• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Highest-end gear you've found at a thrift

Found a pair of 1970 Sansui AS-100s in the Goodwill, in mint condition, for $9.98. The price was written on both speakers in white chauck.

They sound really fine!! They like a little power put to them too. Super sensitive adjustable tweets. You can listen to them all day and all nite...no problem. Very comfortable sound.

Was just going to use them in the garage but when I got them home and hooked them up to the main system in the living room, in the living room they stayed! :)

AlNiCo magnets.

---

Got a ' TON ' of designer cloths, in like new condition, for $2.50 each. I'm designered out, BIG TIME. I'm over it.

I don't need no more designer cloths 'for the rest of my life', ever, tons of the 'stuff'. All I wear is jeans and regular cloths anyway. But I do like having them. You know, for whatever. I'm designered clothsed out. In the closets, stored in boxes, everywhere. I'm thankfull, I really do appreciate it! Of course. I'm just a regular jeans guy. The shirts are fine!! :) I do wear some of them sometimes, not often. Did find a brand new old fashion black Levis Jacket, starch and tags and everything...for $2! I really liked that one!! Perfect!! You Know, end of the world kind of gear.
 
Last edited:
Just found a Optimus 12 inch passive sub woofer in near mint condition for 12.99!
It sounds great! That's it so far. I check weekly but usually lots of crap.
 
The best I ever found was a Fisher 800C for 15 bucks. IT was on the dumpster cart ready to be dumped and I got there at 2 and at business close the stuff on the cart goes to the dumpster. I saw it across the store and realized that it was a receiver and then saw it waswhat it was
 
Not all that much good audio at the thrifts around here. I have mountains of great 2-channel stuff already, so it's just as well. But I have picked up two Yamaha HTR-5840 surround amps for the living room and bedroom TVs (both flawless, $25.00 each) and 2 pairs of JBL 4311b (both pairs perfect) for $50.00 each. So the thrift contribution to my overall audio gear is minor. (I could add the Sansui 1000-A for $25.00 and the Fisher X-100 and matching tuner for the same.)

I've done better on camera gear, finding a flawless Leica M3 for $5.00 many years ago. I was offered $7,000.00 by a camera dealer the same day for it, but I still have it. Also found a perfect Nikon F3 with motor drive and lots of good Nikkor lenses, etc., for $40.00.

The biggest find, however, was a heavily used but intact "Stradivarius". I put that in quotes as I've no idea if it's genuine or a copy and never have had it appraised nor looked at. It shows signs of heavy use over a long life, but it sounds very fine even in my unskilled hands. It was in a hideously aged and worn case, with everything required by a player, including a couple of extra sets of strings. Got it out of a fresh-that-day back-of-the-store pile for $50.00. I'd already bought a really fine concert grand piano some years ago and learned to play that enthusastically badly (mostly, though I have rare spectacular days that have even sucked in excited strangers off the street). But I always thought I wanted a violin, too, as the motion of the bow relative to timing and bending of notes just makes sense to me (though the absence of frets does not entirely!). I'd looked at several in pawn shops and thrifts over about 20 years, but rejected all I found, for poor or mediocre tone. But this worn thing had a very fine tone I couldn't resist. I didn't have my reading glasses with me when I bought it and couldn't see the markings inside and didn't actually care as I bought it strictly because it sounded quite good and the many scuffs and few minor nicks just didn't matter to me. It was only after getting it home that I saw the maker's mark inside and the date 1723. So while I've never hit the jackpot on audio gear, I'm happy enough to have a few fine bits on the cheap. When all is said and done, I don't buy things for their monetary value, but because *that* is what I want. I seldom haggle and nearly always pay the full fair value for things I know are worth the asking. So the occasional "score" helps improve my average.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MKG
The thrifts were kind to me because I scored quite a bit for a number of years .From a monetary standpoint a pair of Tannoy Reds 12"were the best.From a user standpoint a Luxman R-117 and a set of L100s.Don't know if I would call them high end but they get a lot of use
 
jaguar06 said:
Not all that much good audio at the thrifts around here. I have mountains of great 2-channel stuff already, so it's just as well. But I have picked up two Yamaha HTR-5840 surround amps for the living room and bedroom TVs (both flawless, $25.00 each) and 2 pairs of JBL 4311b (both pairs perfect) for $50.00 each. So the thrift contribution to my overall audio gear is minor. (I could add the Sansui 1000-A for $25.00 and the Fisher X-100 and matching tuner for the same.)

