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How long since the days of finding vintage stereos in thrift stores?

ChrisbC

ChrisbC

New Member
I got into the hobby around 2013 and I've only seen 90's audio gear in thrift stores for the most part. Occasionally there would be an 80's Emerson or something of that nature.

I was wondering, how long has it been since one could walk into a random thrift store and find a Marantz 22xx series, a Pioneer SX series or a Sansui (all from the 1970s)?
 
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Apparently it still happens, just not for me. Same with curbside finds.
Kinda like finding a 57 corvette in a barn.
 
Nothing but computer screens and printers in the one I visit. The odd beat to death A/V receiver on occasion but not worth wasting Windex on it.
 
Roughly a decade here. I would imagine it's still possible, but I stopped bothering when the find frequency dropped to basically nil. Life is busy, just didn't have the time to browse through thrifts filled mainly with clothing and junk.
 
I've got a Facebook friend who I'm not really in touch with who judging by the posts that he makes has a bit of a business selling audio gear though FB Marketplace and maybe Craigslist... and he seems to find lots of vintage stuff (though usually only mid-fi) at thrift stores. I think though that he's one of those types who shows up when they open to sort through the choicest stuff...
 
Around here, it still happens, but rarely. As for walking in to a thrift on any given day and finding better 60's-70's audio equipment, about 20 years, at least. At one time, I could walk in to the (then) local (to me) thrift and find a half dozen receivers and integrateds, speakers, turntables, whatever. Occasionally they even had some of the monster boom boxes from the 80's, if you don't know, just check the auction site to see what some of those things are going for nowadays.
 
find lots of audio gear at the antique mall. but for me, it's not worth buying. see lots of tube consoles, but in mono.
 
Been five years maybe more...got two decent CD players and several LP's...kinda rare...but as above now seems to be old and worn computer periferals (Salvation Army).
 
2021 = Saw a Latino at the GW score on a beautiful, large, Powerful, old Yamaha amp. $20. It was an unreal 'find'. I couldn't believe my eyes really. Blew me away. He knew what he found.
Now, did it work??? Certainly worth a $20 gamble!

For me... 2019. Found a beautiful pair of 1970 Sansui AS-100, AlNiCo magnets, Acoustic Suspension speakers for $10 (like AK/KLH). They sound simply fantastic. $9.98 at the GW. It was like: What are these doing here??? Mine now.
 
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I think there are a few different factors at play with this subject.
I have read somewhere that Goodwill management and the main office has compiled a list of desirable items and distributed this list to all the stores to be on the lookout for these types of items. If anything on the list does show up the store is supposed to forward it to the main office so they can post it for sale on the auction site.
Now I believe some good items do slip by from time to time but some stores have employees that will keep good stuff for themselves or set it to the side and call a friend who might be interested in it.
For the rest of the good stuff that does slip by,which probably isn't much you need to be in the right place at the right time to score it.
There are many people with lots of time on their hands that frequent the stores daily looking for deals.
Not long ago I did get very lucky with some 90's speakers. I ran across these speakers and had never heard of them but they got my interest because of the beautiful gloss piano black finish,then I realized how heavy they were. I stood next to them and googled them,after a little research I found out they were NHT 2.3a speakers from 1993 and sold for $1200 new. I thought these must not work and have some bad drivers. For a total of $16 I figured it was worth a gamble,bought them,took them home and everything works perfect on them,they have no big scratches,very nice looking,grills are very nice. They sound fantastic! I got lucky and was in the right place at the right time.
 
Scored a $15 buck sansui receiver 5050 several months back at the gw. Didn't want it, but it was priced in the back and wheeled to me in a shopping cart by a smiling, disabled young teen. Had to buy it. Looks descent but just about everything in it is worn out or out of spec. Many errors on the boards-wrong parts in wrong places. And untrimmed leads. I keep my eyes open but don't expect anything worthwhile. Plus, I have way too much gear as is.
 
triple20 said:
I think there are a few different factors at play with this subject.
I have read somewhere that Goodwill management and the main office has compiled a list of desirable items and distributed this list to all the stores to be on the lookout for these types of items. If anything on the list does show up the store is supposed to forward it to the main office so they can post it for sale on the auction site.
Now I believe some good items do slip by from time to time but some stores have employees that will keep good stuff for themselves or set it to the side and call a friend who might be interested in it.
For the rest of the good stuff that does slip by,which probably isn't much you need to be in the right place at the right time to score it.
There are many people with lots of time on their hands that frequent the stores daily looking for deals.
Not long ago I did get very lucky with some 90's speakers. I ran across these speakers and had never heard of them but they got my interest because of the beautiful gloss piano black finish,then I realized how heavy they were. I stood next to them and googled them,after a little research I found out they were NHT 2.3a speakers from 1993 and sold for $1200 new. I thought these must not work and have some bad drivers. For a total of $16 I figured it was worth a gamble,bought them,took them home and everything works perfect on them,they have no big scratches,very nice looking,grills are very nice. They sound fantastic! I got lucky and was in the right place at the right time.
Click to expand...
NHT are kind of a slept on brand... I bought a pair of SuperOne speakers for something like $40 and they sound very good with my computer setup... So good that I really need to try swapping them with the speakers that I'm using as remotes of my main system, which are much higher end Quad 12L speakers, which though in a certain way sound very good, I'm still not 100% sold on them.
 
Not enough to make it worth your time. Estate sales, maybe. Know a guy, sometimes. The good stuff is 50 years old. You've got to work it to find it. There are a few flippers here on AK who have it but it's rare.
 
I have seen some nice speakers in the past two years (Polk 10s for $60 and ADS's that I forgot the model of for $100) but just speakers, I think the days of finding 70's and 80's units IN thrift stores are over, most of them that are donated have stopped working and get tossed (I know savers/ value village cuts the cord so most electronics with cut cords for sale online are probably from their dumpsters) and the ones that do work are put online or backdoored.

Honestly I don't think it would change anything for me if they did show because my local goodwill is usually very overpriced, a 70's Nikko was there recently and they wanted $50 for it, it was light as paper and pretty weathered but it was gone the next day so I don't think there dropping prices anytime soon.
 
In the UK in our Charity shops, (equivalent of Thrift Stores), they don’t like selling electrical items.

UK law requires that these have to be sold as electrically safe and PAT tested, (portable appliance tested), by a competent person using a calibrated PAT Tester. As such, they have to take the responsibility that the electrical product is safe to use.

Because of that, they don’t want to take the risk that something could go wrong with the potential of being fined.

DG…
 
I aquired all of my vintage victims 10-15 years ago. Thift stores,flea markets and goodwill. I literally have found nothing of interest in the last few years. My brother on the other hand has a knack for finding decent speakers or maybe a cassette deck. He picked up another pioneer 6 cassette changer just recently for me to rejuvenate.
 
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