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Estimated value of my collection...help please

Welcome to AK, Karma. If you are interested in learning about audio and enjoy music, this is a great place to be. I suspect you are going to sell off the bulk of your equipment but if you are interested in putting together a system together out of what you have, I'm sure there are members who would help cherry pick the best sounding components.
 
in one post you state everything works flawlessly, but in another you say you dont know how to plug it in.

you cant have it both ways, you either personally know the stuff is proper or you do not. since it seems as though you can not personally guarantee such a thing, this is going to hurt your value.. severely.

I dont know how it is in your neck of the woods but around here most of the things at goodwill have at least some level of wtf going on inside of them.


p.s.: this is a non hostile post.
 
are you in zip 17764 Renovo, Pennsylvania? with a name like karma taken from the web page your on and the 17764 it makes me think you are some one who is looking to sell the gear not just to get the values.
 
wd409 said:
in one post you state everything works flawlessly, but in another you say you dont know how to plug it in.

you cant have it both ways, you either personally know the stuff is proper or you do not. since it seems as though you can not personally guarantee such a thing, this is going to hurt your value.. severely.

I dont know how it is in your neck of the woods but around here most of the things at goodwill have at least some level of wtf going on inside of them.


p.s.: this is a non hostile post.
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Sorry, what I meant was, I know how to plug things into the wall and make sure it all turns on. I just dont know what to plug where to make it all work together. I can plug everything into an outlet but don't I have to plug the things to eachother?
 
karma17764 said:
Sorry, what I meant was, I know how to plug things into the wall and make sure it all turns on. I just dont know what to plug where to make it all work together. I can plug everything into an outlet but don't I have to plug the things to eachother?
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plugging things into each other is one of the easyest things to do. just powering them on doesn't mean everything works. I have seen things were all lights come on but they dont work right.

if not known full working order then things go way down in value. If they are marked up they go way down in value.

like someone pay pay 100 for a mint receiver but if it has marks on top they may only pay 40 or 50 dollars. and if everything doesn't work it may only go for like 10 to 30 dollars depending on what it is.
 
karma17764 said:
Sorry, what I meant was, I know how to plug things into the wall and make sure it all turns on. I just dont know what to plug where to make it all work together. I can plug everything into an outlet but don't I have to plug the things to eachother?
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unfortunately, when it comes to vintage audio, powering on is not an indicator.

I've got more than I care to admit that will power on just fine, but either no sound at all, or only out of one channel.
Which is a serious problem.

and of course ALL of them will need to be cleaned with deoxit if they havnt had that treatment recently, which is .. well with that many its gonna be time consuming, but its not an "issue". cleaning them is relatively easy.

at any rate though. it would be worthwhile for you to learn how to match pieces up and make it work together, build a few complete systems and post them up on cl, you'll get the most money that way, and you'll be able to prove to yourself and to others that it works as designed.

Without proof it works you wont get high offers.
 
Thank you. Will it damage anything if I just go plugging things anywhere until I get sound. Some of them are still in their boxes and have manuals. I suppose I will have to try and make sense of one by reading it.
 
things are labeled on the back of them. like cd in tape in. if you have tape decks. run rca cables from the output of a tape deck to the input of a receiver. its not that hard. look it up online I am sure you will find a web page telling you how to hook things together. it's not that hard to do.
 
Ok, let me rephrase myself now that I have been given some more insight. Judging by the way my family member takes such meticulous care of everything he owned, I assumed everything was in excellent WORKING condition because it all powers on. Everything is in great PHYSICAL condition. I believe one of the wooden units had a nick on top but for the most part, everything LOOKS brand new. This is becoming a little bit interesting and I am now eager to learn how to put everything together. Thank you all again for your patience and for your time.
 
the backs where the wires go should explain what goes where.

for example the red and black posts on the back that you slide bare wire into are for speakers. (black and gray on some) but they will say its for speakers in one way or another, either outright, or, "A" "B" etc

if Its done by letters plug them into the A set. match red on the receiver to red on the speaker, black to black.

on the receivers (the ones with am/fm tuners), you dont need to hook anything else up except for a small piece of wire on the antenna post on the back. which again will be clearly marked.


This will at least tell you if you have sound in both channels, and if its crackling or not when you adjust various knobs like input, volume, etc.
 
wd409 said:
the backs where the wires go should explain what goes where.

for example the red and black posts on the back that you slide bare wire into are for speakers. (black and gray on some) but they will say its for speakers in one way or another, either outright, or, "A" "B" etc

if Its done by letters plug them into the A set. match red on the receiver to red on the speaker, black to black.

on the receivers (the ones with am/fm tuners), you dont need to hook anything else up except for a small piece of wire on the antenna post on the back. which again will be clearly marked.


