best vintage story

I know all you guys have a vintage story that stands out in your mind. How about sharing them with the guys. I'll start by sharing mine.

Mine has to do with a vintage find. While taking my usual route to work one rainy day, Iwas doing regular parking spot search near the train station. While slowly making my way through the local side streets I spotted what looked like a receiver sitting on top of some other garage on the curb. Look like someone had cleaned out the basement or attic. Anyway, I kept going but a little voice in my head said take another trip around the block that piece looked kinda interesting. So I went back to that spot, from the car I could see that this thing was bigger than any receiver I had ever seen. I got out of the car went over to inspect it closer and saw that half of this thing was heat sinks. All this time there is a misty rain falling. So I don't have time to really look at it so I decide to put it in the trunk of the car and examine it later at home. I pick this thing up and it weighs a ton, I just put it in the trunk and went to work. I didn't take it out that night but a couple days later I took it into the house to get a good look. Turns out it was a Pioneer a model I had never heard of a SX-1250. But I knew it had to be pretty good just by the heat sinks and guts I could see thru the top grill. Now I'm thinking is this thing going to blow up if I plug it in so I wisely took the time to clean it up and made sure everthing was dried out. So now the moment of truth, I plug it in and flick the switch, the house lights dimmed for a second and the receiver lamps flickered and came to life. Everything seemed pretty stable so I slowly raised the volume on the receiver which was tuned to an FM station. I got sound but it was distorted, after giggling a few of the buttons the sound jumped in and frankly scared the s**t out of me. After some further cleaning and lubricating I now had a fully functional SX-1250 for zero dollars. I have used this unit every since that day two years ago.

I know post got kinda long but I remember that better than some of the women I have dated in my life.

djronc

Well for me I really have two good stories theres this one:

This madness all began when our new pom puppy chewed out the surrounds of our old 10" 3 way GE speakers. I wanted to get new speakers and began reading reviews an such on the web and going to stores and listening to some. Since we party a lot I wanted bigger speakers than before. In seaching the web I came accross stuff about vintage speakers. I really liked the size, sound and look of big 3 ways and then I found some Klipsch Cornwalls on the web and they really got my juices flowing. So I made a short list of possible speakers, Cornwall, LaScalas, Chorus that had the size sound and look I wanted saved my money up and then searched the New England area for some and found 1 of each and was all set to go and get whichever pair I could get for the best deal.

Then I was telling a guy I work with about going to look at speakers and he said another guy we worked with had a "huge" set of speakers in his attic he wanted to unload. SO I call the guy and ask him what he's got. He tells me he doesn't know what they are, describes them and I was like ????? You've seen the pictures I had never seen or heard anything like what he was describing. He said the only marking on them in a little badge that says "Special Edition" and a serial #. He bought them from a neighbor who was desperate for money for $400 and that was what he wanted for them, his neighbor had bought them in Germany when he was in the service and brought them back to the US. Well I searched the web and asked on audio forums if anyone had heard of anything like these and came up empty.

Well I go see them and of course I am blown away when I see them and when I take a grill off I see the familar Cerwin Vega woofer, so I know what company made them and in smaller writing on the badge it shows the cerwin vega logo and says Cerwin Vega, he couldn't see it cuz of the dim light in his attic. We bring them down to his living room and he hooks em' up to a Sansui AU-G77X and I was like "wow" and bought them right there for $350 (i traded a pair of computer speakers to him and got $50 off the price of the CV's. Actually I ended up with the CV's ($350) and a pair of Altec Lansing Model 15's ($150) and the AU-G77X ($125) all from that guy for what I had planned on spending for just one pair of speakers.

After a lot of trial and error using 4 different recievers I have them Bi-Amped using a Sansui G-7700 and the AU-G77X and they sound unbelieveable.

