Ever bought a piece of gear, not expecting much, only to have it really "wow" you? Or maybe you knew it was good, but not "that good"?

I'm not talking about buying an item sight-unseen, or via pictures that made it look less-than perfect, only to have it arrive near-pristine.

I'm talking about getting a pair of speakers home that looked like an okay deal for $20, but once hooked up, made the hair on your arms stand up. And not from a short, either.

Or a low-rated receiver that once plugged in, so powerful, made the lights dim every time a bass note hit. And sounded good doing it.

Or a tuner that brought in a jazz show from WGBH Boston Massachusetts, when you live in Amarillo, Texas?

My Sansui amp sounded so clean and accurate the first time I turned it on I felt as if I was feeling the warming effects of a gulp of brandy on a cold day. My Sansui 717 tuner, once witnessing the clarity of its sound on a strong channel (WGBH), had my head spinning. Though I find it more colored than the Sansui, the sound of my Marantz 1060 (the properly tuned one) is like dessert for my ears.

But the biggest surprise to me was a pair of HED speakers I got a few years back. Though not a perfect speaker, these Cerwin Vega HED CV-3000s sound so much better than I could expect- not the typical CV sound where it seems tuned for great sound at very loud volumes, this speaker (though still preferring a healthy dose of volume) performs really nice for me, shattering my pre-conceived notions of what most CVs should sound like.

I bought the Boston Acoustics Subsat Six speaker system back in '87. I bought it for the living room mainly for just background listening, so I didn't put a whole lot of effort into perfect placement; in fact, I had them mounted high on the wall, with the bass speaker in a handy space behind a sofa. They were fine for what I was using them for. No big deal. My serious listening speakers were JBL L-110s in my den, powered by a Denon PMA-520 integrated.

Well, we moved into our new house in '01. Finding a good place for the JBLs where they would sound good proved impossible, so I decided what the heck, I'll get some nice stands and set the Subsat Six up in my new den and see how it sounds.

I put the Boston's on the short back wall near the archway with the bass speaker right in between. I bi-wired them with the two main channels (70 WPC) of a Marantz MM500 five channel power amp, and I used my Marantz AV500 surround preamp in stereo mode to hook up my sources. I used an Audio Alchemy VAC-in-the-Box phono preamp for my Technics SL-10. (The Outlaw 1050 put the Marantz pro-logic only system back on the bench.)

The Boston's sounded great. Nice 3D soundstage, very smooth from top to bottom. My friends were impressed :P. I was really really surprised at the quality. Plus, they would go loud and still sound great. Well, Boston Acoustics does make good speakers.

Since then, of course, I bought my JMLabs, which put me in a higher level of heaven. The Boston's are back in the storage room collecting dust, but I will find a use for them soon. The foam speaker surrounds were holding up just fine as of a couple years ago. I'm hoping they won't rot like the one's on my 110's, but who knows. It's pretty dry here in Arizona.

Ever bought a piece of gear, not expecting much, only to have it really "wow" you? Or maybe you knew it was good, but not "that good"?
Mine would be these:

Dynaco SCA-35
Dynaco A-25
Sonic Impact T-Amp
Toshiba SD-4960

I picked them up knowing they were well-regarded, but wow, are they good.

- JP

I would have to say the Revox A77. It's really hard to believe that a machine that is just sooo incredibly ugly :yuck: to look at could sound so absolutely wonderful to listen to. :music:

I picked up 2 pair of bookshelves today. 1pr was criterion (needing refoaming) :screwy: The other was this really beat on small sony pair. So I drag one of the sony speakers upstairs and peek inside. A two-way with alnico drivers: woofer rated at 3watts, tweeter at 10. So I only hook up 1 speaker ( :scratch2: ) and put in a doors cd. And for my efforts- quite a clean sound with depth.-mark
Btw-if there's a sony buff in the house; no model numbers, but the little sony badge on the front had a tipped over figure 8 underneath the sony moniker.

It's happened to me twice. The first time I bought a pair of KLH 17's. I have never had little speakers before and was amazed at how good they sounded. Second time I bought a Sony X111ES Cd player that skipped until I cleaned it a few times. It sounds great to me. The best 15.00. I've spent on audio gear.

KLH23's. Listed local for $35 no takers for weeks. Read about them here and thought I would give them a chance. When to look at them and was like WTF, are these drivers hand made in someone's garage? Plugged them in and have been smiling up until last Saturday when I sent my stack of KLH32's down the road to another AKer as I thin the herd.