This will at least tell you if you have sound in both channels, and if its crackling or not when you adjust various knobs like input, volume, etc.
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By reading this, I am gathering that I will probably need to go out and purchase wire? Do you think that there are universal wires and cables I can purchase JUST for the purpose of testing all the equipment or does each brand/model have their own unique wires?
 
Karma17764, thanks for sticking around and responding to some of the questions and observations. I know it would have been easy to just move on after a couple of 'nice first post' sarcastic responses, but as I think you are seeing, its a very supportive and helpful membership here.

I'm sorry for your loss, and can appreciate that you probably a bit bewildered by this pile of gear you've inherited. I, like others around here no doubt, sometimes wonder what my loved ones would think of my collection if that proverbial bus ever catches me. :D

I notice that you are in SoCal. There are many AKers in your area, and if I were around there I'd be more than happy to personally visit and try to help you with testing the conditions and estimating values. I suspect that there are several local AKers out there who probably would also, if you'd like to ask for that type of help.

I'm glad that you were able to find our little corner of the world, and hope that our community can help you out. Who knows, you may start to understand why and how this collection came to be...and find that some part of it makes a fine remembrance.
 
well, interconnects (a cd player to a amp) are just your everyday rca cables. you can pick them up anywhere, walmart, radio shack, etc. just get some cheap $3 cables. and get you need about a 20 foot roll of speaker wire at least. so you have some room to work with, you dont wanna get TOO thin, they have some for like 4 or 5 bucks that is way too thin, get a thicker one. radioshack has a 50 foot roll of 16 gauge wire for 12 bucks.

that one will do fine.

Try to keep the wire lengths short, but with room to position the speakers. 10-12 feet per strand you cut should do fine. this way you can include it with the system and you'll still have some left for another system.
 
JBM1976 said:
just a question for you were did you get all this if you dont know how to hook any of it up?
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I thought I mentioned previously already. It was left to me by a family member who was very into electronics. Along with everything, I was also left close to 30 vintage radios and clocks. Everytime he purchased a newer/better model, he would wrap up the old one and store it in his warehouse.
 
CUlater said:
Karma17764, thanks for sticking around and responding to some of the questions and observations. I know it would have been easy to just move on after a couple of 'nice first post' sarcastic responses, but as I think you are seeing, its a very supportive and helpful membership here.

I'm sorry for your loss, and can appreciate that you probably a bit bewildered by this pile of gear you've inherited. I, like others around here no doubt, sometimes wonder what my loved ones would think of my collection if that proverbial bus ever catches me. :D

I notice that you are in SoCal. There are many AKers in your area, and if I were around there I'd be more than happy to personally visit and try to help you with testing the conditions and estimating values. I suspect that there are several local AKers out there who probably would also, if you'd like to ask for that type of help.

I'm glad that you were able to find our little corner of the world, and hope that our community can help you out. Who knows, you may start to understand why and how this collection came to be...and find that some part of it makes a fine remembrance.
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I stuck around because I am actually very fascinated by how close-knit and supportive the community seems to be. And here I was just thinking it was a dumb forum. I went to the Introductions and posted something there. I hope to stick around for a bit. :)
 
karma17764 said:
I stuck around because I am actually very fascinated by how close-knit and supportive the community seems to be. And here I was just thinking it was a dumb forum. I went to the Introductions and posted something there. I hope to stick around for a bit. :)
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you're exactly the type this forum needs. everyone here started off by not knowing much about it. and either got into it, and then found ak, or found ak and then got into it.
that said, some have learned more than others, and others learned about different aspects. there are scientific approaches to doing things, there are stoner (I mean.. .. "what if") artsy ways of doing things. and everything has its place in the world. So this is a good place to learn more, for sure.
 
Welcome to AK
You can use a set of headphones ( an adapter might be needed ) to test for audio . This will save time and the need to buy wire for now . An antenna will need to be hooked up to the FM / AM terminals on the back of units . Then you can use RCA cables to patch to the amps / tuners and such .

BTW any paper work on the units ? They would have a wealth of knowledge on the operation of the equipment .



Good luck .




Barney
 
Stick around and keep asking questions. There is alot of information to be had via seaches also. Welcome.

cubdog
 
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