geoffkait
geoffkait's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: Apr 29 2008 - 5:10am
RE: Stereophile Poll - Cheap Audiophile Nirvana
Jim Tavegia
Jim Tavegia's picture
Offline
Last seen: Never ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 4:27pm

$3.00 TOPS
Large Advents given away on Paulding County Free-cycle
$2.00 for paint, $1.00 for new black grill cloth.

Speakers were refurbished with new woofers by the donor or his father. Was probably replaced by a Bose music system due to size. The ad they placed said, "Large Avent Speakers".

They sound excellent.

Kal Rubinson
Kal Rubinson's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 21 hours ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 9:34am

Freebie: Marantz 8 found on the curb.

Kal

JSBach
JSBach's picture
Offline
Last seen: Never ago
Joined: Nov 28 2008 - 1:25am

Three cheap fake Persian rugs ( made in Belgium) placed on the wall above a 12 ft high archway to prevent slap echo.

JIMV
JIMV's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 1 month ago
Joined: Jan 31 2008 - 1:46pm

$99 for an Audioengine W2 transmitter/receiver from my iPOD to my receiver...

Sounds better than the systems DVD player and is easier to use.

Buddha
Buddha's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 5 months ago
Joined: Sep 8 2005 - 10:24am


Quote:
$99 for an Audioengine W2 transmitter/receiver from my iPOD to my receiver...

Sounds better than the systems DVD player and is easier to use.

Cool one!

I will stick to retail purchases for replicability:

The 25 and 40 dollar Sony and Phillips CD (DVD) players have so much bang for the buck it's unbelievable. One of those "cost 10,000 dollars" 15 years ago things.

The Superphon Revelation II in Space Case was around 400 bucks in the 80's and I think it still compares favorably with almost any current preamp. I still use it!

The Shure V-15 VMR was a much better cartridge than to 99 bucks it used to be able to be had for.

The Apogee Stage and Mini Grand were also killer for the money. I think I have yet to hear better sonics than what ribbons can do. If you were to shop "retail used", a pair of Mini Grands can be had for under 2 kilodollars! They kill anything new at that price. They also have product support now! It's a can't miss speaker.

Stephen Scharf
Stephen Scharf's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 months 4 weeks ago
Joined: Nov 19 2008 - 9:36pm

$34 for a Sony Playstation 1 Model SPCH-101, my CD player until just a few weeks ago when I bit the bullet and finally got an Oppo BD-83SE.

Oh wait, I could have spent 4X as much for a Lexicon...doh!

rvance
rvance's picture
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 7 months ago
Joined: Sep 8 2007 - 9:58am

Back in the '70's/'80's the Grado F3E was about $40. What a deal!
..and the SR60 has always been a good deal.

Jim Tavegia
Jim Tavegia's picture
Offline
Last seen: Never ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 4:27pm


Quote:
Freebie: Marantz 8 found on the curb.

Kal


---------------------------------

Sweet. He could have at least left you the 7 as well.

JIMV
JIMV's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 1 month ago
Joined: Jan 31 2008 - 1:46pm


Quote:

Quote:
$99 for an Audioengine W2 transmitter/receiver from my iPOD to my receiver...

Sounds better than the systems DVD player and is easier to use.

Cool one!

I use WAV files on the iPOD so the signal is of CD quality, only limited by the Ipods DAC..I wish it transmitted the digital signal for then I could route it through an outboard DAC.

jazzfan
jazzfan's picture
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Sep 8 2005 - 8:55am

I voted for two items:

1) an iPod - I enjoyed countless hours of musical bliss and isolation from annoying cell phone conversations during my daily NJ Transit train commute.

2) The SqueezeBox Touch - high resolution at a real world price!

Kal Rubinson
Kal Rubinson's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 21 hours ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 9:34am


Quote:

Quote:
Freebie: Marantz 8 found on the curb.

Kal


---------------------------------

Sweet. He could have at least left you the 7 as well.