It took a long time and alot of searching to find out what exactly the CV's were, I still don't know but I got close. Finally I talked to a guy at CV tech support he said the only other pair of these they have ever seen or heard of are in the Lobby at CV headquarters in the US and that theirs didn't have the grills so that mine were super rare and that they had never even recieved a call about them before. He said he didn't think they made even 12 pairs of them total and that they were real TOTL stuff. Made in Denmark in 1991 and sold for $1000 a piece. So I got ahold of a guy in CV of Denamrk and he sent me a brochure on them, he also asked around the factory and no one had ever heard or seen them. Mine are not exactly the same as the one in the brochure but they are obviously in the same family. Mine differ in that they are 51" tall 18" wide and 16" deep and slightly heavier, also mine have two 5" mids and only one tweet in the front no rear tweet. Here is the email I recieved from the CV guy in Denmark

Hello Chris,

The speaker you have bought is a special model called 1215 mkII. It was
manufactured in Denmark a long time ago.
I only have 1 brochure left which I will make a photocopy and send to
you.
I don't understand your address - where do you live??

Best regards,

Michael
-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: Tricia Harl <THarl@Cerwin-Vega.com>
Til: CVE - Michael Jensen <m.jensen@cerwinvega.dk>
Dato: 27. marts 2002 09:18
Emne: FW: Please help me!!!!


Hi Michael,

Do you know what this is? Can you help this customer?

Please let me know.

Thanks,
Tricia

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Gentile
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 3:45 PM
To: Tricia Harl
Subject: FW: Please help me!!!!


Then here are scans of the Brochure I recieved from him:




Heres a better pic of mine:


So endeth the saga, except for my search for power to feed these monsters.

Then shortly after getting thoses CV's I was Lamenting to a friend how I didn't have enough power for them. He tells me he's got a huge old reciever that doesn't work in his garage that I could have for free, he says mebbe I can figure out whats wrong with it.

We go to his garage and he digs this huge thing out from under his work bench, its all covered in sawdust. I look at it and it has a wood cover I think what kind of piece of junk is this??? But not wanting to hurt the guys feelings I say "awesome" I'll take it figuring I'll be throwing it in the trash as soon as I get home. Then I look at it and it says "Sansui G-7700" I think ???????? WTF is that Sansui??? Never heard of it so I figure it is definetely trash bound. So I thank the guy haul the big piece of crap (I thought at the time) to my truck and drive home.

I get home it's Saturday, trash day is not until Thursday so I dump it into the corner of the living room intending to try it out and if it don't work it is trash bound. A few days later I finally hook it up and no sound, seems to power up but no sound. So I put it back in the living room planning to dump it on the street for the trashmen to pick up on Thursday.

Then one night I am bored and I am sitting looking at the reciever and think hmmmm it does look kinda cool in a retro sort of way so I decide to see if I can find anything out about it on the Net. And Viola! I discover vintage stereo stuff is cool looking and in most cases superior to new stuff, I also find out my G-7700 is a TOTL 120wpc monster reciever

So after some help from guys like Beatlefreddy on the vintage Sansui site I find out it is a protection relay problem. Off to the tech and a week and $46 dollars later I have a beautiful working Sansui G-7700! And a love for vintage stereo gear

Hi guys,

Those are great stories. Finding equipment for free is always the best and djronc, I love how you found your 1250. Amazing isn't it. Left for the trash collector. Makes you wonder what was going through thier mind when they set it out there.

My story is not so dramatic but here it goes. I walked into the local pawn shop to kill some time. Not really expecting to see anything but the usual junk or black plastic stuff (I have been to this place many times before) I spotted a silver faced receiver in the distance. Interest immediately peaked and as I got closer I could tell it was a Pioneer SX series but I couldn't make out the model. Then I got to it. Wow, an SX-1250. Man did my heart jump. Price tag was $300. Guy came over to help and we hooked it up to some speakers. Great sound, perfect appearance. I asked what his bottom line price was and he said $250. I told him all I had was $200 and he accepted. Surprised me too. These pawn shop guys can be pricks to deal with. Anyway, took it home and there she sits. Lovin' every minute of it.

