I have a really good friend who had a pair of McIntosh MC60s sitting in his home office for about 20 years. When I decided to put together a system I spent about a year researching equipment here. Started reading about Zu Definition speakers and their 101 db efficiency. Hmm- Lets just say it has worked out pretty good. Hey, he wasn't using them! |
Well, during a difficult time of my life, i discover a
thrift store who where about 10 min of my place appart.
One sunday i decide i do'nt know why to visit one thrift store i do'nt usully go. In the electronic area i saw a very big pair of speaker.. I looking better and guess what AR 3. Acoustic Research AR 3 at $10.00/pair. WOW. I buy them and a friend who was happy for me drive me home with the speaker. Now they are connected to a Yamaha M-40 i get free on an add electronic free equipment. I am bless!!!
That was some week ago. The Yamaha who was giving to me has new cap!!! And it sound amazing with the AR 3. So in my system the unit who cost me the most are a Meridian 565 i get from Audiogon at $220 Us MINT, connected with transport it sound really amazing! A Belkin power conditionner and a Sanyo T-35 serie plus tuner came also from thift store.
Who said this hobby are expensive... But the real key to
receive is giving. This is a spiritual law who was declare
by God in heaven and beleive me HE KEEP HIS WORD. |
One day my wife called me at work. She said she saw a pair of speakers at a garage sale for $10.00. She said they were really big and wanted to know if I would be interested. I've been an audiophile for years. I told her I didn't want to buy someone else's "junk", but I asked her to find out what kind of speakers they were. She called me back about a half hour later and said she bought them for $10.00. She said they were Infinity Delta/Gamma speakers (retail $14,000). They also came with the servo unit. The only problem was that the surrounds on the woofers needed to be replaced. When picking the speakers up I also noticed that they had a PS Audio 5.5 preamp for sale which they also sold to me for $10.00. This was clearly my "Picasso" at a garage sale. Needless to say, my wife will never have to buy me another gift. This was the find of a lifetime. |
Aretha in Paris- FANTASTIC ALBUM. I consider it in the top 5 Lps in my 1000+ collection. I always wondered what she sounded like live when she could still belt out her vocals, singing those great hits of hers (and others). Recorded in May, 1968, it was her first European tour and the crowd treats her with the love and admiration she deserves. Her voice and the vocals are strong, the recording is superb! On my Lenco, this is an all time hit. It does have a bad skip on one of the songs, I know there is nothing we can do about it, but if you have any ideas...my ears are open.
BTW, I paid 2.00 for this.
Cheers! |
Stax Lambda Pros with an SRD-X energizer for $300 (50,000 yen) new in Tokyo in 1987. Still got 'em. Believe it or not, that was the regular retail price in Japan at the time, when they were selling Stateside for around $800. If you're interested in Stax, think you can't afford 'em, and are going to Tokyo, make a trip to some audio shops and upscale department stores in Akihabara - they just might be within your budget after all.
Just searched google.co.jp, and yup, a Stax 3030 system is about $700 (vs. $1,350 here), and a 4040 kit goes for about $1,100 (vs. $2,000 here).
Other super deals include Spica TC-60s for $325 and an Adcom GFP-555 and two GFA-5200s for $300. Oh, and a factory-refurbed NEC LCD2180UX display for $700. It sells new for $1,500. |
audes soul speakers and sentral center channel. $97 new in boxes. |
arcam dv29 on ebay...1300.00 bucks... |
My find is not something a bought at a steal but a little known audiophile piece I picked up.
I bought a B&K TS-108 tuner. I listened to it in a shop selling used audio equipment. It sounded great so I bought it for $100.
I did research and found out it was made by B&K only in 1990-91, and sold for about $400. The year after that it was still made in Buffalo, NY but by the new Fanfare company. Fanfare added remote and balanced outputs and it sold as the F-1 for $1500. Stereophile reviewed the B&K look alike and said it was the best tuner they ever heard.
