Marantzaholic
Active Member
A few questions for Audiokarma members.
What is the best deal you have ever found on a piece of audio equipment?
Or what is your favorite component you have purchased used? Was it a gift?
Have you ever bought something expecting to sell it on EBAY and kept it for yourself after listening to it?
*Guilty of this many times!*
Some of my best finds have been:
1) Marantz 2252B *Pristine* and working perfectly as a gift from my then girlfriend. It was her ex-husbands. *L*
2) Technics SL-D3 Turntable. See above. He must really dislike me.
3) Pioneer PL-560 Turntable at a local thrift store for $9. Cleaned up beautifully, no cartridge, and dust cover shot, but hey NINE DOLLARS! If you ever get a chance to grab a hold of one of these vintage Pioneers, do it. They easily compete with the Technics SL series which are much more well known.
4) DBX 1BX Series II Dynamic Range Processor. Perfect. $10, Goodwill.
5) Sony CDP-85ES CD Changer at local thrift, $15. Perfect, only no remote. Nice unit, I keep it as a backup in case my Marantz CD-63SE ever gives up the ghost.
6) Yamaha C-6 Preamplifier, cleaned up perfectly, mechanically perfect. $70 in a local pawn shop.
7) Marantz 2330B Receiver, $130 in a local pawn shop. I'm sure most of you know what these go for on EBAY in perfect working and cosmetic order.
8) Sony TC-FX707R Cassette Deck, perfect in every way. $40 on EBAY. Apparently this is a lesser known and appreciated deck. Came out in 1982, totally computer controlled, but still solid metal build. One of the last of the quality built Sonys before they quit even pretending to care about quality and reliability.
9) Technics SH-8055 Equalizer. 12 bands/channel and spectrum analyzer with pink noise. $20, on EBAY. Excellent cosmetics, on line out jack a little flaky, so I just bypass it by using tape outputs.
10) Sansui T-707 Auto Search Tuner. $7, at Goodwill. Beautiful. Really cool analog tuner with tuning knob, and also buttons that move the dial pointer via a motor inside. Neat art-deco styling of the mid 80's.
11) Akai AA-R22 Receiver. Perfect operation, nearly new cosmetics. $20, local thrift store. Sweet little model when Akai went to the all digital "Star Wars" front panel look. Super cool "flowchart" display and all touchpad controls, with the left side of the face being a flip down cover to hide the lesser used buttons. Nice sound too, considering that this was not a very expensive receiver.
12) Sansui 5000 Receiver. Needed to replace one fuse. Everything else perfect. $25. If it weren't for my Marantz 2265B Receiver, this would be the one I'd use happily until it died. Just a FANTASTIC sounding receiver. I see why BeatleFred is such a Sansui enthusiast. Build quality that SHAMES almost anything today under $1000.
13) Marantz 105 Tuner with PRISTINE wood case. $10!! Perfect in every way. Local thrift store.
14) Marantz 2252 Receiver. Perfect except for non-original power switch. $25. Wonderful. Just excellent unit from the glory days of Marantz.
15) Marantz 2230 Receiver. Had some minor cosmetic issues, but worked beautifully. $25. Local thrift store. Gorgeous sound and built like a tank.
16) Infinity ES-83 Speakers. $50 from co-worker. Need new woofer surrounds and passive radiators. TOTL for Infinity's "Efficiency Series" designed primarily for rock/pop music. Very efficient, but rated at 4 ohms, so you have to be careful of amplifier matching. Surpisingly good sound with the right components. Styled much like the early 80's Boston Acoustics designs, with the wide baffle/shallow cabinet look.
17) ADS L-1090/2 Speakers. $190 at a local pawn shop. Nasty scratches to the tops, but perfect everywhere else. The BEST speakers I have had the pleasure of owning or listening to under $2000. Compete favorably with much more expensive speakes of today even. Retailed for $1100 or so in '85. And they were usually NOT discounted. Poor man's Wilson Audio. Really, I'm not kidding. Listen to a pair with good electronics and you will be amazed.
18) Pioneer QX-949A Quadraphonic Receiver. $60 at Salvation Army. Cleaned up well, although missing tuning knob and the previous IDIOT, excuse me-- "owner", broke off the function knob with the shaft. How in the world do you do that??? Anyway, it sounds wonderful, a worthy competitor to the Sansuis and Marantz units of the era.
I'll post pics soon of these gems.
