Your Biggest Audio Bargain OR "Quick, Give 'Em The Money & Let's Get Going!

[Khorn]

Have you ever made a real score at a garage sale? eg: How much are these tiny little old speakers with Ls3/5a written on them? $20 hmmm....well OK..


Or have encountered what I describe as 'The Little Old Lady Syndrome': Poor Harry passed away last year and left this huge ugly JBL Paragon box and these heavy old McIntosh ampy things downstairs. Can you get rid of them for me?

Nowadays people are more educated as to the value of things but I'm sure people run into unbelievable bargains once in a while.

Any good stories happen to you?

[Scott Wheeler]

Once in South Africa I found a record store selling what was the remains of an estate. I took home about 200 original Mercurys, Deccas and EMIs for 4 bucks a pop. All originals, all early most first stampers,only played once.

[Dave]

My very first purchase of a DCC gold cd.

I was in a local used cd store and was just sort of looking to maybe find an MFSL or two and I pull out Bob Dylan Highway 61. So I check it out thoroughly, and it's mint. Then I ask the salesman "How much?" He replys $8.50 (Can. what's that $5.75 US.?). Little did I know the education that I was in for...;)

[Ronflugelguy]

How about a mint M&K "For Duke" lp for $5.00?

[cjk1026]

Listening to music through my HT system was OK. I always thought I'd have to spend megabucks to improve it much. After all, I had an expensive receiver, dvd/cd player, Monster cable throughout, and pretty decent Klipsch speakers all the way around. Anyway, while talking on the phone to one of my oldest friends, we were reminiscing about his old stereo setup he had when we were roommates. I asked whatever became of his "monster speakers" (Klipsch Cornwall's). He told me they had been in storage for the last 15 years and if I wanted them, he'd ship them to me. Well, long story short, I refurbished them, bought a cheap tube amp (Decware Zen), a decent cdp (Arcam MCD) and made DIY cables. As Emiril would say, "BAM!" I was bit. Two years and a few thousand dollars later I am in heaven and hell at the same time. It all started with "free" speakers...
Chris

[TommyTunes]

A mint Nautilus pressing of Neil Young's Harvest for $2 at a "antiques" store.

[Sckott]

My Acoustat 3's with the transformer upgrades for the cost of a 1 hour drive up north of Boston. Engineer/Mad audiophile with a failed marrage and a shoe-box apartment needed them gone to a willing contestant. They both worked, both in great condition, he just wanted them gone without haggle or bull-stein.

I had to borrow dear ol' dad's truck, but $16 of gas later, I had perfect 3 pannel-each electrostatics in my living room.

Patrick is to blame for this gesture. Thanks PMS.

Sorry if this is no new news to anyone. I talk about this find a lot.

[John Oteri]

A friend of mine once found a 1965 Marantz 10B tube FM unit at a garage sale in Woodland Hills, CA for 20 dollars. He then sold it for 3,000 dollars two weeks later.

[Gary]

Was in a place called State College, Penn. First time I've ever been there but I've passed by many times going to Carlisle, Gettysburg and other "blue highway" car trips.

Guess what? The Penn State University is there. Go figure! (Seriously, I never in a million years thought they'd name the town, which had the state college in it, State College!!! :rolleyes: )

And they had a few used CD stores. Picked up MFSL CD I Robot for $24.99. It was all I could do to calmly walk up to the counter and plunk my money down! Went thru the rest of the store, too! Love those university students (must buy beer.... what can I sell to get beer money...???) .

On the other hand, another store had previously sold his copy on eBay for mucho bucks. The guy could not understand why it went for a lot of money - it sounded the same as the stock release to him!

Guess I was pretty lucky.... :)

[vex]

I found an original Decca pink label promo of Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers - "My Bonnie" 7-inch single in a record store bin, mixed in with their random collection of singles. Of course, it wasn't priced, and the guy behind the counter knew it had to be worth SOMETHING! He said, "How about 40 bucks?" I'm like, "ummm, okay..."

I kept it for a few years and it had been the crown jewel of my Beatles collection. However, I could not resist the temptation to sell it. I listed it on eBay and got $1900.00 for it. Whoo-hoo!

On a related note, I picked up a Beatles - "Yesterday & Today" stereo butcher sleeve for $200.00 from a "friend-of-a-friend". It's a decent peel job but certainly worth much more than what I paid for it. I won't be selling that one for some time though...