Take care.

Great stories ..i love to hear about that great deal, or better "free to a good home"... The way i got into the vintage gear all started one Saturday afternoon when i dropped into a local flea market. There is a Fisher250 receiver sitting there and it looked kind on funky. I ask the guy how much, 25 bucks later i walk out with it. I am surfing the net trying to find out about this thing when i come across this great world of vintage audio that i had never knew existed and i was hooked. I remembered the guy had some old speakers beside the Fisher so i go back and for another 25 i have a set of KLH Model 6's. I have been collecting ever since(couple of years) and met some nice people who share the same hobby.

Jensen 501 Coax

Was on my way to work and saw a strange looking box with some kind of metal grill in it. The grill was the metal difraction lense for the compresion driver. I ended up with a very nice 15 inch coax driver for free!! Amazing what some people will just throw out.

Rob

One of my best stories I had little to do with.

I was in Maine visiting my brother and noticed his marantz 2210 reciever in his cellar. I told him those old, heavy and big recievers are very collectible and asked him to keep an eye out for them for me.

A couple weeks later he calls me and says that he and a friend were at the dump and he happened to see a BIG reciever in the bin. It was so heavy that he needed his friends help to get it out.

I was frothing at the mouth by this time and asked him what the model # was ...He said it's an SX1280. and it worked! I was astounded.

This was in mid winter. Later in the afternoon it snowed 3 inches in Maine! If they had not found it when they did it probably would have been damaged beyond repair.

The next trip from NY to maine I picked it up. I got it home and cleaned it well. PLugged it in and HELLO SOUND! The only thing wrong with it was a cracked glass and the wood case was a bit beat up.

I sold it on ebay for $315 a few weeks later.

Marantz 7C next door neighbor

I was visiting my next door neighbor when I was living in Oregon last year, yacking away, I notice he has an interesting looking silver faced box hooked up to his dumpster dived Sony POS all in one unit. Intrigued I look over see Marantz, look at the back see TUBES glowing. Ah bonanza I shout knowing it’s something good, run over and look it up on the net. I’ll give you 150 it for I say, 150 naw 50 bucks for this piece of junk. I say look 150 for it for sure it’s worth at least 600. No way that old pice of junk is worth hundreds, he says. So I sell it over on AU for 750 and give him his 150, and I now know I proably could have gotten 1200 for it even with missing knobs and scratches. It’s finds like that, that keep me haunting garage sales, thrift shops, etc. I have also found a 2230, and 2225 one for 30, one for 45 at my local thrift store. I guess I have good Marantz karma.

My vintage story happened many years ago when the stuff we now call vintage was new. In the late 60s and very early 70s, I lived in Germany. My father was in the Air Force. Through his efforts I got a job working at the audio club on Bitburg Air Base. The audio club was a store where stereo equipment was sold and repaired. I worked there two summers during my high school years.

Before leaving for Germany, my father had the stereo components from a Curtis-Mathes entertainment center removed from the wood console and set up so everything worked. We built cabinets for each unit, including the original speakers. This is what I took to Germany with me. As I worked at the audio club, I began to buy pieces which today would be considered vintage. Among the items I bought was a Sansui AU-222 integrated amplifier, Pioneer CS-33A speakers and an Elac Miracord 50H turntable. This was a bedroom stereo unit. Unfortunately I have none of these units now, having given them to my sister in the 80s.

Although some of my work duties at the Bitburg Audio Club were mundane, I also got to help customers select their audio equipment. We had a policy at the store that customers could have their equipment set up in an adjoining building before taking it home. The advantage of doing this was that if anything was wrong, the equipment would be replaced on the spot. If the customer took it home without having us set it up at the store and something was wrong, the equipment would go in to be repaired. I believe we charged $1.00 to unbox and set up each piece of equipment with the exception of turntables. I believe we charged $3.00 for these, since we actually had to put them together.

