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Goodwill/SA/Thrift Store Discussions & Finds

Gary i've been wanting to hit those flea markets but I never seem to be able to drag myself out on the hour long drive so early on Saturday.I'm also torn away by the incessant need to hit yard sales!Nevertheless,living in Lake City is probably the best reason to get to Jax.
 
Picked up 1x Realistic Optimus 5B speaker box..1977 vintage..12"woofer..similar suspenion as the Mach 1..+ 2x 3" mids + 1x 3" tweeter......$5.00 at the local Bible for Missions..
 
Best finds for me-
A pair of Acoustic Research (Teledyne) AR-11's at the Goodwill- mighty close to mint and $50.
Ohm Walsh 2's for $30- no cloth/plastic grilles, and admittedly these speakers seem to lack a bit in fit and finish, but they sound great.
A pair of KLH 6's with a Pioneer PL31-D turntable and a regrettably tinny sounding although cosmetically pretty Pioneer receiver (nice tuner section), $50, all in great shape.
a/d/s L-620's, rough cabinets and no grills, 6 dollars. Next to them sat a pair of those giant old Kenwood speakers that had the words "six-way" or something emblazoned on the front, and the flashing light display along the top, which was meant to let the listener know how many decibels he was subjecting himself to. These were priced at $100.
a/d/s l-520's, 12 dollars, 4 or 5 coats of oil and they are probably the prettiest speakers I own, and sound quite nice too.

A lot of KLH 17's and 23's over the years, never more than 25 dollars a pair.
 
I found a nice set of 3 Sony SS-MSP1 speakers today for $7.95..at Goodwill ....They sound great!!
8 cm cone type, full range, magnetically shielded, bass reflex, impedance: 8 ohms
power handling (maximum power input); 100 watts
sensitivity level: 85 dB (1W,1m)
frequency range: 160 Hz – 20,000 Ha.
..also bought a vintage EV 2 badge for $.25 cents.... and an Advent Advocate 101 Dolby System...$7.95
 
Should have called in sick!

Stopped Thursday to check what would be in the SA Friday auction. There was a pair of Ohm FRS-11's sitting by the electronics section ( I already have one pair). Darn it. I had already been out 2 days last week or I would have called in. And so it goes.
 
My "Great" finds all came from the same Goodwill:

A pair of Klipsch Heresy II's for $40.00
A pair of Klipsch KG3.5's for $ 40.00
A pair of Polk Monitor 10's for $20.00
A Pair of Polk Monitor Series 2's for $30.00
 
Best Misses

Everyone with a "best thrift store find", also has some "worst thrift store regrets". I'd like to hear about the beautiful junk, the toasted amps, the irrepairable speakers,the pieces you went back for that were gone, or the ones you passed on and totally regret.

My personal examples:

Someone bought a mint MacIntosh 4100 receiver for $500, but it wasn't me. I took too long to decide I had the money.

I bought a $1300 cd player for $86 on a no reserve auction, but they could not ship it to me from their location. A guy in the US got it for $85.

I had some EPI 100s that really looked great - $15 from a thrift store. One didn't work at all and one was completely distorted. Junk, or a major project.

LOTS of crap crap turntables.

Our search for gems wouldn't be complete without all the Fool's Gold. So what's your story?
 
There is no "fool's gold" at a thrift store that raises money to help the disadvantaged. I would gladly pay double what I do for all the gear I have found. Rueing that you purchased something that doesn't work is understandable, but make sure it doesn't reflect on those that are doing good. It's not their fault - we certainly should be the experts in such situations.

Oh yea, my most recent score? A set of Dahlquist DQ10s for $61, and the stands four days later for another $2. And they may lead to a pair of Oak Concert Grands for $400 through a private sale. Life is better when the complaint department is not manned.
 
Junknewbian said:
Everyone with a "best thrift store find", also has some "worst thrift store regrets". I'd like to hear about the beautiful junk, the toasted amps, the irrepairable speakers,the pieces you went back for that were gone, or the ones you passed on and totally regret.

My personal examples:

Someone bought a mint MacIntosh 4100 receiver for $500, but it wasn't me. I took too long to decide I had the money.