Also, I bought an old Beatles Swan single off eBay from a guy in England. He didn't list much info and I guess nobody wanted to take a chance on it, especially since it was an overseas item. Heck, I took a gamble, ended up paying seven bucks, including shipping. I forget the details, but its in great shape and is worth over $700.00!

I found a Fosgate Tate II 101A SQ decoder in a pawn shop for $50.00. This is like a holy-grail item for quadraphonic collectors. I already had one so I listed it on eBay. $950.00 later and I was a happy man...

I bought an old Marantz turntable on eBay for $125.00. I cleaned it up but didn't care for the design. I relisted it hoping to recoup my investment. That sucker went for $720.00!

[KeithH]

Gary, I went to Penn State and have always considered the campus and town to be great places to be. Glad you had a good music shopping experience there.

[Tullman]

I bought original pressings of Meet the Beatles and Introducing the Beatles sealed for $3.00 each. It was around 1964. I wish I would have bought 20 of them.

Seriously, last summer I was in this little record shop in WI, and found a bunch of MFSL and DCC Gold cds selling for $22.99. I pulled out the old credit card pronto.

[Gary]

Originally posted by KeithH
Gary, I went to Penn State and have always considered the campus and town to be great places to be. Glad you had a good music shopping experience there.

It's a beautiful place, Keith! Warm, friendly people, great restaurants, ols trees, fantastic houses - real small town "Americana". It's A1 in my books! I hope to get back there this fall. :)

[KeithH]

Gary, glad you liked State College. I agree with you 100% about the town, people, and surroundings. I'll be up there for a football game this fall. Can't wait!

[voicebug]

One of the St. Louis area Best Buy stores used to be notorious for mis-pricing CDs. On 3 separate occasions, I picked up double disc Zappa sets of 'Guitar,' 'Zappa in New York,' and 'You Can't Do That On Stage vol. 3' for $12.99 each. Since they are in standard size jewel cases, someone probably didn't realize these were 2 disc sets.

But, when they were scanned they always came up on the computer as
$12.99. I remember after buying 'Guitar,' I went to the Streetside Records right down the street from Best Buy, and there was Zappa 'Guitar' priced at $30.99.

Ahhh, the joys of CD shopping.

[Gary]

Hmmm got a better one. At Sam the Record Man I found Eddie "Cleanhead" Vincent (sp?) and Roomful of Blues, a 2-fer. Two copies in the racks. The first was for $30.99 and the second one was for $24.99.

Guess which one I picked up? :D

[Blair G.]

Sam the Record Man used to mis price CD's a lot in Vancouver. It was always worth flipping through everything if they had multiple copies of the same title. I once got a 2CD Widespread Panic for $12.99 when all the others were $20.99. I rarely shopped there but I miss them now that they're gone.

I scooped a bunch of MoFi cut-outs for $10CDN a few years back. All the silver Procol Harums, silver Rick Wakeman, Hall & Oates, 1 Firesign Theatre, The Tubes, both gold Jefferson Airplanes. I cringe when I think of what I left behind ! Sadly, this store is out of business.

At A&B Sound:
Quadrophenia MoFi Gold mispriced at $30CDN, Madman Across the Water UDCD1 at $12.99, A Very Special Christmas UDCD1 also $12.99. They must have had 20 copies of this ! If only I'd known. I'd be funding my retirement today by selling them on E-Bay!

A buddy picked up a pair of 'dead' Magnepan speakers at a garage sale for $50CDN. A couple of fuses and he was in business.
My neighbour just sold a mint Akai R to R at his garage sale for $40. The guy I buy my audio from tells it was worth $250 - $300.

[Gary]

The problem with Sam the rocord Man was that they were not computerized. A shipment would come in, the supervisor or boss-of-the-day would look at each CD and price it off the top of his / her head.

Sometimes they'd get it wrong! :D

Blair, did you get me a copy of A Very Special Christmas when you were there? ;)

[Done A Ton]

A sealed Casino Royale LP for $2.00 in an antiques shop.

[Joseph]

Picked up a box of 100+ 1960's mint/near mint UK 45's at a nearby garage sale (at the end of the day!) for $3. Includes the first Stones single (I Wanna Be Your Man), Beatles, Cilla Black picture EP (doing a Beatles song) and lots more. It's like a 45 snapshot of UK singles circa 1962-69.