Goodwill/SA/Thrift Store Discussions & Finds

Sam I saw the sa-9800...at first I thought $29.99? Score!

And then realized that it was 3 bills. Not a chance I'd pay that for a unit that had no knobs and looked like it might have been dropped. I think the GW on Glenstone is probably my favorite. Everything else around here is picked over worse than the thrift stores in Los Angeles.

collector000 said:

Sam I saw the sa-9800...at first I thought $29.99? Score!

And then realized that it was 3 bills. Not a chance I'd pay that for a unit that had no knobs and looked like it might have been dropped. I think the GW on Glenstone is probably my favorite. Everything else around here is picked over worse than the thrift stores in Los Angeles.

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I've turned up some interesting surprises over the years. The DAV at Kansas and Battlefied coughed up a pair of Klipsch KG2s and a nice audio rack last weekend. I have no idea what sort of gear might have come in with it that I missed. Most of my interesting finds have come from CL, garage sales, and auctions.

Gosh I honestly don't even go to that one any more. I haven't even found a decent cassette at that location, would never expect to find some Klipsch stuff there.

I've been away from Springfield for the past five years but have been back for a few months and I feel like everything is really picked over. I did manage to pick up a marantz 2230b, a BIC turntable, and a set of glass top Atlantis speakers off CL for $250. I refoamed the speakers with parts from a place over off of Republic Rd. and Scenic, I've been listening to this since I got back. It seems to me that stuff around here is either priced higher than ebay or goes within minutes.

The best that ever happened to me here in Springfield was at a garage sale, I picked up a pair of Jensen G600's with crossovers for $35 about 8 years ago. I played them in our basement next to the kegorator for about a year and then sold them to a guy in Hong Kong for $3500. A once in a lifetime deal.

I will say that I have come across some awesome deals on Craigslist here. In addition to the Marantz deal I just bought a 1980 Kawasaki KZ440 with a clean title for $400 that just needed the carbs cleaned and a number of bicycles from the 70's that had complete Campagnolo groups.

Good luck at the thrifts...I hit them multiple times a week. There was once a guy named Dan around here who seemed to beat me to everything about a decade ago. I remember him being a really nice guy.

I live a couple of blocks from the DAV and SA on Campbell, so I get over there fairly often. When I worked in Ozark the GW down there used to turn up some interesting stuff with some regularity. Best thing I've found locally was at one of the STD flea markets - a small, homebrew intercom speaker box holding an early Altec-labeled but Western Electric-built 755, for a grand total of $20. I'm not sure what prompted me to turn the box over, but I almost passed out when I did. It went to Russia for a healthy profit.

The Boston A150s I use in my family room came from the SA for $10. Another $20 later for surrounds, and they sound great. Found some Bozak B301s for $25 at the GW on Battlefield several years ago, too. The donations seem to be thinner on the ground lately, though.

Thrift Haven on Glenstone has had a few things pop up here and there.

The last week has been pretty awesome for finds for me! In saint Paul I have found a pair of like new ads l980 speakers for $25 A superphon basic preamp for 5.00. A Kenwood kr7400 reciever for $7.00. In my opinion that Kenwood with the ads speakers sounds great!

I spent one of the worst nights of my life sleeping on the ground at the twin cities airport. Never again.

captinzander said:

The last week has been pretty awesome for finds for me! In saint Paul I have found a pair of like new ads l980 speakers for $25 A superphon basic preamp for 5.00. A Kenwood kr7400 reciever for $7.00. In my opinion that Kenwood with the ads speakers sounds great!

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Nice work! Where did you find the Kenwood?

Not audio related but I found a beautiful pair of Tony Lama boots in my size even! (11-1/2D) for a whopping $14.99!
New silver tips and heel guards are going on next.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Starquest said:

Nice work! Where did you find the Kenwood?

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Yes, don't tell me it was in L.A., my brother passed on one recently.

Sixpac, those are nice boots!

69sixpackbee said:

Not audio related but I found a beautiful pair of Tony Lama boots in my size even! (11-1/2D) for a whopping $14.99!
New silver tips and heel guards are going on next.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I actually LOVE the idea of wearing a dead man's shoes. Lol.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now.

I could not resist this Frankenstein meter

I don't know if it works yet, but it seems intact




maybe I can use it to set bias

Found a pair of Design Acoustics PS-6A speakers at the SA today. They were running a 50% off everything sale, something that they usually only do on occasional Saturdays. For less than the price of a meal at Taco Bell (before refoaming), I thought I'd give the heavy little buggers a try. Designed by Audio-Technica, built in the US.

I bet they are really good. I passed on a pair of PS-10s for $15 because I didn't have room in my car. Been kicking myself ever since.

Omegaman said:

I could not resist this Frankenstein meter

I don't know if it works yet, but it seems intact

maybe I can use it to set bias

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Think you got a good deal. Can't find them for less than 15 used and that's not even counting shipping.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now.

Sam Cogley said:

Found a pair of Design Acoustics PS-6A speakers at the SA today. They were running a 50% off everything sale, something that they usually only do on occasional Saturdays. For less than the price of a meal at Taco Bell (before refoaming), I thought I'd give the heavy little buggers a try. Designed by Audio-Technica, built in the US.

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Sam If you happen to need a woofer, I have a few that are still un-foamed just sittin' around.

Thanks for the offer. Hopefully these are good, and just need new surrounds. The cones are in nice shape.

I picked up some Pioneer csa77a speakers today for $25... they just need the smaller mid/tweeter re-foamed.

Starquest said:

Nice work! Where did you find the Kenwood?

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Hi. My closest and favorite thrift is the unique thrift in saint Paul MN on rice street. If you look every day few times a day and get lucky sometimes the prices are stupid or awesome. Depends on the day or hour...on the day i found that kenwood (which works great) there was also a bunch of BPC receivers for 40-60$ each. So horray for that!

collector000 said:

Sam I saw the sa-9800...at first I thought $29.99? Score!

And then realized that it was 3 bills. Not a chance I'd pay that for a unit that had no knobs and looked like it might have been dropped. I think the GW on Glenstone is probably my favorite. Everything else around here is picked over worse than the thrift stores in Los Angeles.

Click to expand...

They should set up a hidden camera on this one. A silver beacon that beckons every audio enthusiast only to be crushed after doing a double-take on the price.



I am sure the look on my face was priceless. :yes:



Don't forget about the Rehab store on Scenic too.

Pulled a pair of KLH Model 17s out of GW today for $6.

Good News is the cabinets are in amazing shape complete the orig grills which look like the will clean up nicely. Badge are mint as well.

Bad news is someone ganked the woofers and tweeters. Too bad I was really looking forward to hearing them. Maybe I can find the compenents...