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Two pair of JBL studio s26 in the trash behind a pub. Three out of the four speakers worked perfectly.

Well, the ultimate audiophile gems are the records that made all of this possible. It's great when you can find mint copies, at $1-2 of: Julie London, Buckingham Nicks, mono Beatles, etc.

One Bang & Olufsen S75 speaker with stand in absolute perfect condition, like it just came out of the box, just one. I got it for five bucks at Goodwill, hoping to find the other eventualy. Some other guy across town probably has the other one thinking the same thing.

I once found a (super rare?) Van Den Hull tubed DAC for about $60! It worked fine and I passed it on to a friend needing a DAC.

Quad 402-2, preamp and fm tuner all Quad. Super cheap!

Two sets of B&W speakers, 1970s Marantz reference amp & preamp, and a '70s Denon direct-drive turntable.

Audiophile treasures in junk shops can be found like finding (and buying by spending a lot of money) junk treasures in audiophile shops. Finally a junk piece of equipment will find its own place in a junk shop. As discussed previously, one man's junk is another mans hi-fi.

A GAS Son of Ampzilla, GAS Thoebe preamp, and Yamaha T1 tuner, all for $75. That was about 15 years ago and they all worked and still do! I've replaced electrolytic caps in all of them, and other parts as needed (or not) and they all give me great audio joy from time to time to this day (IF I can find an FM station worth listening to.) The preamp in particular is amazing, really a miniature clas- A power amp, with resistor ladder volume control, balance control (essential!) and evil tone controls! No remote of course, but its sound surprises me as how similar it is to current products, the bass is a bit colored yet extended and powerful. Since then I have found fewer and fewer components out there, the vast majority of folks have true junk for audio equipment. The ones that have good stuff know it and don't give it away. Sure, you can still find '70s import receivers but how many of those can one have? The last thing I found was a pair of Advent Prodigy Towers for $10 with woofer foam rot but otherwise great condition. I replaced the woofers but overall they were built cheaply (the X-overs—OMG!) and I gave them away. Still looking for a JBL Paragon for $5...

With the ascendancy of eBay and similar Internet sites, most savvy "junk" dealers sell their good stuff on the web, and great deals have become few and far between.

I found a couple of Miles Davis discs and LPs from some other classic jazz musicians. The labels were Blue Note, Verge, and Prestige.

I don't shop at junk shops.

Three SPU Ortofon from the late '50s. Tested all to be in nice nick. 13 dollars...

B&W dm580 speakers. $25.

Awhite label promo of Maazel conducting the Berlioz Romeo & Juliet on UK Decca, a two-LP set. This was at the Salvation Army thrift store on 4th Avenue in New York City.

Today in fact, in a NYC thrift store: I found 4 NHT Outdoor Ones and a complement of RCA "Dimensia" components, apparently a brief stab at high end(ish) stuff from the late '80s. Not so remarkable but for the timing perhaps...

Precision Fidelity C4 UK $35. Garrard 301 UK. $15 (with 12" SME + SPUG T/E) Quad + Leak amps @ £40.00 each and less!

A Yamaha CX-2 preamp with a very good phono section and 3 tape loops and a M-60 power amp (160 watts/ch) both for $100. It sounds very nice, even better when you consider the amount of money ($ per watt). Found it at a pawn shop just browsing around. It is now my home office system.

Luxman 3045 amps for $100 the pair.

A Fisher 500c, a Scott 299a, and a Scott 350b, all with the tubes in working, but needing mantainence condition.

A pair of mint ash-black B&W 802 series 3 speakers at a pawn shop for only $1200 back in 2001.

I've had some notable sucesses at garage sales, though.

My first real high-end purchase was in a literal pile of other gear at a pawn shop in a small town in the Ozarks, an Audionics BT-2 preamp. Most recent was a Denon DRA-600 at the local DAV. I looked at it, put it down, and began to walk away. I stopped and thought, wait, it's a Denon. It is now the heart of my "main" system.

Sansui 919: $20. Best find ever: Ls3/5a for $3.95.

Hafler DH-110 preamp. One of the best mm phono preamps extant.

At Audio-Karma Fest I found a pair of Epicure 60s for $30. The fine gentleman also threw in a new pair of woofers. I'm listening to them right now in my office being run by a Manley Stingray. I'm one happy camper.

I found a JBL subcontrol 1 for 10% of the original price, in good condition (audio), only lacking a rubber foot and a little scratch in one side.

A Rotel RSP-1066 on craigslist for $375 and bought it for $350.

Found a pair of second-hand Dahlquist DQM-9 speakers in Gold Mine, everything store-priced for $150/barter/sold/$125.

AR-XA - only needed a bit of special hardware (cracked head shell) and a good drying (outside on a damp day) - from a church rummage sale for $1.50. Still works—or at least it did until the arm wiring recently gave up.

I have an acquaintance who deals on old furniture, and once in a while he comes in contact with older "gems" for cheap. My stuff never came cheap.