"SPRING" Thrift Store Finds....

[mave]

Last weekends haul were some I think rare Sony SS-TL5's a Sansui 7000 receiver and a Akai M9 RTR. I thought the M9 was tubed when I got it, didn't notice till I got home it was solid state oh well works and sounds great. Also the Sony's are going to need to be refinished somebody looks like they stained over the original oak with something darker.

 

[Cogsinister]

Last weekends haul were some I think rare Sony SS-TL5's a Sansui 7000 receiver and a Akai M9 RTR. I thought the M9 was tubed when I got it, didn't notice till I got home it was solid state oh well works and sounds great. Also the Sony's are going to need to be refinished somebody looks like they stained over the original oak with something darker.

Oh my that was some weekends haul..well done.....never seen anything that good here, but yard sale/thrift store season is allmost in full swing, so maybe there is still hope for me scoring a Sansui..........

 

[atrac]

Our local Salvation Army has 40% off everything today. I knew this yesterday so I scoped the place out.

Today I got there an hour after they opened and everything that I had planned on buying was gone. Most of the other stuff I saw there yesterday (and didn't want) was still there.

I am SO glad to know that I'm in tune with what's good out there.

 

[Cogsinister]

Our local Salvation Army has 40% off everything today. I knew this yesterday so I scoped the place out.

Today I got there an hour after they opened and everything that I had planned on buying was gone. Most of the other stuff I saw there yesterday (and didn't want) was still there.

I am SO glad to know that I'm in tune with what's good out there.

We have to ask.......what did you miss ?

 

[atrac]

We have to ask.......what did you miss ?

Well, nothing devastating and, in hindsight, not even worth crying about at this point.

It was the pair of Kenwood Floor Speakers I mentioned earlier, a set of RCA (!) Bookshelf Speakers, and a Zenith Tube HDTV. With the discount, all would have been quite inexpensive. But as I am quickly learning as a Thrift Store groupie, better things are bound to be on the horizon...

...and they were! At another shop I found a pair of JBL 52T (aka JBL52TQX) bookshelf speakers. WOW. These little guys sound amazing! Very very little has been written about them (as far as I can tell), and they deserve more attention! The sound is so pure and crisp (and where the heck is that bass coming from?!?!?)....best $10 I've spent in quite some time. I had planned on using these as surrounds...but I'm SO impressed with how they sound, I'm going to have to give that plans some thought!

At any rate, i'm SO glad the other stuff was sold out at the first store....I would not have made the effort to go to the other store to find these.

On a side note, does anyone know how to remove paint speckles from a cloth grill? The JBL's are in great shape, except for some white paint specs!

 

[Wolverine]

Picked up an orphan DCM CX-17 for $3......

 

[Cogsinister]

Well, nothing devastating and, in hindsight, not even worth crying about at this point.

It was the pair of Kenwood Floor Speakers I mentioned earlier, a set of RCA (!) Bookshelf Speakers, and a Zenith Tube HDTV. With the discount, all would have been quite inexpensive. But as I am quickly learning as a Thrift Store groupie, better things are bound to be on the horizon...

...and they were! At another shop I found a pair of JBL 52T (aka JBL52TQX) bookshelf speakers. WOW. These little guys sound amazing! Very very little has been written about them (as far as I can tell), and they deserve more attention! The sound is so pure and crisp (and where the heck is that bass coming from?!?!?)....best $10 I've spent in quite some time. I had planned on using these as surrounds...but I'm SO impressed with how they sound, I'm going to have to give that plans some thought!

At any rate, i'm SO glad the other stuff was sold out at the first store....I would not have made the effort to go to the other store to find these.

On a side note, does anyone know how to remove paint speckles from a cloth grill? The JBL's are in great shape, except for some white paint specs!

Thank goodness you found the JBL's, it's great when you find a pair of great speakers for 10 bucks.......any chance of some pictures ?

 

[atrac]

Thank goodness you found the JBL's, it's great when you find a pair of great speakers for 10 bucks.......any chance of some pictures ?

I'll get a pic or two uploaded later today!

Hit a different Thrift Store today. Didn't see much except for a pair of Pilot Speakers (I think the model number was T-57). Decided to take the risk and pass until I could find out more about them. Turns out there's very little mention of that brand on the net.

Stopped by my usual store and the vintage Auratone speakers with Roger Charles drivers were gone. I was keeping on eye on them but could never pull the trigger for $50. I hope they went to a good home...and if the person out there who bought them finds this thread -- post a review!!

 

[atrac]

Pics of my new babies (JBL 52T's).

The paint specks visible on the left speaker actually show up even more in the picture than in reality.

But as they say, "pictures don't lie" -- so any advice on how to get those specks off would be fantastic.

I fear, though, that I'm just going to have to live with them. I believe it's latex paint.

Incidentally, is the material visible through the port holes supposed to be yellow, or is it the dreaded nicotine? They don't smell at all. Either way, doesn't affect the sound as far as I can tell. But still...

 

[rsfmotoman]

Mint MoFi Donald Fagen "The Nightfly" - $1.50

I picked it out along with 20 other lp's from a grocery cart of vinyl in great condition.

 

[Van_Isle]

EPI's Up and Running

Well, so far I have 1 dead tweeter . Haven't been able to check the 2nd pair yet. Man ... I seem to attract the things! Paradigm Phantoms, Technics SB-4000's and now the EPI's.

