Yesterday's Parking Lot Find

[David_NC]

I know a parking lot isn't the usual place to find audio components. Last night, a housemate told me that there was "one of those" in the parking lot next door as he pointed to my turntable, CD player, and receiver. I knew it was pointless to try to find out what he meant without going to look, so I did. Sure enough, I saw a fairly large, black component across the parking lot. It turned out to be a KLH R5100 receiver - something I really have no use for, even in the garage; I have 'extras' much nicer than this stored away.

Today, I plugged it in, and it powered up, so on to the next test. With a pair of Grado headphones and an iPhone, I listened to it for about 15 minutes. I'm not exactly sure how it sounded (I usually use these headphones with a Luxman R-115), though it seemed to sound OK. I bypassed the built-in equalization, tone controls, and set it to stereo, and it actually sounded surprisingly good! I'm not sure if I'll bother to hook it up to a pair of speakers, as I really have no plans to keep it. It's fairly heavy, in really nice condition, and the interior looks very neat and tidy through the top vents.

I'll likely give it to a friend for use in his garage. He wants surround, so that will work with the optical output on the TV. Otherwise, it'll go to Goodwill if I can't give it away. All in all, I'm fairly impressed with this find - it works, sounds OK, at least with headphones, and is in good condition. It's just too bad it's nothing I want or need. I guess parking lots really aren't the best places to find audio equipment!

 

[faber12]

Free is good, especially if it works. Parking lot is a perfectly good place to score gear, as long as it does not come from the back of a white van.

I am sure your friend will be happy with it.

 

[Sharpstik]

Don't be lazy. Hook up a pair and give it it a chance.
If it works, make it look presentable. And give it it's due .
It got dumped once, without care. You're in AK territory. We don't do that here.

 

[David_NC]

Free is good, especially if it works. Parking lot is a perfectly good place to score gear, as long as it does not come from the back of a white van.

I am sure your friend will be happy with it.

Def no white van buyer here! Oddly enough, the receiver was there all day long, and nobody seemed to want it. My friend has been instructed that he can have this, but once he is finished with it ( assuming it still works), he is to either give it to a friend who will use it, donate it to GW or similar, or return it to me so I can do it.

Don't be lazy. Hook up a pair and give it it a chance.
If it works, make it look presentable. And give it it's due .
It got dumped once, without care. You're in AK territory. We don't do that here.

It's definitely presentable - barely any dirt on it at all, and no wear marks on labels, etc. I gave it a quick wipe down with a damp rag, touched up a couple paint scrapes on the top with a Sharpie, and it's good to go! Even the RCA jacks look pristine, and there's no dust around the speaker or antenna terminals. I'm guessing it was stored for a while before being set free. This weekend, maybe I'll hook it up to a pair of ADS L780/2's, since I listen to them daily, and give it a shot.

 

[Mister Pig]

Don't be lazy. Hook up a pair and give it it a chance.
If it works, make it look presentable. And give it it's due .
It got dumped once, without care. You're in AK territory. We don't do that here.

Sure we would. Well i would put it up on CL for free if I had no use for it. There is no rule saying we have to save cheap components. If you got no use for it send it on its way.

Cheers
Mister Pig

 

[Sharpstik]

Send em' on? Ok.

 

[SoCal Sam]

Click bait thread title if there ever was one. It got me!

 

[toxcrusadr]

Around here you could sell that for 20 bucks all day long. If it was worth the hassle of meeting up with Craigslisters.

 

[onwardjames]

Well, now I'll be eye-spying parking lots.

Hey look, is that a Conrad Johnson besides the Micky D's bag?

 

[David_NC]

Click bait thread title if there ever was one. It got me!

I thought it might get a few!

 

[Justgotohm]

I buy any working component that’s at least 100wpc, $50 or less, just to have around. I’ll give them away to friends or coworkers in need. Just the other day an AK’er was at my place and asked if I had something with a phono input he could borrow while his whatever is getting fixed. I literally that day cleaned up a 1990 something JVC Integrated I grabbed from GW for $15. Having some less than desirable working pieces of audio gear around comes in handy. I replaced the JVC with a Technics Class B Integrated that’s sitting there waiting on it’s time to shine.
I took the pics as a joke for a friend to post on his Vintage HiFi face book page, haha.
Stick that KLH somewhere, it will come in handy for you or someone else at some point.