I still have fond memories of working there. I am trying to find a Sansui AU-222 to buy. Since I've been looking, three have appeared on ebay and I have lost out on all of them.

I guess my best vintage story so far is scoring those Klipsch Heresy speakers for $7.99 each...I spent more on the tweeter diaphragm ($26 shipped!) than I did on the speakers!

They're playing very very well with my new-to-me SX-780 (which isn't much of a killer score as I paid $75, tho not bad) and making wonderful music. Can't wait until my CT-F9191 gets here

I would be more aggressive going after this stuff but we're space-challenged and concentrating on getting to where we can afford a house.

THEN I'll have my toyroom! ...my own space for hi-fi, making music, and recording...can't wait! (Of course, any room that needs sound will be outfitted with at least an SX-780, with my ever-faithful SX-450 doing bedroom duty like it has for many years).

TP, who has dibs on the entire basement of whatever we find hehehe

I have a million fond remembrances like that. Each and every one begins with, "Here, you can have this, it doesn't SEEM to work anymore."

Those are just the freebies. I won't get into the $5 and $10 nuggets in my past.

Toasted Almond

MY BEST FIND

My friend who is a big time Garage Sailer and Thrift Shopper was always asking me to stop at the Thrift Store when we would go to lunch but normally I stayed in the car and waited. This one day he came out and said there was a big amp in there. Did I want to go look? Said its not worth anything because it doesnt work. . .I asked him what make was it? He said Sandune? ? ? ? I never heard of "Sandune" and we had a few minutes so curosity got the best of me and I went in. . .Low and behold a Sansui AU11000 with a TU9500 that still had the blue protective plastic around the face. . .They were marked 30.00 for both. . .I said grab one Brad, he said why they dont work and I said I dont care if they dont work I want them. . .Long story short they did work, all the muting had the amp cut down it looked like no output. . .I put them both on eBay and got 400 bucks on a BIN one hour later. . .Wish I would have kept it. . . . .

I went into a thrift store and got with the guy that goes through the electrical stuff they get donated. I tell him that I am on the lookout for tube gear and would he take my phone number and call me if he ever gets any in. He says sure and here is my number, call me and come over to my house tomorrow and I will give you some old stuff that is in my garage. Dynaco FM-3, PAS-3 and a ST-70, all in great shape electrically and cosmetically. What a nice guy!

