Classic audio gear from garage sales... (1 Viewer)

[Scott Strang]

Have any of you ever found anything good in the way of old audio and video gear at garage sales? How about laserdiscs?

In this part of the country, LD's were pretty much an alien concept, but there were several local stereo shops years ago that sold most of the mainstream Japanese gear.
I hope to find some.

Any ideas on finding this stuff other than Ebay?

 

[Scooter]

I got a REALLY old Symphonic Society Quad decoder for 5 bucks. Does SQ Matrix and discrete.

 

[Francois Caron]

I missed an opportunity to buy an old wind-up console-style gramophone in perfect condition many years ago. It was going for only $300 Canadian or $200 US. It's probably worth five to ten time that amount today.

There was also one opportunity to purchase a self-playing piano (the one with the paper rolls) but the piano was in horrible shape and the guy was asking way too much.

On a more modern note, I was able to find quite a lot of used Laserdiscs at one time. Best bargains I've ever made! Original Star Wars triology, Indiana Jones triology, True Lies...

 

[Chuck C]

My buddy just bought an ol' Fisher stereo system complete with the ugly wood-veneered speakers, receiver, and turntable...$50. Myself...I would have bought shoes instead.

 

[Scott Strang]

Chuck C sez

Myself...I would have bought shoes instead.

Shoes eh? What's the matter; you too good for used underwear?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I stop at garage sales every time I run into one, but I've never found anything good. I have better luck at flea markets.

 

[Alex Prosak]

While I've never been lucky in this regard, a couple of my friends have. One actually found a McIntosh MC240 for $30 at a thrift shop. It wasn't the prettiest example I've seen but it worked and sounded fantastic. The other friend found a Dynaco 70 at a garage sale for $15. Lucky bastards!

 

[Dave Simpson]

Garage and yard sales are where it's at! I've been out a couple of times this season on the prowl with a pal for decent, vintage audio gear. Best score was a Marantz tape-deck (1975) for $5CDN ($3.25USD ). Condition was pretty damn good, except for one non-functioning VU-meter. There was no gear to be had today in four hours of searching, but roughly $7CDN paid for 15 albums (including Abbey Road), all in good shape, so the trip wasn't a waste.
As far as the pursuit of vintage audio gear goes, barring lightning in a bottle at a garage sale, the best idea, other than E-Bay, may be local thrift shops and flea markets. You'll likely pay more, but I've lately become convinced that it's well worth it. My recently accquired Marantz 2285 receiver, circa 1977, (purchased in a private transaction for considerably greater a price than that of a garage-sale score, and worth every penny) stomps all over, and indeed, embarasses, my mid-line Yamaha 795a receiver (with which I was previously quite pleased) in two-channel performance; the Yammie's been demoted to HT use only. Here's a pic of the Marantz. Beauty, ain't she?
For more discussion of vintage gear, try the Audio Karma boards.
Cheers!
DS.

 

[Adam Barratt]

I picked up an old speaker with a 15" woofer and a blown tweeter, a 20-year-old amp with only one channel working and a nifty talking digital clock with a broken LCD display at a garage sale when I was about 12. Ten bucks for the lot (I thought that was a lot of money). A little bit of solder and I had them all hooked up. When I hit the talk button on the clock the whole neighbourhood knew what times it was (at least for the few days it worked before the whole thing died).
Adam

 

[Jason Wilcox]

i picked up my marantz 2235B from a friends dad for $50. with the wood case no less.

 

[Carl Miller]

I found a pair of Mission bookshelf speakers for $20 at a garage sale 2 weeks ago. A little dusty but they cleaned up nice and sound much better than I thought they would. Can't find a model number on them anywhere, but the seller said they were about 10 years old.

 

[Scott Strang]

Carl sez

....pair of Mission bookshelf speakers...

Which model are they? The one I remember most is the 770 Freedom Broadcast monitor but it's probably too large for a shelf.
I believe they're Canadian and are excellent speakers.

 

[Carl Miller]

Which model are they? The one I remember most is the 770 Freedom Broadcast monitor but it's probably too large for a shelf.

Don't know the model number, it's not stated anywhere on the speaker. Only thing I can see is a faded serial number sticker and a made in England imprint under the grill. Their sound is excellent though, better than the Polk R10's I was using before I found these.