If you can find one buy it, as it is a steal. |
My wife. She literally doubled my music collection when we combined our libraries and it has since doubled since then (in the past year). She is a true music lover and aworld class woman.
Everything else I've paid fair market value for (no steals). :-( I do find the odd album at the thrifts for $1 in VG++ condition that might be for $16-32 in VG++/NM- on eBay, but that's about it. |
A Garrard 301 at the bottom of a stack of Linn Sondeks. $85 |
A Luxman T-12 tuner in mint condition on eBay for Buy-It-Now $150. |
This weekend, I picked up a working Yamaha T-1 tuner in a thrift shop for $19.95. But I have a friend who found some "room dividers" in a NY-area thrift shop a few years ago. He bought them for $70, replaced the transformers in the base, and now has a mint-condition pair of KLH Model 9 electrostatics. That's my favorite story. |
My wife. No question about it. |
Reading over my post above, I realised that my best find is my enabler, Ellyn. A real keeper! |
$170K Todays local news a lady in a thrift store found $170,000! in a box of goodwill. Apperantly an elder died and the relativies donated some boxes of stuff to a thrift store. One box had 100's and 50's bundle in with the stuff and a will. The thrift store worker returned it to the rightful owners. |
I scored a Macintosh MC-275 power amplifier at a house sale. Did not know much about it but I liked the look. The guy also had an MX 110 and he wanted $900.00 for both. I just wanted the power amp and offerd $450 but he would not budge. My girlfriend (read enabler) said she would buy the preamp so I could get the 275. I told her I didn't think the preamp was worth it but she knew how much I wanted the 275 and I guess I should marry her fast.
Oh yeah, the year befor we went to a church sale where I saw a Mcintosh MX 113 and a MC-2505 for $25 dollars each. I thought they were cool looking even though the glass was cracked on the 2505. I left because I could not tell if they worked. I thought about it and went back 45 minutes later to see that they had sold. Getting back to me office I had a phone message from my girlfriend that she had bought something for me. You guessed it, she had called a local audio dealer and told him what she had seen. Thus my entry into the world of audiophle maddness. |
A VPI TNT V table, 12.5 arm and Benz cartridge, a massive pair of Apogee ribbon speakers (don't know which model), a massive pair of Audio Research tube amps (don't know the model). The preamp and digital stuff had walked before I got there. Lots of wire and other toys were piled up but I was too interested in making tracks to pay too much attention. I didn't want to be anywhere near the place if her old man reappeared suddenly. |
I don't know if I could have done that.
What else was she selling? LOL |
Shortly after it came out, I found a VPI SDS advertised in the Pennysaver for $150. My attention fully aroused, I called the number and asked if it was still available. The seller told me, "Yes", and that she would sell it for $100 if I showed up right away with the cash. Needless to say I ran over there with the funds as fast as the Toyota would carry me. When I got there, I found the SDS in an unopened box, along with a completely disassembled audio system of mega proportions. The seller explained that the SDS was part of a system that her husband had been building, and that she was selling all of it off to whoever arrived with cash. I asked her why, and she told me that her husband was on a business trip and that she had only a limited amount of time before he came home. She had just found out that he had been cheating on her with a business associate, and she wanted to deprive him of the only thing that he truly loved. I nodded, plunked down the benjamin and got out of there as fast as the Toyota would carry me. A friend of mine asked me if I felt any guilt over this transaction, and after I thought about it for a second I said, "Nah, the guy got what he deserved. You can't properly pursue more than one vice at a time." |
I'm currently using a NAD 7250pe receiver that my dad found in a thrift shop for $40. It sounds better than their current line up to me. |
I actually just did get married again! At least this time I married someone who appreciates music (she's an opera singer). I must tell you that I had really had bad premarriage jitters though!!!! My new wife has been encouraging my purchase of a new system which I am starting to do. So far I picked up some Von Schweikert 4.5's, a Rotel RCD 1072 and a used Well Tempered Classic. I am floating the idea of a new Berning Zh-270 and a Supratek preamp. It will be interesting to see how far I get with that idea! Bob |
That settles it...I'm never getting married (again)!! |
This is really a 2 part story! About 12 years ago, I was visiting my mother when she lived in NM. I was bored and picked up a thrifty nickle newspaper. I saw an advertisement about a single JBL speaker with supertweeters that was about 4 feet tall for $100.00. The ad just didn't sound right, so I thought "what the hell" and called. What the guy said on the phone made no sense about the supertweeter, but he said the speaker was from about 1960. I had my mother take me to the guys house and we opened the door and saw a mint JBL Hartsfield! I gave the guy the $100.00 he wanted, and then had to ship it for $400.00 back to Chicago! The guy really was more concerned that someone buy it who appreciated it then the money.