So what about you all? Tell us your best finds!
What is the best deal you have ever found on a piece of audio equipment?
Or what is your favorite component you have purchased used? Was it a gift?
Have you ever bought something expecting to sell it on EBAY and kept it for yourself after listening to it?
*Guilty of this many times!*
Some of my best finds have been:
1) Marantz 2252B *Pristine* and working perfectly as a gift from my then girlfriend. It was her ex-husbands. *L*
2) Technics SL-D3 Turntable. See above. He must really dislike me.
3) Pioneer PL-560 Turntable at a local thrift store for $9. Cleaned up beautifully, no cartridge, and dust cover shot, but hey NINE DOLLARS! If you ever get a chance to grab a hold of one of these vintage Pioneers, do it. They easily compete with the Technics SL series which are much more well known.
4) DBX 1BX Series II Dynamic Range Processor. Perfect. $10, Goodwill.
5) Sony CDP-85ES CD Changer at local thrift, $15. Perfect, only no remote. Nice unit, I keep it as a backup in case my Marantz CD-63SE ever gives up the ghost.
6) Yamaha C-6 Preamplifier, cleaned up perfectly, mechanically perfect. $70 in a local pawn shop.
7) Marantz 2330B Receiver, $130 in a local pawn shop. I'm sure most of you know what these go for on EBAY in perfect working and cosmetic order.
8) Sony TC-FX707R Cassette Deck, perfect in every way. $40 on EBAY. Apparently this is a lesser known and appreciated deck. Came out in 1982, totally computer controlled, but still solid metal build. One of the last of the quality built Sonys before they quit even pretending to care about quality and reliability.
9) Technics SH-8055 Equalizer. 12 bands/channel and spectrum analyzer with pink noise. $20, on EBAY. Excellent cosmetics, on line out jack a little flaky, so I just bypass it by using tape outputs.
10) Sansui T-707 Auto Search Tuner. $7, at Goodwill. Beautiful. Really cool analog tuner with tuning knob, and also buttons that move the dial pointer via a motor inside. Neat art-deco styling of the mid 80's.
11) Akai AA-R22 Receiver. Perfect operation, nearly new cosmetics. $20, local thrift store. Sweet little model when Akai went to the all digital "Star Wars" front panel look. Super cool "flowchart" display and all touchpad controls, with the left side of the face being a flip down cover to hide the lesser used buttons. Nice sound too, considering that this was not a very expensive receiver.
12) Sansui 5000 Receiver. Needed to replace one fuse. Everything else perfect. $25. If it weren't for my Marantz 2265B Receiver, this would be the one I'd use happily until it died. Just a FANTASTIC sounding receiver. I see why BeatleFred is such a Sansui enthusiast. Build quality that SHAMES almost anything today under $1000.
13) Marantz 105 Tuner with PRISTINE wood case. $10!! Perfect in every way. Local thrift store.
14) Marantz 2252 Receiver. Perfect except for non-original power switch. $25. Wonderful. Just excellent unit from the glory days of Marantz.
15) Marantz 2230 Receiver. Had some minor cosmetic issues, but worked beautifully. $25. Local thrift store. Gorgeous sound and built like a tank.
16) Infinity ES-83 Speakers. $50 from co-worker. Need new woofer surrounds and passive radiators. TOTL for Infinity's "Efficiency Series" designed primarily for rock/pop music. Very efficient, but rated at 4 ohms, so you have to be careful of amplifier matching. Surpisingly good sound with the right components. Styled much like the early 80's Boston Acoustics designs, with the wide baffle/shallow cabinet look.
17) ADS L-1090/2 Speakers. $190 at a local pawn shop. Nasty scratches to the tops, but perfect everywhere else. The BEST speakers I have had the pleasure of owning or listening to under $2000. Compete favorably with much more expensive speakes of today even. Retailed for $1100 or so in '85. And they were usually NOT discounted. Poor man's Wilson Audio. Really, I'm not kidding. Listen to a pair with good electronics and you will be amazed.
18) Pioneer QX-949A Quadraphonic Receiver. $60 at Salvation Army. Cleaned up well, although missing tuning knob and the previous IDIOT, excuse me-- "owner", broke off the function knob with the shaft. How in the world do you do that??? Anyway, it sounds wonderful, a worthy competitor to the Sansuis and Marantz units of the era.
I'll post pics soon of these gems.
So what about you all? Tell us your best finds!