I've done better on camera gear, finding a flawless Leica M3 for $5.00 many years ago. I was offered $7,000.00 by a camera dealer the same day for it, but I still have it. Also found a perfect Nikon F3 with motor drive and lots of good Nikkor lenses, etc., for $40.00.

The biggest find, however, was a heavily used but intact "Stradivarius". I put that in quotes as I've no idea if it's genuine or a copy and never have had it appraised nor looked at. It shows signs of heavy use over a long life, but it sounds very fine even in my unskilled hands. It was in a hideously aged and worn case, with everything required by a player, including a couple of extra sets of strings. Got it out of a fresh-that-day back-of-the-store pile for $50.00. I'd already bought a really fine concert grand piano some years ago and learned to play that enthusastically badly (mostly, though I have rare spectacular days that have even sucked in excited strangers off the street). But I always thought I wanted a violin, too, as the motion of the bow relative to timing and bending of notes just makes sense to me (though the absence of frets does not entirely!). I'd looked at several in pawn shops and thrifts over about 20 years, but rejected all I found, for poor or mediocre tone. But this worn thing had a very fine tone I couldn't resist. I didn't have my reading glasses with me when I bought it and couldn't see the markings inside and didn't actually care as I bought it strictly because it sounded quite good and the many scuffs and few minor nicks just didn't matter to me. It was only after getting it home that I saw the maker's mark inside and the date 1723. So while I've never hit the jackpot on audio gear, I'm happy enough to have a few fine bits on the cheap. When all is said and done, I don't buy things for their monetary value, but because *that* is what I want. I seldom haggle and nearly always pay the full fair value for things I know are worth the asking. So the occasional "score" helps improve my average.
Click to expand...

that camera! is truly a good find :yes: i would get the "stradivarius" appraised if i were you. it could be worth a heck of alot of money!
 
You guys must be in bigger cities, where nice things end up at a GW or SA store. I'm in a GW a few times a month with my wife to look for clothes, and have never seen a single piece of audio equipment worth having. My wife did buy a book for $1.99 that we ended up selling on eBay for $110.00, but that's likely a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
 
Never had great luck at thrift stores, but I do hit the estate and garage sales... best find ever was my Mark Levinson ML-1 and ML-3 for $50 each at a garage sale... had been grandpa's gear that was stored almost 20 years ago... didn't even know if it worked because the kids couldn't find CAMAC cables to hook it up... even got the Dalhquist DQ10's for another $100 w/stands... never messed with the DQ10's yet, but the sent the Levinsons back to their maker for service, and they are flawless...
 
jaguar06 said:
The biggest find, however, was a heavily used but intact "Stradivarius". I put that in quotes as I've no idea if it's genuine or a copy and never have had it appraised nor looked at. It shows signs of heavy use over a long life, but it sounds very fine even in my unskilled hands.
Click to expand...

It's extremely unlikely that you have a fiddle made by the great master of Cremona. All kinds of cheap, factory violins say Stradivarius on the labels inside. Not to say it's not a good fiddle. Just take it to a violin shop and see what you've got. If it's the real deal, it would be the equivalent of winning the Power Ball. It would be worth a few million at least.
 
I'm not exactly sure who does the pricing at my local thrift store, but I think he experienced some head trauma at some point in his life. I recently saw a set of Klipsch KG-2's priced at $20 for the pair and they were stacked on top of a set of Panasonic Thrusters going for $25....The problem is that there is always a group of people waiting for the new stuff to roll out and they pillage the cart before the employee even makes it to the shelf. I've seen NAD amps, Huge JBL speakers (almost snagged a set of L100's for $15!), Rotel and Luxman gear, and Roland keyboards at my local thrift shops but they always get poached as soon as the door opens.
 
drmar120 said:
It's extremely unlikely that you have a fiddle made by the great master of Cremona. All kinds of cheap, factory violins say Stradivarius on the labels inside. Not to say it's not a good fiddle. Just take it to a violin shop and see what you've got. If it's the real deal, it would be the equivalent of winning the Power Ball. It would be worth a few million at least.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's my perspective exactly. I like it because it has a nice tone, even in unskilled hands. I really don't care about anything beyond that. Fakes are plentiful, but regardless of labels, good tone seems rare enough, so I was happy to find something that simply sounds good. (Now if I could only make it "sing".)
 