I used that speaker for about 8 years until all my vintage audio collection was sold to pay lawyers fees during a nasty divorce. Who knows, maybe it was Kharma for only paying that guy $100.00 but maybe not. There were 2 assets that were being considered by the court to be immediately sold to pay off the attorneys. Those two assets were my vintage gear and some Panera Bread stock that I had been holding for a couple of years at a loss (while the rest of the market was steamrolling ahead). To make a long story short, the gear was sold at less than half its value by the court and I was crushed. Meanwhile, the Panera Bread stock went up 800% in the next 18 months. The moral of the story is be careful what you pray for! |
Was sitting at a big birthday party dinner gathering when one guy asked his brother if he wanted his old stereo as it was "too big" for the new house and his wife wanted a Bose. (Whatever!) Well, I hadn't gotten my girlfriend anything for Christmas yet and so, when brother 2 declined, told brother 1 I might be interested.
Went over to his house and he had these huge Cerwynn Vega sp? speakers, and Yamaha Tuner... and asked me for $75. As I carried them out to the jeep, his wife started loading the rest of the guy's stuff into my car (as it also didn't match the new decor)...so I got a tape deck, stereo rack and all the monster cable speaker wire, too. Well, my girlfriend loved Metallica, and this system was 'made' for Metallica. I set it up in her apartment and it sounded GREAT! (I got laid.)
Turns out, that damn tuner had more power than my system at home and somehow sounded better, hmmmmm....so, that's what started me out on this little audiophile upgrade journey.... ($75k later I'm still growin')
Did I get a good deal, or what!!?
Plus, now I live in fear that I'll die a premature death and one of my nieces will sell my stuff for nothing at a garage sale and you guys will get it! |
a Linn Sondek, grace tonearm, Ruby cartridge, rosewood option at the bottom of a stack of Garrard turntables.
$80 |
At an estate sale where people were fighting over a Yamaha SS system in the living room, I found the old stereo in the bed room and got a mint matched pair of McIntosh MC-30 mono power amps for $1. The woman running the sale said that "That tube stuff isn't really worth anything anymore." |
A free pair of big ol' speakers taking up a relatives garage space. I wasn't into audio at the time but took them anyway. They are Yamaha NS1000 monitors. |
God does indeed answer prayers.I just finished writing out a check for you this morning.Let me know where to send it and you`ll get the 5 cent donation that you and your church truly deserve.Glad I could help you my brother.God Bless. |
We at The Church of the Holy 21 saved proceeds from our collection plate for many Sundays throughout the 80s to provide seed money for Blind Billy Bob's visit to Atlantic City to rebuild our church after our devastating fire. We gave him gave him $20,000 and told him to come home when he either hit $200,000 or bottomed at $10,000, so that we could either build a small church or at least rent a space above Myrtle's House of Myrth for a couple of years while we regrouped. Well, Blind Billy never returned, so the congregation kinda dwindled, but Myrtle joined up, sorta, and me and her had Bobby Joe, named after, y'know.... We moved into the 'partment, seein' as there was just the three of us, but never told the town, so didn't get registered for BJ's 'noculations, so he came down with the big cough, which keeps him inside still.... Hearin' 'bout you findin' Blind Billy Bob's $10,000 minimum is a real Godsend to us! Finally, after all these here years of prayin' and sufferin' the Lawd is sendin' us a friend and savior afta all! Thank ya brutha!! |
Tlopes- That chip you found belonged to me.