Without a doubt it would have to be my first Luxman amp that I bought at a yard sale for a few bucks. It was the L-450, mint and I mean mint condition 55wpc of pure happiness :) It is one of the best sounding amps I have ever owned.

Audio Surprises:

Marantz 1060 power output for 30WPC.
Audio Experience Music MkII tube preamp's mid and high bloom.
Odyssey Stratos' bass punch, total lack of SS harshness and unending power reserves.
Polk SDA soundstage from my SDA 1Cs.

All other gear that has passed this way has been put away in the "Magic Closet" soon to be auctioned since they leave me wanting. :yes:

Actually for me it was my DIY speakers. I'm not really blowing my own horn. I did spend a lot of time researching drivers, box designs,crossovers etc and a lot of time building the cabinets and crossovers but I really only expected them to sound ok. When I hooked them up to my main system for a test I was truly astonished. I think maybe I just got lucky and it was so dang much work I have not been in a hurry to try again. The Marantz 2216 that is running them right now was a bit of a suprise too.

Not exactly Hi-Fi gear,but in use in my system.The Behringer CX 3400 active crossover.
I had Behringer's cheaper model in the system and decided to move up because the 3400 had a couple of features/facilities the cheaper one didn't.
I canonly assume that the circuits for the two are very similar and I honestly wasn't expecting a noticable difference in sound quality between the two but inserting the 3400 into the system(even before playing around with the other facilities)there was a big step forward in resolution.
I would buy another one of these were I in the market for it. :thmbsp:

About two weeks I get home from work, sit down at the computer, hop on ebay - and with like 3 minutes to make up my mind I buy an Pioneer sa-9100.

I get it, not a scratch on it and it is by far the best sounding amp I've ever heard. That took me by surprise. Since then I bought another one locally.

dew.

Dynaco A-50 speakers purchased without knowing what they were at yard sale. . Wife made husband clean the garage for house sell preparation. The guy did not know they were dynaco either, just said a friend brought them back form Germany. These vintage speaker are very nice!

I'd heard of the Canadian company Bryston, never had the chance to look or listen, then, I finally found a 2B. :banana:

On an off chance, and driven curiousity, I bought Pioneer's older TOTL, SA-9100 and a TX-9100 (from the 1st half of the 70s), knowing nothing about them. When I lit them up, I was en-raptured. Both of them have an amazing, golden tone, that is so pleasant to listen to. Even unrestored and in raw, vintage condition, these are the sweetest sounding units of their type in my inventory, and, I have over 75 units of various types, including the SA/TX-9500-II, and SPEC1/4, as well as various other amps, tuners, and receivers.

It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to this combo...

Rich P

but I must say, my absolute best, to date, surprise, of any piece of audio gear is...

a pair of IMF TLS50 :D :banana: :grnbounce

Hi all,

Well, believe it or not, I have to say the biggest surprise of all the Audio gear I have (or had owned) is the ALLIED 333 Tube Receiver I bought at a yard sale five years ago for $5.00 The 333 matched with the right Speakers has a (to my ears) MUCH better overall sound (Tube sound) which I find that I MUCH prefer to any of my SS gear. Presently, my 333 in on it's way for a tune up/repair. Once returned, I will try the 333 with my most recent find,
a pair of KLIPSCH KG4's which are proving to be another wonderful SURPRISE!

Regards,
SixCats!

Denon DRA-350.



I can hear it now - eeeeeeew

But this BPC receiver really sounds nice.

My biggest surprise has to be a pair of boston acoustics ba400. Not expecting all that much till I plugged them in and then I stood back in awe. Even my wife noticed the very 1st time I had these plugged in and that's saying something right there. I'm still waiting for another speaker to come along and stomp these 400's. Been 3 yrs. now and lots of speakers have come and gone but the 400's still have the stage front and center.

Hi
My Surprise was getting a PAS3x as gift for helping in a move of a coworker home to Denmark. Didn't even know Dynaco then.