Well, that was a disappointment noticed only in retrospect as the rest of the haul was a pair of AR3s, a pair of small ADS speakers and a Rek-O-Kut TT. All in working order.

Kal

Kal Rubinson
Kal Rubinson's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 21 hours ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 9:34am


Quote:
The SqueezeBox Touch - high resolution at a real world price!

That was my most recent one!

Kal

mrlowry
mrlowry's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 1 day ago
Joined: May 30 2006 - 1:37pm

1. I got a Tandberg 3011A FM tuner for free when I worked at an audio store because a customer wanted to throw it away. The preset section was no longer remembering stations after power outages and the parts required to fix it are no longer available.

2. A Pair of Stax electrostatic headphones for $20 when a customer was downsizing their collection of audio gear.

3. Threshold Stasis S550e amplifier that I found at a pawn shop for $1,000.

4. McIntosh MC7100 amplifier at a pawn shop for $500

5. Thorens TD124 turntable with SME 3009 tonearm, which has yet to be restored.

6. Sansui TU217 Tuner for $20 at a pawn shop.

Dr. Spivey
Dr. Spivey's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 7 months ago
Joined: Sep 18 2009 - 5:21pm

A Lafayette Radio receiver bought at a Goodwill store for $11. The thing didn't sound very good and the output transistors eventually died, but the headphone output was wonderful. I used it as a headphone amp for many years.

limelakephoto
limelakephoto's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 years 3 months ago
Joined: Aug 12 2010 - 8:33am

Building my own speakers and crossovers. 10X the sound for 5X less. Got the sound I wanted for about $600. Similar configuration from a very good manufacturer was $2800.

JoeE SP9
JoeE SP9's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 3 days ago
Joined: Oct 31 2005 - 6:02pm

Thanks to Buddha, a couple of Crown XLS402 power amps. I put 100 Ohm 1/4W resistors in the fan leads to keep em' quiet.

mjalazard
mjalazard's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 11 months ago
Joined: Sep 8 2005 - 4:38pm

The mighty Sansui 9090dB I bought that old workhorse at University Stereo in San Bernadino in '78 for a coupla' hundred. She got me thru college, grad school (x2), and medical school. I gave it to my dork brother in law who quickly fucked-it-up!?! I'll send it out to a friend in PA who'll repair it better than new! Maybe give it to Buddha's eldest for his High School graduation gift, when that time comes around! Retro!
Mike

Mark S
Mark S's picture
Offline
Last seen: Never ago
Joined: Jul 17 2010 - 6:10pm

The entire Nakamichi series seven set except for the CA-7A and the CR-7A, was a CA-5 and the Dragon instead, the seller said she had thrown out the turntable the week before as her son had broken the tonearm, I asked what table? she said "The Dragon", I paid $150 for the lot, sold off the pieces I didn't want and put $1100 in my pocket, still have the as found pictures, will dig them up, the PA-7 still sounds wonderful, checked the bias and dc offset, have not touched it since.

Lamont Sanford
Lamont Sanford's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 1 month ago
Joined: Mar 31 2006 - 8:32pm

One of those cheap DVD players everybody is in denial about. Except Buddha.

BTW, All my gear is vintage and sounds damn good. Basement prices.

joarfeve
joarfeve's picture
Offline
Last seen: 8 years 11 months ago
Joined: Aug 16 2010 - 6:47am

My 1998 Denon 1550AR CD Player for about $80...in my new entry level setup (look at the signature) I will use it as a second source because this thing can read EVERYTHING -minds too- Maybe too "digital" and very detailed but not as musical as the REGA Apollo.

JIMV
JIMV's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 1 month ago
Joined: Jan 31 2008 - 1:46pm

I just bought a Sony DVP SR500H cheapie DVD player. It upsamples DVD's to 1080 and cost a whopping $59. The down side is the CD playback is pitiful, so I hauled out an ancient Audio Alchemy DACMAN and bingo, it sounds pretty good on a modest living room system.

Log in or register to post comments
-->
  • X