Please e-mail me so we can work out the details.
David99 aka 'The Boss' |
I was in Resorts International in Atlantic City,maybe 15 years ago,when I was walking from the craps table to the mens room....I looked down and thought I saw a playing chip.Now for those of you who have never been in a casino,the carpeting in the majority of these places are very colorful with swirl patterns and intricate designs.To actually spot anything on these rug covered floors is a fete in itself.I bent down and lo and behold picked up a orange-pink colored chip.The casino gamblers out here know exactly what I picked up.Yes a $10,000 chip.At first,I didn`t think it was real because it was slightly bigger then the $1,$5,$25,$100,and $500 chips they use.After the realization that it was indeed real,I went to the men`s room to relieve myself and to do some thinking.Should I turn it in to the cashiers cage or should I keep it? Well after much thought,I decided to get a room and sleep on it.The next day while playing craps,and still not sure what to do,I overheard 2 pit-bosses talking about a "high-roller" who the night before won $235,000 playing blackjack.He quit playing because he was getting drunk and lost 2 $10,000 chips somewhere.Right then and there I said to myself....the he11 with it....I`m keeping this chip.Looking back,it probably wasn`t the right thing to do but I made my choice and have to live with it.One small note...I used that chip to play some more craps that day,and left Resorts with around $29,000.Not bad for just taking down $300 the night before. |
A Keith Monks Audio Labs record cleaning machine, all dusty and buried under a bunch of used power tools at a store that I have always suspected of dealing in goods that were acquired by less than honest means.
I offered the man behind the counter 70.00 for it. he muttered something about it being a "record player without a needle". All it needed was a thorough cleaning and a replacement of the spool of thread that runs through the vacumn tube.
Works like new. The story is that it came from a classical music radio station that dumped all of it's LP's in favor of little silver discs. I never found out what happened the records. Too bad. Anyone keeping the collection clean via a Keith Monks unit, must have had a lot of great vinyl in good condition.
I used that thing for several years, but got sick of moving it, as we were moving around a lot, wound up selling it to an audiophile in Germany who paid me what the real worth of a machine of it's caliber is. Anyone who is familiar with the KMAL machines knows how heavy they are. The shipping charges to Germany were almost 500.00 including duty. The guy knew what he was getting and never even flinched. I DO regret selling it now though. |
I found a Nakamichi OMS-7 with both original boxes,remote,owners manual. The guy couldn't get any sound out of his speakers. I paid him $25 and it cost me $65 to have a internal DAC replaced....Price $90 |
A turntable from an outdoor fleamarket was at the bottom of a stack of 6 tables.This table marked a Dynaco but in reality was a Technics 1200 marketed to Dynaco,paid 1 dollar
Best of all it worked fine.And only the dust cover was marred up. |
I lost a bid on a Teac A-3340 reel to reel (I know but I wanted one for old times sake) I bid $400.00 and it kept going up until someone got the bid at $592.00. I was crushed. I decided to look around on the web to see what I could find and live with. There was a Teac A-3440 (the top professional studio model used by all the recording studios and 1 step above the A-3340) for sale in Canada... $180.00!! I just knew everything was wrong with it at that price and I was going to have a turkey. It came yesterday... looks and acts brand new.. no scratches or anything. I have to replace 3 bulbs for the vu meters... $8.08 a piece. I love Canada. |
uhh... yeah.. it did...
im a loser....
WHY GOD WHY?>???
hehehe |
Isn't that story from a country song? ;-) |
Unfortunatly this did not happen to me...