Mine would be these:

Dynaco SCA-35
Dynaco A-25

[/I].


those in combination?
Helge

I would have to say the Revox A77. It's really hard to believe that a machine that is just sooo incredibly ugly :yuck: to look at could sound so absolutely wonderful to listen to. :music:

Hi
guess this is a case of taste. i always loved the A-Series design, u find the B-series ugly. I had the A comlete fore years (not the Power-Amp), th A-77, A-76 and A-78. they are such pretty presented in the right way, perhaps on a BAUHAUS design steel/wood Sideboard...

i am with you: it is the most reliable and bestsounding tape i ever bought in NEW condition from a reliable 1st owner for 200$ 20 yrs ago :)
its still like new after maybe 200 hrs :)

i got an MK IV 2 track....

Helge

Diatone Ds-181s speakers...Japanese version of Mitusubishi's best. They look very 1981, but WOW. 6 ohms, and extremely rare, I understand. 35 lbs. apiece, not really larger than bookshelfs!

Sansui 7900Z receiver. I wasn't expecting much, just hoping for something that didn't assault my ears. It is a surprisingly good receiver, and it only set me back $75.

Sansui 7900Z receiver.

I'll second that!

Mine came within about a month of each other.

ALtec 604-8g's Model 17's- $150 (these are some serious speakers, weighing in at nearly 150# each with 39# magnets) 100db/watt/meter

Pair of serviced McIntosh MC40 tube mono's- $600

I sold a few peices of 70's SS gear to finance the above and couldn't be happier.

KLH-23 pair I bought for $12.50, just because I wanted to hear a representative of the "East Coast Sound"...I now have plans for the adjoining burial plot once intended for what's-her-name.

I had planned to update the arm on my EB-101 with a Rega RB-300 transplant, wired by my English buddy...bought an AudioTechnica AT-120 as an interim cart to listen to till then. I listened to that table/cart combo and bitched on here for THREE WEEKS, until the stylus had about 25-30 hours on it. :music: Saved me roughly $500. :thmbsp:

Lost my head on eBay looking for a set of speaks for beddy-bye; bid a hunnerd & five onna set of ADCs that look like mini-KLHs, and at a mere 12 inches tall, sound very similar too, if just a tad lighter in the bottom end. :smoke:

A Little KLH 330 receiver, smooth, warm, well balanced. A bargain for $12.00.

A carbon fiber record cleaning brush. I knew that dirt was causing crackles but I had no idea how much it was hiding the sound of the record.

KLH 24
EPI Micro Tower II

cubdog

a pair of IMF TLS50 :D :banana: :grnbounce
I thought I'd noticed an avatar change!
For me, it's my KEF speakers. Needed new ones, found 'em on sale, brought 'em home expecting no big deal. This was in like 1997 or so. To this day they still put a huge smile on my face every single time I listen to them. No wonder I never find them on eBay... no one wants to give theirs up, either.
Tom

Cheap, lightweight, thin digital tuners from the 1980s. Some of these are shockingly good for peanuts..

Ron-C

Mine would be these:

Dynaco SCA-35
Dynaco A-25
those in combination?
Helge
Yep, alone each was good (the A-25s were very refreshing after having just dealt with a pair of Advents), but together they were incredible. Sure, it wasn't a loud, rocking system, but there was good music to be heard through it. I now believe that Dynaco designed their tube amps and speakers to be synergistic.

A shame my SCA-35 suffered a meltdown (blown power transformer, I believe).
- JP

KLH Model Seventeen - superb balanced sound from a diminutive speaker
Marantz 2215B - the little mouse that roars!
Realistic Minimus 7 (walnut) - sweet tweeter for low level listening

Hi

A shame my SCA-35 suffered a meltdown (blown power transformer, I believe).
- JP

want to sell? i would bone it for 2 projects, i made a own designed chassis for ST-35 and want a second built up sooner or later, AND i need a Case of a SCA 35 as a basis for building a CD-Player in old Dyna-Design, i want to use a Sony Midi CDP for it, a blanc Frontplate i already have. My Problem is, only SCA 35 or SCA 80Q have cases deep enough for that.

Helge

Pioneer sx-450 that I found in the dump.15 wpc of pure heaven.Have some 94 db speakers.Oh man its very musical and sweet.Very loud too!
:naughty:

It can rattle the windows well staying undistorted.

My friend has a jvc boom box that he claims is 700 watts per channel.Well when he saw my amp smoking his 700 watt shelf system he asked how much power does that sucker have 6000 watts he said? well I said "Lets just put it this way,15 wpc goes a long way. He nearly puked.

