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Trash to Treasure... share your freebie, ground score, dumpster dive treasures here...

Cool thread...

lets see, picked up a pioneer SX 1250... 40Bucks from a friend who worked at a electronics recycle shop.

Rebuilt it, swapped it for 2 Marantz 250's and a 3800 preamp. eBay prices on the 250s are crazy...

Recently picked up on eBay a Panasonic SU3100 amp listed as parts or repair.. thing is in mint cond. I got it for 40 bucks, than the seller refunded me 20 due to shipping issues.. Got it, and the pre in and out jumpers were in the tape jacks not the preamp... Swapped them out and its one of the best amp I own.

Pioneer SX1010 for restoring some JBL 166's for a fellow user.

My JBL Collection... Many JBL I've got for free or next to free. Set of 150's in great cond for doing some solder work for a friend, my L110A's were pulled for a bill... Currently working on some D208's that I got for free, had to pay for new cone kits, but that was worth the $$.

Have a custom rack, built for me on a trade for a mint cond sx 650.. The rack is sold American Mahogany from the 1900's, and its not reclaimed wood. If you search my 1250 build you will see the rack or just do search of my user name "Jobrewer1983" on you tube.. you will see the rack/1250 combo... with 150's out of pocket cost... less than 100 bucks.

I've since upgraded and spent more money than I should... but I am constantly on the look out for good gear.

Fun thread.

Kind Regards,
John
 
I've never had any luck with Audio electronics at the curb, Thrifts & CL yes, but I have had phenomenal luck with furniture. Several end tables, a desk, chairs and my favorite - a Boston Rocker. All in perfect condition, put out to the curb by people either moving or just cleaning house. The one music related curb find was a complete drum kit in good working order, seems the kid it was bought for got tired of it. So one of my sons has it now. :D

Mark Gosdin
 
mgosdin said:
I've never had any luck with Audio electronics at the curb, Thrifts & CL yes, but I have had phenomenal luck with furniture. Several end tables, a desk, chairs and my favorite - a Boston Rocker. All in perfect condition, put out to the curb by people either moving or just cleaning house. The one music related curb find was a complete drum kit in good working order, seems the kid it was bought for got tired of it. So one of my sons has it now. :D

Mark Gosdin
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I as well have done great with furniture.. Pulled a John Widdicomb table for 12 bucks at a savers ;) got to know what your looking for. A 3k table! Almost got into an argument over it with some crazy lady who tried to come up on it after I paid for it!!! It was a crazy day and an even funnier story...

Back to audio gear :)... About a year ago I found a Technics 1200 turntable on the curb.. I am not a technics table fan at all, in fact I think they are ugly as sin itself... The funny thing is I gave it to a fried for free who restored it and sold it for some good money.. My find, his gain :)

Kind Regards,
John
 
My brother is the lucky one in the family. He was heading out and saw a couple of old looking cabinets on the corner curb. He stopped, backed up, and took a look, then called me. He said there were some kind of greenish colored Altec speakers inside. I said "grab 'em!".

Later he found out they were Altec Co-Axial drivers. Just as good as his $20 garage sale find of a pair of Rogers LS3/5a's.
 
Recently, I was driving with my kids and spotted two "cabinets" across the street as I approached a stop sign. Old tv's? No. Speaker cabs. Suddenly my then 11 year-old son yells "no dad! Don't you have a coupon." Which meant can't you buy new at the store..." He had spotted the look on my face. I pulled up to two Jensen ss-100's with rotating horns and down-firing woofers.

The horns rotate so that you can use each cabinet as an end table and direct the music. They were in good shape although may need refinishing and will be tested soon
 
GD70 said:
JVC RX-552V receiver town dump
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at least im not the only one...

i woke up thinking i was dreaming... the town dump... unbelievable

hope you been well, i appreciate all of your help on my projects GD70... and thanks for sharing the experiences.
 
I've got you all beat: I found my wonderful wife at her garage sale.

Audio - I was at an audio meet, and I was showing my then-modest setup, which included a DVD player for a CD transport (had a good DAC). Some fellow excused himself, went out to his car, and brought back a largish box. "Here, Dennis, you need this," he said. The box contained a PS Audio Lambda transport, in nice shape too. I was so thrilled I gave him two amps, one solid-state, and one single-ended EL-84 (a Magnavox console pull).
 
There is a local buy,sell,trade site where I live and there was a listing for two free stage monitors. It was about two miles from my house so I drove and snagged them. They were two huge Peavy monitors. Ea. Cab had one huge horn and a 15" driver. The guy giving them away even plugged his guitar and amp into them to show me they worked. My son plays guitar so I gave them to him.
 
image.jpeg Been years, but a tech shop gave me one of those Philips 1000 class A integrated amps with the built in DACs and an Accuphase p-600 stereo amp with a bad set of the large inrush diodes.
 
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While stationed at Yokota AB, Japan in the '70's I sent my brother a Kenwood Model 9G. A pair of Sansui SPX-8000. Garrard SP25 MKV and a Akai 202D-SS. After 20 years of use, he packed them away in the basement. He called me last week and said come get them. I did. As we were putting them in the SUV he told me the R2 had never been played or even plugged in. He just used it for show...... Got to love your brother
 
Freebies-

JVC AL-A155N turntable from brother in law
a stack of albums from a friend that was moving (lot's of Hendrix, Moody Blues, America, etc)
Bose 901 series III's with matching tulip stands and EQ (from a different friend who was moving)
 
In my neighborhood I only find speakers, but nice ones, including a pair Yorkshire HiFi (not Yorx!) 2-ways that someone here ended up with from eBay.
Also some Polk RT800 towers, a pair of Design Acoustics PS-10a speakers and my faves, a pair of RFT BR26 Classic speakers, that somehow made it here from East Germany.
 
I was stringing network wires in an office building. Part of the job was to remove many years of assorted cables and wires left from previous remodels. I ran across some little waterproof, industrial speakers. They have a rotary switch in back that switches from 4, 8, 16 ohm, 70 volt and a few other settings. I asked about them and the new owner said he wanted everything gone. He let me take them. They are hanging in my bathroom. No problems with moisture.

Most of my best finds were yard sale and thrift stores. But those days seem gone.
 
Hey Splatter Pak, what's the story how those first meetings went?

Did you go back later saying "um, there was something at your garage sale that intrigued me and I'm wondering if you could talk with me about it, say over dinner and drinks?"
 
Years ago my brother noticed a junk sale outside a music store that had been closed for 10 years or so. Picked up a JBL B380 subwoofer and a JBL B460 subwoofer for $20. No grills, dirty as hell, and blown woofers (maybe just needed foam but didn't know what to check at the time). The cabinets did take a beating since he had to load them by himself into a 280Z.

My best was finding a pair of C-V AT-10 in the dumpster at work. Refoamed and little clean-up and they were good to go. Sold for $60 but well worth the practice.
 
 
GEDC1209.JPG sony ps-x70
given to me by the recycler on the agreement i would not sell it... it had been in someones attic for years before they dumped it
2 head headshells one with a ortofon vms 20ed mk ii on one the original sony cartridge
it was all taped down so nothing would move
works and play perfectly
took a week soaking in cooking oil to get all the decades old masking tape off
tone arm headshells and dust cover
 
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donprice said:
Years ago my brother noticed a junk sale outside a music store that had been closed for 10 years or so. Picked up a JBL B380 subwoofer and a JBL B460 subwoofer for $20. No grills, dirty as hell, and blown woofers (maybe just needed foam but didn't know what to check at the time). The cabinets did take a beating since he had to load them by himself into a 280Z.

My best was finding a pair of C-V AT-10 in the dumpster at work. Refoamed and little clean-up and they were good to go. Sold for $60 but well worth the practice.
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Wow, can't imagine how he could have gotten both in, must be the B460 in the hatch area (and left open), and the B380 in the passenger seat.

What ever happen to both subwoofers?
 
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