A buddy of mine recently got a 1969 Mustang Mint condition with under 100 miles. Origional everything.
He met this lady who was selling a 69 mustang, he looked into it. Turned out her son had bought this beauty a week before he went to vietnam. Unfortunatly he did not return. The mother kept the car as a keepsake of her son, had the oil changed every six months and drove it around the block a couple times every 3 months. She finally decided she would not be able to keep the upkeep on it and wanted to sell it. My friend bought it for the origional list price, approx $2,000, the mom did not want to make money off of it, just get back what her son paid.
Image buying a 1969 Ford Mustang perfect mint condition, garaged for over 30 years, and under 300 miles on the origional engine for 2 grand. |
I went to a chuch sale with my girlfriend. We were standing at a table, and she winks at me and drops a golden chain in my hand. I asked the price and then paid $3 for 3 oz. of 24K gold. I also bought 1000' of (new on the market) Monster cable for $25. We made over $1500 that morning! |
I used to own a small audio consignment shop.
One day a guy walks in and asks if would be interested in
buying a preamp.I told him "sure. bring it in". All the while Im thinking "great. Another friggin Onkyo."
The guy brings in a pretty clean Mac c-11! I'm thinking that it's going to cost me dearly. I ask him how it works, he said it doesnt.all the tubes light up but no sound.
About this time my woodie is starting to deflate and I ask
him what he wants for it in it's non-working state.
he said,"would a hunded dollars be too much?"
We make the deal and he leaves the store,and I stare at this potential boat anchor that I just bought.
After mucking about with it for a while,I notice one of the
chrome end caps were loose.I pull it off and notice a small
flat disc-like control that was labelled level! Same under the other side,and they were both all the way down! I cranked them both up,plugged it in, and the thing just sang.
Full woodie! closed the store early,took it home where it still resides and listened to it the rest of the day.
Feel kind of like I cheated the poor guy,but I never saw him again.I honestly didnt know about the really tiny level
controls, and obviously neither did he. |
Swampwalker, that is EXACTLY what happened. A few months later, while moving, I dropped the Dragon onto a ceramic tile floor. RIP, draco.
And a year or so after than, my then-adolescent godson kicked the woofer cone out of one of the KEFs.
It's not nice to fool mother nature.
Will |
Nilthepill- Who is this Giana fellow any way, is he related to that Giorgio dude, I don't know but you can take it all for $15, as long as you take all of that Ermengildo crap too, who are these people? Dolce & Banana? LOL ;) |
Hmmmm. I gotta stop by at one of those yard sales and pawn shops. Sounds like you never know what you find there!! |
I found a set of Polk SDA-1Bs, NIB, under a sheet at a rummage sale where they were using them as a table. Paid $75 for the pair. Still using them (I just like the sound). Found a B&O RX-2 in the original box and virually new at a junk shop for $9.00. Found lots of less interesting stuff that turned out to be worthwile, but these are the two best. |
My wife. Very fast and extended response, without any solid state nasties. Lots of warmth, and I love the glow of those tubes; especially in the dark. Definitely performs better with audiophile-grade power cord.
Kept my first way too long. Blue Book resale value slipped to practically nothing; and couldn't deal with getting rid of it after all that it had cost me. |
Will- aren't you just a little ashamed of yourself. Stealing from little old ladies is bad karma. LOL. you definately win, IMO. |
Used Lexicon CP1+ for $50 complete with box, manual, and remote. Bought it from my dealer about 2 months ago. |
Got a Nakamichi Dragon some years back, NIB, for five bucks at a yard sale. Also a pair of mint KEF 103s for $25 at the same sale.
Will |
What good are fake speakers...? |
I got a Hafler 500 and an Audible Illusions pre-amp for $1 each. I got a bunch of MFSL records too for 25 cents ea.
And some DCM speakers for $15.
The Hafler didn't work, and the MiniMite preamp had
noise, but I did end up selling both. |