Its 1983 I am at a friend Dave's home.We are trying to put together a cover Rock band.
While taking a break in another room besides the 'Jam' room I spot on a shelf various stereo gear,but what really catches my eye is this massive gorgeous Reel to Reel machine.Looks to be built like a tank.I see all kinds of buttons at the bottom portion.I then read PIONEER RT-909 on the front,then 4-Track 2-channel.
I am thinking to myself I have seen a few RTR's but not like this,WOW! Then another thought,Hey! I could really use this to help record my own original music at home since I could not afford a 4-Track recorder at that time.4-Tracks could set you back anywhere from $1000 to $4000. So I ask Dave about this monstrousady,'Is it yours?' No,it belongs to my brother.'You think he would sell it?' I don't know,he paid quite abit for it,and had it special ordered.'How much did it cost?' I think around $600?.
Dave went on to say next time he sees his brother he will let him know I am interested in buying the
unit.Two weeks later he mentions that his brother might be interested in selling the RTR,but how much was I willing to shell out for it? I said around $300 maybe $400 at the most. Dave said he would relay the info to his brother.Another two weeks goes by ,Dave tells me his brother was insulted by my offer and that he had it specially ordered out of a catalog at a local Hi-Fi dealer and it cost him $900! And that he would sell it to me for around $700 I told him No Way! So it was dropped at that point(No! not the Reel to Reel just the deal,LOL)
Well the band never really materialized and it fell apart.I then moved on to other prospects.About 3 1/2 to 4 months later I get this call out of the blue. Its Dave,he informs me his 'idiot' brother as he put it is about to lose his prized PIONEER RT-909 at a local pawn shop because he didn't pay back the loan on time. He went on to say if I want it I better go to the pawn shop quick before it got sold! I quickly got in my car,went to the bank withdrew $225 not knowing what price I might be facing I just set a limit for myself. I get to the pawn shop within an hour of the phone conversation. I walk in and spot the 909 on the top shelf right away.I slowly walk over and check it out trying not to look overly interested and trying to hide the drool leaking from my mouth. I see a price tag of $295. I think to myself Damn! I really want this thing,but will it really help my recordings or just collect dust? Did not want to pay a fortune for it being so unsure. I start to haggle with the salesperson there. I ask how much will they take? He says what does the tag say,'$295' well thats the price, he states. I say how much will you take? He ask how much is my offer? I say $150,he about choked and said No! I have to get my money back,I have to get at least $250 for it.I was very dissapointed and just gave up and walked out. As I was about to get into my car a voice in my head(have lots of those)says give it one more try. I walk back in and very sternly say look I will give you $175 cash right now if you really want to sell this thing! He says alright. What!? NO Way! I think to myself.WOW! So I pluck down my cash + taxes and I am outta there. As soon as I get home I call Dave back tell him the details.He says 'well come over and I will give you the Large Reel adapters and a bunch of reels of tape'.I said ,are you sure? Won't your brother notice? He said awe,man! he won't be needing this stuff nomore since you have the RTR. So I race over there and get arms full of reels and of course the adpaters. Dave states that his brother deserves it for being such a prick! I was just shocked.
This started my journey into the Hi-Fi vintage realm. My cousin made a smokin deal on a PIONEER SPEC-1,SPEC-4, & SG-9500 all for under $10. He pressured me to sell him the RT-909 to match the rest of his PIONEER gear I finally gave in.I sold the 909 to my cousin in 1985 for $400 so that I could afford to buy my first 4-Track recorder that I always intended to get as the prices finally dropped on these.
As I handed over my 909 to my cousin I stated,'look if I sell this to you,if and whenever you are ready to sell it I get first dibs on it,you have to let me know First! If I do not want it you can sell it to whoever'.
He stuck to his word and in 1993 he said it was sitting in his garage in need of repair and he wanted it outta there,So I drove 6 hours to buy it back. As I hand over my $300 for it,he says you gotta take this other stuff included with it,what? A SG-9500 EQ and a SR-303 Reverb Amplifier,I of course willingly take the stuff.
After getting it home it only needed new pinch rollers and a belt.
Its still in beautiful shape and is still with me Today!

Very long story I know just for a RT-909,but the signifigance here is that had I not walked back into the pawn shop that day,you would not be reading this right now.I would not be the vintage collector I am Today.Strange how one small event can truly change your life.

This past weekend I walk up to a garage sale and ask the fella there if he has any stereo equipment...he was still putting out stuff. He tells me that a friend of his is bringing a Mcintosh stereo to sell and that he would be there in a few minutes. He also tells me that another guy had just been there and would be returning to look at the stereo as well.

Ten minutes later the guy with Mcintosh shows up and its a mx113 preamp/tuner and a mc2505 amp both with walnut cabinets. He wants $250 and he says that they both work fine. No sign of the first stereo hunter. I snatch em right away. One minute after I get em loaded into my car, the first guy returns only to find I had bought the stuff while he was off looking at another garage sale. That guy was bummed. I was stoked. My wife refers to it as my Stereo Coup.

Turns out the amp needs a repair but its in awsome shape otherwise and the two pieces will make a nice addition to the bedroom.