But my Mirage SM-1's ($10 Estate sale) and my Paradigm 3SE Mini (SA $10 purchase) are both back up and running with new foams

So here are some pics of the near 'pristine' set of EPI-100's with refoamed woofers, sitting on the stands I got with them.

 

[Van_Isle]

That will increase your audiokarma points total!

So since I have a dead tweeter in the 2nd pair of EPI's I decided to refoam another set of speakers and donate those back. They were "AudioPulse" 3-ways with 12-inch woofers - which are not a fantastic speaker but I have seen several examples of them in there and they do sell. Anyway, I show up to donate them and the lady in the store refuses to take them because they are "awash" in speakers ... and of course are having a 50% off sale (see my post re Paradigm Minis). So, I can understand that - bad timing on my part - but this particular lady was more than a little bit snarky about the whole thing - including comments like "nobody wants big speakers anymore". I think I made some comment back to her, after gazing at the shelf of Lloyds, Yorx, Sharp and other assorted no-name speakers (all with non-removable grills of course - see my post also on that one), regarding "throwing out the good speakers while you put the junk on the shelf".

She was, however, more than willing to take my late 60's / early 70's children's wood table and chair set.

She gave me a real dirty look when I walked in there today and an equally dirty look when I was chatting to the older "techie" that does the electronics testing (or maybe it was the newly-arrived 4 large Craig speakers sitting on the floor in his shop area - awash in a sea of speakers, eh?). Anyway I will come up with something else to fire back to them - and give it directly to the techie.

 

[atrac]

That's mind boggling. You try to give something for free and you are met with attitude and turned down. INSANITY.

What the heck is wrong with this world?!?!?

 

[Cogsinister]

Pics of my new babies (JBL 52T's).

The paint specks visible on the left speaker actually show up even more in the picture than in reality.

But as they say, "pictures don't lie" -- so any advice on how to get those specks off would be fantastic.

I fear, though, that I'm just going to have to live with them. I believe it's latex paint.

Incidentally, is the material visible through the port holes supposed to be yellow, or is it the dreaded nicotine? They don't smell at all. Either way, doesn't affect the sound as far as I can tell. But still...

They look great !!!!

 

[Cogsinister]

So since I have a dead tweeter in the 2nd pair of EPI's I decided to refoam another set of speakers and donate those back. They were "AudioPulse" 3-ways with 12-inch woofers - which are not a fantastic speaker but I have seen several examples of them in there and they do sell. Anyway, I show up to donate them and the lady in the store refuses to take them because they are "awash" in speakers ... and of course are having a 50% off sale (see my post re Paradigm Minis). So, I can understand that - bad timing on my part - but this particular lady was more than a little bit snarky about the whole thing - including comments like "nobody wants big speakers anymore". I think I made some comment back to her, after gazing at the shelf of Lloyds, Yorx, Sharp and other assorted no-name speakers (all with non-removable grills of course - see my post also on that one), regarding "throwing out the good speakers while you put the junk on the shelf".

She was, however, more than willing to take my late 60's / early 70's children's wood table and chair set.

She gave me a real dirty look when I walked in there today and an equally dirty look when I was chatting to the older "techie" that does the electronics testing (or maybe it was the newly-arrived 4 large Craig speakers sitting on the floor in his shop area - awash in a sea of speakers, eh?). Anyway I will come up with something else to fire back to them - and give it directly to the techie.

No doubt about it, you get some idiots working in these stores..........

 

[avguytx]

I found a Marantz 6300 direct drive turntable for $5 with the original wood veneer base still intact and in nice shape. The dust cover is a little rough as always it seems like. It was missing the stylus on the ADC QLM 30 Mk III cartridge but I have about a half dozen others I can use. No 45 RPM adapter, either, but I don't own any 45's. She spins up fine but needs some Deoxit on the controls as the speed is erratic if you mess with the knobs. Not a bad deal, though.

Oh, and a pair of Genesis "G10" speakers. I guess that's the right number. They are even designated "left" and "right" which is rather interesting. Nice vinyl clad cabinet but the grills need recovering. No biggie. One woofers is in need of a refoam but the other was apparently rebuilt by Human Speakers some years ago with a new actual cone/surround. There was a tag on the back of the magnet but I forget the date it had on it. Maybe 1998 or so. Got these for free because of the foam and the miss-matched woofer. I do NOT need more speakers but they were about to go in the dumpster. They might end up as parts donors.

 

[Van_Isle]

No doubt about it, you get some idiots working in these stores..........

Well, misguided maybe + she said her son used to rebuild speakers for a repair shop ... so I suspect she considered herself somewhat of an expert ... by association (or is it by relation?).

 

[chicknman72]

Well, misguided maybe + she said her son used to rebuild speakers for a repair shop ... so I suspect she considered herself somewhat of an expert ... by association (or is it by relation?).

Women are experts on everything, either by association, or relation.....:scratch2: If there is anything I learned by working with a room full of them at my last job.....It was that.....because as a man, I was always guilty by default!!:bash: Thankfully they are not all are like that.....

 

[atrac]

I'd quote "ffolkes," but that would probably be too obscure of a reference.

 

[RebelKat]

Today I snagged a Yamaha K-340 single cassette deck from a local thrift. Just tried it out, and it won't power up. Upon opening, I found that both fuses on the supply board are done. What would make both fuses go at once? Maybe a power surge? t In any event, the counter belt has turned into a slimy black mass of tar, but I think the rest is gear driven, so I may wander out to get some fuses. Cost: $3, no refunds.