I bought a $1300 cd player for $86 on a no reserve auction, but they could not ship it to me from their location. A guy in the US got it for $85.

I had some EPI 100s that really looked great - $15 from a thrift store. One didn't work at all and one was completely distorted. Junk, or a major project.

LOTS of crap crap turntables.

Our search for gems wouldn't be complete without all the Fool's Gold. So what's your story?
Click to expand...

Take it to another thread.This one's for Best thrift(etc)finds.
 
$35 for this 3-piece lot:
Denon DRA-325R amp - some scratches, needed pot cleaning only
Denon DCD-520 cd - mint
Baby Advent ii - waiting for new woofer foam

HK 460i amp - $20 VERY DIRTY, still needs a power button (I use a chopstick to turn it on :P ) and there are a couple of lamps out, but after a thorough cleaning it sounds excellent!

B&O Beovox S50 speakers - $8 woofer foams needed to be replaced (I swapped in Goldwood butyl woofers, might swap back the originals if/when I refoam).

EPI M-100 - $10 needed new caps, swapped to gold banana plug posts at the same time. -- current favorites

Technics RS-TR313 tape deck $8 - mint
 
I have two relatively recent good ones from the same local GW:

Pioneer CT-W606DR tape deck - still in production! Looks and sounds brand spankin' new aside from missing the snap-on plastic Pioneer logo in the corner (wonder what happened to it?). $4.99

Harman Kardon 330i stereo receiver - could hear the transformer clicking on when I powered it up, but no LEDs were lighting up. I rolled the tuner dial all over the place to see if I could get a signal indicator to light up but no dice. No speakers there to try it out with, either... Though it might be dead, but it had no price so I had to ask. The response? $2.99.

I took it, brought it home, hooked it up to an old pair of Sonys and fired it up. The left channel was almost totally gone and the LEDs except the tuner are still dead. Cleaned all the pots up and the left channel came back and things are sounding pretty good. It was pretty dirty but it cleaned up okay. It'll make a good work stereo if/when I get my new office, or it'll find a nice home in my dad's garage.
 
beekeo said:
$35 for this 3-piece lot:
Denon DRA-325R amp - some scratches, needed pot cleaning only
Denon DCD-520 cd - mint
Baby Advent ii - waiting for new woofer foam
Click to expand...

The DRA-325R is a nice little receiver, I'm currently using it in my listening room with a pair of NLA's. Mine was $20 from the GW, plus another $20 for the remote off epay. Simple, clean looks.

May be pushed aside soon by my newly aquired McIntosh MAC 1700, though :)
 
chicks said:
The DRA-325R is a nice little receiver, I'm currently using it in my listening room with a pair of NLA's. Mine was $20 from the GW, plus another $20 for the remote off epay. Simple, clean looks.

May be pushed aside soon by my newly aquired McIntosh MAC 1700, though :)
Click to expand...

My DRA-325R has a nice clean sound, but it doesn't push the lower bass frequencies as well as my HK 460. Does that match your experience with this Denon?
 
beekeo said:
My DRA-325R has a nice clean sound, but it doesn't push the lower bass frequencies as well as my HK 460. Does that match your experience with this Denon?
Click to expand...

I'm running New Large Advents on it, no lack of bass with these :music:

I haven't hooked the "new" MAC 1700 to the Advents yet, nor have I tried them on the Realistic STA-2270, or either of my T-Amps, so really haven't compared the Denon to anything else on these, but my ears tell me no problemo in the bass department.
 
Ok, looks like I'll need to set up my two receivers with an A/B source selector and really nail down their differences. I might just have to take the faceplate off again and pay special attention to the bass pot. :)
 
beekeo said:
Ok, looks like I'll need to set up my two receivers with an A/B source selector and really nail down their differences. I might just have to take the faceplate off again and pay special attention to the bass pot. :)
Click to expand...


Your mentioning that made me realize that I could do the same in order to compare two receivers I have.

Although I would also need a speaker source switching ability, so I could at the same time pipe the second recr through the same speakers I had just been listening to the other one through! (I might have a switch that could do that....do I????)
 
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