rhiohki
Well-Known Member
We all love those thrift store finds. AK is known for the "OMG I just scored a pair of JBL L-300 summits for $10.00 at SA!!" stories, so I figure I'd post a somewhat decent find at a local goodwill, and although I'm not one to gloat, sometimes it's worthwhile to show that persistence pays off.
A rainy Tuesday morning dawns and I head out to work preparing myself for requirements meetings. My laziness overcame me the previous night and didn't I want to stare at 60 pages worth requirements, though I did go through some of them. I usually work my best in the morning so I decided to finish up by getting up earlier than my normal "wake time." The meeting went well. I work with a great bunch of people so the time zoomed by. I decided to take the remainder of the day off as I have the liberty to do so, another reason why I have no real complaints of what I do for a living.
I decided to myself, "Hey it's Tuesday, there must be some stuff that was dropped off this past weekend to the thrifts" so I ventured upon the local goodwill. The D.C. Metro area is known for a plethora of good deals either through garage sales, or thrift stores, but some of the Goodwill's have been steadily increasing their prices on audio gear. I'm not one to complain though, as the money goes to a good cause. However, there is one goodwill in particular that just prices stuff so ridiculously I ponder how they sell. Case in point, a BROKEN JVC BPC Cassette deck for a whopping $99.99. BROKEN mind you. I chuckle when I see that stuff. Anyhow, they do have a good sample of LPs and CDs that come in frequently which was what I was after.
Entering the goodwill I was greeted by the usual bombardment of clothes on the floor, random objects strewn about the wall shelving, and books a plunder. I make my way back to the LPs in boxes and milk crates to find nada. Quickly perusing the electronics I spot the usual VCRs and BPC era items, sound design, yorx, emerson, general electrics. Orphan Aiwa, sony, and fisher 80's component type speakers litter the pathway. You've seen these speakers before, the ones with the miniscule red and black wire built in the back already. Nothing to be surprised about as this is what I've normally come to expect from this Goodwill.
I head to the CDs, a wide selection with recent additions surprisingly stacked neat in a box. Many were older CDs and some looked to be promising. I made note of the artist and title in my head and decided to leave the goodwill thinking I would perhaps check out any sample tracks online.
Getting home I did some research and discovered about 8 of them were to my liking. Now, I had thought about just not going back all together with the blistering heat and the waste of unnecessary gas, as I could just buy some of the songs off itunes. However, I'm all about the tangibility of my music, whether on CD or LP and ultimately decided on making the pilgrimage back to the Goodwill.
Entering the goodwill, I was yet again greeted to the same mess I left. Nothing new there. The CDs are at the side of the store so I strolled over and scooped the ones of interest to me. I'm thinking to myself "Well, lets just do a quick rounds once again" and I head back to the VCR graveyard. Upon dodging the cable conundrum on the floor, I noticed the Goodwill employees started rolling their gigantic laundry hamper style bins out for other customers to rummage through. Readers familiar with Goodwill should know what I'm talking about. I figure it wouldn't hurt to take a gander and as I'm walking towards it, I see a corner of a black speaker sticking up past the edge. On that speaker grille were the letters "B&W" on the grille. Shocked, I was almost in denial that a pair of B&W speakers could actually show up at this goodwill. Slowly, I reached in and gently pulled out the speaker and was expecting to see massive damage, scrapes and driver destruction as this was the norm for any decent audio piece at this goodwill.
To my delight, as I easily pulled off the grille, I was treated to a like new set of drivers to what was a Pair of B&W DM-602 S2 monitors. I checked in the bin hoping there would be the other matching speaker, and the Audio Gods must have been on my side, as not only was the other speaker there in the same exact condition, but another B&W Center Channel CC-6 was also hiding in the corner of Goodwill's blue hamper. That speaker also proved to be as beautiful as the DM-602 S2.
Luckily, at the time, the Goodwill seemed like a ghost town with two other customers other than myself both of which investigating the clothing aisles. There was no need to race to get a cart, but instead, I calmly walked over to the Goodwill carts, grabbed one, and loaded the speakers inside. Each speaker ran me a wallet busting $15.00 for a grand total of ONLY $45 for the three speakers.
All the while, I'm thinking to myself "How can this be? How can someone donate a set of almost brand new looking B&W speakers, and recent ones no less. Perhaps this person was full of money and just wrote it off. Perhaps it was an angry ex getting rid of his/her former flame's gear. Perhaps the drivers are blown" I didn't discount the fact that the speakers may not have worked at all, however once I got home and hooked these up to my Accuphase E-406 I knew I had really found a kick-butt pair of monitors. Talk about detail, clarity and range, these speakers have it, and all for $45.00. I'm still smiling as I write this. I'm actually listening to an Art of Noise cd I picked up at the Goodwill.