HPM 1100's

Hey guys,
The way I found my Pioneer HPM 1100's was through a friend of my fathers. He had them in a storage locker because they had the surrounds blown. But they were in mind condition not a scratch on the cabnets. So he told me that I could have them for free if I wanted them. I told him that they were rare and valuble but he ignored me. He said he'd either throw them away or give them to me. So I took them on the spot. I've had'um for two years now. They are the best sounding speakers I own. I run'um normally through a Kenwood KR 7050 but sometimes I shove them on my Class A 110 wpc Techncs SA 818

My wife and I get into the pickup to get something to eat. Three blocks down the road from our house I see an old desk in someones yard on top of it are two Altec Lansing Valencias with a free sign on them. As I scream around the block to double back I explain to my wife what I think I saw and she insists I'm crazy. We get bact to the speakers and I jump out and start loading them on the truck when someone else pulls up to look at the desk. After putting the second one on I offer to help the guy load the desk but he declines. One bad tweeter control and a smashed grill on the Altecs. Boy they do sound great but I live in a condo and they just were too big. So after storing them for a while I sold them on ebay for $1000.00. I went back when the lady was home to see if the equipment to go with them was availble but she said that a neighbor was moving and didn't want to take them so she let him put them on her lawn.

I had similar good luck.
I had a Pioneer SX580 in my darkroom for a couple of years. (the one I bought new in Highschool). It blew another power chip and I gave it to a friend. He had a Kenwood KR4070 that he gave me. He said it was extra. It is still in my darkroom hooked to a pair if KLH model 32 speakers.
My other bit of luck came to me via my boss. He told me that his neighbor had a pair of what he thought were AR speakers and he would give to me. I went to his neighborh house and these speakers were large Advents. They were the "New" Advents. with factory boxes and all the documentation from where he bought them new for $300 in 1980. They needed a refoam job. They sound as really great.
The kit from Simply Speakers cost me $17.

Harry

I was in the local Goodwill a few months ago, and I had been on the lookout for a nightstand for the spare bedroom. I walked over to look at this nice walnut nightstand and saw the price of $40.99 on it. I thought that was too high so I walked around to the front to find some flaws to haggle the price down and noticed some stereo components cut into the drawers.

The components were a Scott 299B tube amp, and a Sherwood s-2200 tube tuner, both mint. Someone had cut openings in the drawers and taken the back panel off to allow heat to escape, and used it as a stereo cabinet. I always wondered what they used as speakers.

Needless to say I now use it as my nightstand/bedroom system with a pair of Klipsch bookshelf speakers, a $9 technics SL1900 TT and a Teac RTR.

Greg

little vintage stories

I'll have to post when I have more time, but here's some tidbits from my checkered past:

Friend hears that I like old tube gear. Drives up with a Dyna 70 and PAS-3 with original boxes and manuals, and gives them to me for free.

Went to storage locker auction on a dark and stormy night. My wife thinks I'm nuts to go out. In ten minutes I get a Dyna 70 and PAS 3 for $20, and zipped home. Later rebuilt it with my dad using a Van Alstine kit.

At a hamfest I bought a Sherwood S5000 for $35 and put it in a cardboard box to mount on a dolly. I set it down while negotiating a deal on about 300 lbs of transformers. Trash guys haul off the Sherwood while my back is turned! I chase it down all the way to the *compacting* dumpster, and dive after it. It went through a compact cycle but was only dented, no broken tubes. I take it home and ... it works FINE!!!

Bought a Lafayette LA-70 for $50 from an audio shop, though I had NO IDEA what it was. Then found a mate for it 1000 miles away, where it was a package deal with a bunch of cool stuff for ~$200. In the deal I got an Acro TO-330, which I sold for $150.

Saw an ad in the paper for thousands of vacuum tubes in the middle of nowhere Michigan. After a few weeks of phone, letter, and even in person visit, I get them all for $1000. I have to rent a U-Haul and friend's son to get them all out of the cramped attic space. t takes me all winter to sort out the EL-34s etc. from the dreck, and I learn a bit about tubes along the way... A few treasures like a dozen NOS RCA red base 6SN7 equivs goes a long way to paying off the batch, and I have a good heap of tubes to populate most audio units. Still selling off the remainder in batches of 500-1000 tubes at a time, though.

Tubino