4 years ago new years eve, my birthday, i was thrift store shopping with my sisters...they were looking for clothes...stopped in one and I head to the electronics section and I see a mcintosh mc2125 amp AND a mx113 tuner-pre both in the wood cases... both for a whoppong $24.95! There was a 80's BPC set of marantz tuner,cassete, amp next to it for $39.95. I passed on the marantz stuff. That is by far my best ever audio score at anyplace. Both were almost pristine...glass perfect....cases excellent....has one bad on/off sw on amp.....but I turn it on via preamp....I put some money into both, alignment of tuner and a few caps in the amp....they are my daily drivers... my best birthday present ever!
 
Last month I stumbled into an Akai GX-255 Reel/Reel player and a Pioneer CT-500 cassette unit.. Slight scratch on the plastic top of the Akai was the only thing that kept it from being a museum piece. The Pioneer merely needed light dusting, lube....Both work perfect, albeit I only have it to complement the vintage audio dream system I wanted. Cleaned, lubed and demagnetized.
 
Last edited:
jaguar06 said:
The biggest find, however, was a heavily used but intact "Stradivarius". I put that in quotes as I've no idea if it's genuine or a copy and never have had it appraised nor looked at. It shows signs of heavy use over a long life, but it sounds very fine even in my unskilled hands. It was in a hideously aged and worn case, with everything required by a player, including a couple of extra sets of strings. Got it out of a fresh-that-day back-of-the-store pile for $50.00. I'd already bought a really fine concert grand piano some years ago and learned to play that enthusastically badly (mostly, though I have rare spectacular days that have even sucked in excited strangers off the street). But I always thought I wanted a violin, too, as the motion of the bow relative to timing and bending of notes just makes sense to me (though the absence of frets does not entirely!). I'd looked at several in pawn shops and thrifts over about 20 years, but rejected all I found, for poor or mediocre tone. But this worn thing had a very fine tone I couldn't resist. I didn't have my reading glasses with me when I bought it and couldn't see the markings inside and didn't actually care as I bought it strictly because it sounded quite good and the many scuffs and few minor nicks just didn't matter to me. It was only after getting it home that I saw the maker's mark inside and the date 1723. So while I've never hit the jackpot on audio gear, I'm happy enough to have a few fine bits on the cheap. When all is said and done, I don't buy things for their monetary value, but because *that* is what I want. I seldom haggle and nearly always pay the full fair value for things I know are worth the asking. So the occasional "score" helps improve my average.
Click to expand...

I love the way you buy. I tend to do that too. If you find a real find you'll always pay much less as it's worth anyways. Why not have the seller have a good feeling too, he doing you a favour.
That being said, I'd look into the stradivarius. If it's real it's worth at least a big five figure number. If its really from the 1700-1730 period add a few more zeroes, even if it's in bad shape. It's almost your duty to make sure violins like these are played by the best musicians possible. My mother used to have a Steinway piano, she was a pianist and I loved it to bits. Good wood instruments have something magic, eventhough scientists don't always agree.

Do the world and yourself a favour and sell it, you could be rich. If it's original and from 1723 even in bad but playable state, I'd say you'll get €500.000 the least, literally without a doubt a penny less and possibly a lot more. Stradivari's are by far the most famous instruments ever made and there are only a few hundred in proper playable state left. I'm NOT kidding :tresbon:
 
I found a nice pair of Definitive Technology BP-10 speakers at a thrift. I left them because I thought they were white vans, and I wasn't gonna spend $40pr for them. After I got home and asked a few people here on AK, I was back at the thrift in a flash.
 
My fisher 800c that I regret selling. I got it for 15 bucks when thrift stores were thrift stores and didn't pretend they were experts
 
Best I ever found at the GW (at various times over the last 18 months or so) was a pair of Klipsch Heresies for $50, a Pioneer PL-71 tt in absolute pristine condition for $17, a near perfect Yamaha CR-1020 (one lightbulb out) for $40, and a Pioneer CT-F900 cassette deck in a wood cabinet that was almost perfect until I banged it into the doorjamb dodging over-enthusistic dogs, chipping the cabinet in a couple of place-$25. Hey, that's not a bad system right there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom