LR5 for sale. I called the guy to go see the speakers and he had no idea what he really had. He got them from another gentleman he did work for. He had nothing to hook them up with, so I ran home and got my trusty NAD integrated and found the tweeters were not working. The guy just said go ahead and take them. What a find. |
That has to be my Symphonic Line La Musica. I paid €1500,- for a demo model. List price is €5200,- |
I once found a perfectly original Marantz 7C for $35. |
Thorens Td 165 in really good shape except for a scratched up dustcover with a stanton 600ee and a couple records for $20. That kicked off the vinyl addiction about 6 months ago and I managed to go through about 9 tables sense. |
Sansui SP-5500 Speakers for $400...one the best speakers ever made....EVER MADE! |
Theta DAC genV version A for 400.00, now If I only would have kept it!!! |
Slightly used Klipsch Heresy II Speakers $38 (yard sale)
Marantz 2240 $10 (community yard sale)
ADS L7e speakers 50 Cents (they were on a 25 cent per item table at a yard sale) |
i find a mcintosh mc275,mx110 and a pair huge klipschorn i think from the 60's ,all for 300.in a local trift store |
..a local medical facility that does an fine ear wax irrigation for $50. |
McIntosh MC7200, C34V, Matching McIntosh tuner and CD transport for about $90 out of pocket and a few hours of labor. Also came with a 275 and a bunch of weird McIntosh multizone junk.
My Dunlavy SC-III were free, including a center channel. Came with a Sunfire Cinema Grand amp, though it's got a hum and needs a little love.
Synare 3 analog synth drum pad for $20 ($1k+ on eBay now)
Roland SH-101 analog synth for $45
Handmade Steiner EVI analog wind synth prototype for $175
B&O Beogram 1900 from what amounts to a dumpster |
In reply to: 04-05-08: Mnnc
I'd call it karma. |
Best ever has been the tuner section for my MA6600. It is just the fm portion, it lists for $800.00. Won in auction for less than $100.00. |
My all time best scores were a Mark Levinson 332 fully serviced and redone where the owner thought it was broken, and sold it to me for $900 and it turned out to be the rubber sealant and the amp was pristine and should need no service for a dozen or so years.
My greatest score ever was for $2800 I once scored a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC, A3CR Amp and Preamp (all heavily modified), a pair of B&W 805 Nautilus (with stands), Velodyne HGS-15, and a PS Audio P1200 (the big ole giant) all in great to perfect condition + some really fancy power cables and sold everything but the DAC and the P1200 in 36 hours making a few hundred bucks (plus selling my gear) and giving my best friend a hell of a deal on the HGS-15. That was a score of,a lifetime |
I found two Goldmund turntables at Western Audio twenty years ago. The Studietto was pristine and the Studio had some mods. The owner offered me either one for $1,000 but
would only sell one. I chose the Studietto, but I should have chosen the Studio. I sold it later at a profit. |
JM Lab Profil-77s Craigslist find for $120
Aragon 2004, Aragon 24K and NAD 4300 Tuner for $400 Craigslist
ADS L-620 in decent shape $25 yard sale |
Project Debut 3... $50
Paradigm Studio 100 Reference v2 + denon receiver + sony cd player... $300
Marantz MA500. $17 each |
I just bought another Sony DVP 9000ES at a thrift shop for $50. It sold new for $1500. Not bad, for a discount of 97%! |
I purchased the following mid 1970's equipment for $400 back in 1997. All items were in mint condition complete with owners manuals. Technics 1200 MK2 Turntable and power supply with granite base (serial number 6). Complete ESS Transar Speaker system complete with multiple necessary cables and equipment. Luxman Power Amp customed at Luxman with before and after specs (high power with massive caps), Luxman pre-amp customed at Luxman with before and after specs (toggle switch construction), Luxman eq customed at Luxman with before and after specs (toggle switch construction). OH yeah It also came with 50 mint albums. This deal was a once in a lifetime purchase. |
I forgot to mention it also came with original receipts. This system was approximately $6,000 in the mid 1970's. The items were also extremely rare, especially the ESS Transar Speaker System. |
I picked up a Fisher 500 C receiver at a yard sale way back when for $1. |
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Nakamichi cassatte deck mr 1 for $25, Rotel rc 995 for $150
without the remote. Atec speaker 879A for $100, Fisher tube amp x100 $10.50. |
I won an auction for a storage container last week for $125.00. It had a bunch of personal paperwork,some Big Lots type furniture, a Mitsubishi 40" TV that had to weigh 250 lbs., a crappy Fisher "all-in-one" stereo, boxes and boxes of housewares and other useless items. The bargain came in the way of over 1000 CDs, most in pristine condition. |
I paid $600 used here on AGon for my OHM "Super" Walsh 2s, which are fairly recent 100S3 CLS drivers in refurbed original OHM Walsh 2 cabinets. These are essentially full range and can compete with most anything out there when set up properly in typical size rooms.
Denon DL103R for $300 is another giant killer that can compete with the best.
The NAD 7020 receiver that I picked up in a pawn shop for $25 back in the 80's is still garnering rave reviews (from me) pinch hitting as a pre-amp only in my smaller family room system. I normally use this as a spare but I am hard pressed to replace it this time around as a pre-amp only.
mhdt Constantine DAC for just over $300 used here on Agon, another big hitter for very little. Its sister tube DAC the Paradisea cost a TAD more and is just a TAD behind in the performance category.
Tube Audio Designs TAD 125 Hibachi monoblocks cost me well under $1000 here on Agon, and could the last amp many people would ever need. |
Sansui G-9000 at a thrift shop for $10!
It lit up beautifully when I plugged it in at the thrift shop but had some buzzing from some speakers I hooked it up to when I got it home. I had it brought back to specs at a reputable local audio repair place. Spend $100 and it's like new.
Weighs 65lbs and 160 watts of 1970's power. Has a strong tuner section too. |
I "hear" ya on the Ohms!! I purchased a brand new pair of Ohm Walsh 2s with match grain oak cabinets - the salesman's price was $199 directly from the Ohm factory. I owned and loved those speakers for the next 10 years...
However, the B&O MMC-1 cartridge that I won in a factory sponsored contest is right up there. And the best part was that I was able to choose my cartridge from among 30 that we had recently received from B&O. I spent a *long* lunch hour reviewing the specs and looking at each stylus under a microscope. I ended up with a cartridge that spec'd. absolutely flat (within 0.25 db) from 20 Hz - 20 kHz.
I sold that cartridge 20 years later for $800, it had < 150 hrs. on it and was only used to transcribe albums from vinyl to reel-reel or CD. My MMC-2 (came with a B&O BG 9000 turntable that I bought for $250) was used for day to day playback...
-RW- |
Walker Talismen for $75.00 |