Was a 'high-ender' before we moved into a condo at the shore (I guess I am one of the lucky ones - my wife is more important to me than my toys). Downsized from a McIntosh based system (built around an MC-500 - a wonderful amp) to a Sony TA-F808ES integrated system. Wow!! Was I ever surprised at the wonderful sound. And have found that the vintage pieces I now own all fall into the category of surprisingly wonderful sound and great value compared to the $$ I had sunk into my previous high-end system(s).

Juicy Music Merlin... was only $595 at the time. An all tube preamp for that price, I thought it was going to be awful. It was amazing, one of the better pre's that I have heard. Mark of Juicy Music Audio offers a great product

No contest: Sonic T-amp by a mile.

Distant runners up would be Outlaw ICBM (bass manager) and Pinnacle PN5+ speakers.

Pair of ADS 1230 speakers picked up at a garage sale for $65. I knew nothing about them but wouldn't part with them now!

Uriah

Yeah, gotta be the little Sonic Impact.

But the piece I use the most - 5/6 hours per day minimum - is my XM radios. And yes, sometimes I use it with the Sonic Impact.

Paper cones and square inches

Here's a few.

Another vote for Diatone 181s speakers (small suckers that ooze resolution)

ADS L880 (thought they would be good but had no idea how good)

EPI 200 (mated to the right amp they just make music)

KEF C40 (really lightweight suckers that sound great)

DCM Timeframe 600 (garage sale find and new nothing about them, great speaker)

Dared SL-2000 Tube preamp (cute little sucker that performs way beyond it's price)

MY avatar amp suprised me by what it can drive and it is the best sounding amp that's
been in my home (but going in I had high hopes for it so it probably doesn't count?)

Snell Type EIII's Bought at a yard sale as one of my first buys, and had no clue what they were. Hooked em up and WOW!

Utah WD66's, thrift find and blew me away. Hmmmm I should A/B these with the MBR B&W's...

Oh, how could I forget? Magnepan MG-Is. Picked them up at the local Goodwill not knowing the least thing about them or high end audio at all. Hooked them up and wow, I was instantly hooked in the hobby. I'm still trying to find a sonic equivalent to them in the midrange. These will probably be the last speakers I'll ever get rid of.

- JP

Finding a pair of Large Advents at a Granny's Attic, right next to some dusty, filthy speakers...oh, what the hell, I'll get those as well...

They were Marantz Imperial 6's......


OMG!!! Rock N ROll HEAVEN.

The price?? 35 bucks. And they've been refoamed. Genuine walnut cabinet!! :thmbsp:

Twas worth the wait, and all the stories from fellow ak'ers, you know the ones....

"Oh, I got a Pioneer SA-1980 from some old lady down the street for 6 bucks and some change."

Ain't this cool?? I've turned my buddy on to this stuff, after giving him a pair of Realistic Nova 5b speakers, which sound incredible mated with his garage sale Pioneer SA-950. He's hooked, the poor sod. :guitar:

[
Ain't this cool?? I've turned my buddy on to this stuff, after giving him a pair of Realistic Nova 5b speakers, which sound incredible mated with his garage sale Pioneer SA-950. He's hooked, the poor sod. :guitar:[/QUOTE]

Cool, need anymore buddies?

Trust me, after 25 years of putting up with me, he earned them. :yes:

I'm not certain his wife approves of all the loud music. Seems to be a common complaint round here. :D

My sx-1980. bought it off the bay about 6 months ago. i was a little leary of the seller. his description was kind of poor and spelling was really poor. but pics looked good. i popped for the buy it now at $1500.00 dollars. l was holding my breath till it arrived. to my suprise it was double boxed. when i opened it up i got weak in the knees. it was in the original box both inner and outer boxes with all the original packaging materials, even the little hang tag that said it was a walnut cabinet. the only thing missing was the owners manaul. this unit looks brand new, yes its that good, not one nick, mark, scratch anywhere. its perfect. it really looks like it was never used. not even a finger print on the face. wow wow wow. sometimes things just go in your favor. in this condition i could easily double my money, but there is no way i could part with it.

My Tascam 302 dual cassette deck. Bought it over a year ago for $50.00. I told myself I would get around to cleaning it up real soon. I guess in my mind "soon" meant last week. I cleaned it up - a weekend job - and then popped in a couple of Maxell's MX-S metal tapes. Reorded to one deck from a TT & the other deck from a RtR. The recordings were amazing. I am so glad to finally have this piece in my lineup. This falls into the If I only knew then what I know now category. I look and listen to it now in $50.00 amazement.