And of course, what good would this story be without some pictures. The moral of today's adventure? Never expect anything going to Goodwill and always take the time to do another run through of stuff even if you come back a couple of hours later as you'll never know what you could find. Cheers!!!
A rainy Tuesday morning dawns and I head out to work preparing myself for requirements meetings. My laziness overcame me the previous night and didn't I want to stare at 60 pages worth requirements, though I did go through some of them. I usually work my best in the morning so I decided to finish up by getting up earlier than my normal "wake time." The meeting went well. I work with a great bunch of people so the time zoomed by. I decided to take the remainder of the day off as I have the liberty to do so, another reason why I have no real complaints of what I do for a living.
I decided to myself, "Hey it's Tuesday, there must be some stuff that was dropped off this past weekend to the thrifts" so I ventured upon the local goodwill. The D.C. Metro area is known for a plethora of good deals either through garage sales, or thrift stores, but some of the Goodwill's have been steadily increasing their prices on audio gear. I'm not one to complain though, as the money goes to a good cause. However, there is one goodwill in particular that just prices stuff so ridiculously I ponder how they sell. Case in point, a BROKEN JVC BPC Cassette deck for a whopping $99.99. BROKEN mind you. I chuckle when I see that stuff. Anyhow, they do have a good sample of LPs and CDs that come in frequently which was what I was after.
Entering the goodwill I was greeted by the usual bombardment of clothes on the floor, random objects strewn about the wall shelving, and books a plunder. I make my way back to the LPs in boxes and milk crates to find nada. Quickly perusing the electronics I spot the usual VCRs and BPC era items, sound design, yorx, emerson, general electrics. Orphan Aiwa, sony, and fisher 80's component type speakers litter the pathway. You've seen these speakers before, the ones with the miniscule red and black wire built in the back already. Nothing to be surprised about as this is what I've normally come to expect from this Goodwill.
I head to the CDs, a wide selection with recent additions surprisingly stacked neat in a box. Many were older CDs and some looked to be promising. I made note of the artist and title in my head and decided to leave the goodwill thinking I would perhaps check out any sample tracks online.
Getting home I did some research and discovered about 8 of them were to my liking. Now, I had thought about just not going back all together with the blistering heat and the waste of unnecessary gas, as I could just buy some of the songs off itunes. However, I'm all about the tangibility of my music, whether on CD or LP and ultimately decided on making the pilgrimage back to the Goodwill.
Entering the goodwill, I was yet again greeted to the same mess I left. Nothing new there. The CDs are at the side of the store so I strolled over and scooped the ones of interest to me. I'm thinking to myself "Well, lets just do a quick rounds once again" and I head back to the VCR graveyard. Upon dodging the cable conundrum on the floor, I noticed the Goodwill employees started rolling their gigantic laundry hamper style bins out for other customers to rummage through. Readers familiar with Goodwill should know what I'm talking about. I figure it wouldn't hurt to take a gander and as I'm walking towards it, I see a corner of a black speaker sticking up past the edge. On that speaker grille were the letters "B&W" on the grille. Shocked, I was almost in denial that a pair of B&W speakers could actually show up at this goodwill. Slowly, I reached in and gently pulled out the speaker and was expecting to see massive damage, scrapes and driver destruction as this was the norm for any decent audio piece at this goodwill.
To my delight, as I easily pulled off the grille, I was treated to a like new set of drivers to what was a Pair of B&W DM-602 S2 monitors. I checked in the bin hoping there would be the other matching speaker, and the Audio Gods must have been on my side, as not only was the other speaker there in the same exact condition, but another B&W Center Channel CC-6 was also hiding in the corner of Goodwill's blue hamper. That speaker also proved to be as beautiful as the DM-602 S2.
Luckily, at the time, the Goodwill seemed like a ghost town with two other customers other than myself both of which investigating the clothing aisles. There was no need to race to get a cart, but instead, I calmly walked over to the Goodwill carts, grabbed one, and loaded the speakers inside. Each speaker ran me a wallet busting $15.00 for a grand total of ONLY $45 for the three speakers.
All the while, I'm thinking to myself "How can this be? How can someone donate a set of almost brand new looking B&W speakers, and recent ones no less. Perhaps this person was full of money and just wrote it off. Perhaps it was an angry ex getting rid of his/her former flame's gear. Perhaps the drivers are blown" I didn't discount the fact that the speakers may not have worked at all, however once I got home and hooked these up to my Accuphase E-406 I knew I had really found a kick-butt pair of monitors. Talk about detail, clarity and range, these speakers have it, and all for $45.00. I'm still smiling as I write this. I'm actually listening to an Art of Noise cd I picked up at the Goodwill.
And of course, what good would this story be without some pictures. The moral of today's adventure? Never expect anything going to Goodwill and always take the time to do another run through of stuff even if you come back a couple of hours later as you'll never know what you could find. Cheers!!!
awprint:
