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Vintage theater audio

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nktrapp

New Member
I recently moved my cabinet shop into an old downtown building that I discovered was once a movie theater probably around the 1940’s. While remodeling, I discovered the audio equipment that would have been used in the theater. Two Motiograph tube amplifiers, two RCA MI-9461 speakers in rather large speaker boxes and an RCA MI-9457 directional baffle. I’m having a hard time putting a value on it. It’s part of the history of my town, so I don’t really want to just part it out on eBay, I think it should all stay together. Any info about it would be helpful, thanks.
 
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What town? What theatre? Where are you?
1940s mono audio may not be high on a collectors list.
 
Hello there
Well you came to the right place with your inquiry.
In my opinion these are extremely valuable but forget about them staying together.
Don’t donate them to anyone as greed will certainly step in and they may disappear.

I would sell them and use some of the money to try to do something good for the community directly, avoiding donations as to avoid erosion of donated funds.
 
Well, I did find a couple of listings for them on the Bay, and it seems the sellers are quite fond of them. It'll be interesting to see what they actually sell for.....


https://www.ebay.com/itm/134211776297

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233164993619

PS, the standard disclaimer applies, these are NOT my items, I have no financial interest whatsoever in them, they came up in a search and are posted for reference only :thumbsup:
 
Motiograph is one of the Cadillacs of theater sound. A film collector is who you want to find as your buyer. There used to be a magazine called The Big Reel that had classified ads. It's gone but there may be a website dedicated to 35mm film collectors. What you want to find is either someone who has the same amp and a stereo sound head and wants to go stereo, or someone with a mono setup.
 
pics?

9457 is a Shearer horn.

9461 doesn't ring a bell for me, but 9462's are "Ubangi" horns.

If you want maximum value out of the stuff, you WILL part it out on ebay.

If you want it to stay together(absolutely no guarantee), you will very likely have to discount the sale price.
 
The big collectors in the far east don't care where it came from. Split and sell individually. If you sell complete it will be for much less and go to someone who will only split the lot anyway
 
nktrapp said:
I recently moved my cabinet shop into an old downtown building that I discovered was once a movie theater probably around the 1940’s. While remodeling, I discovered the audio equipment that would have been used in the theater. Two Motiograph tube amplifiers, two RCA MI-9461 speakers in rather large speaker boxes and an RCA MI-9457 directional baffle. I’m having a hard time putting a value on it. It’s part of the history of my town, so I don’t really want to just part it out on eBay, I think it should all stay together. Any info about it would be helpful, thanks.
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You have some valuable items sir. As others have mentioned, selling the items individually would be your best bet but I would also add links with each item to inform potential buyers of the existence of the other rare pieces.
 
nktrapp said:
I recently moved my cabinet shop into an old downtown building that I discovered was once a movie theater probably around the 1940’s. While remodeling, I discovered the audio equipment that would have been used in the theater. Two Motiograph tube amplifiers, two RCA MI-9461 speakers in rather large speaker boxes and an RCA MI-9457 directional baffle. I’m having a hard time putting a value on it. It’s part of the history of my town, so I don’t really want to just part it out on eBay, I think it should all stay together. Any info about it would be helpful, thanks.
Click to expand...
...and welcome to AK!!
 
Very nice, won’t be hard to find buyers. Don’t hurry though, do your homework; there’s no rush, the gear isn’t going down in value. There are plenty of audio places to list the gear, including the audio groups on FB that are quite active.

Beware of sharks, there’s many on the interwebs of course, and only sell on your own terms. Good luck, those are gonna make someone out there very happy. :thumbsup:
 
Careful with this thread - its approaching a for sale ad, and you have to be a Subscriber on AK to post gear for sale ads
(but its only $25 for a year's membership).
 
Just a guess, but to achieve tmv I would assume OP knows where to sell these items.

AK is a wealth of knowledge and I think OP is asking info only. I highly doubt these pieces are sold here unless at steep discount;)
 
He could also take them to a film convention. They buy and sell stuff there. He doesn't have to pay for a seller's table, he can just tell people the gear is in his car.
 
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