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thekid
11-27-2009, 08:03 PM
Could not resist some of the bargains out there today........ :D

Found a pair of Polk Rt15's and a Denon DCD 800 for about $22.
The Polk's are in excellent shape and the Denon has only a few slight marks up on the top. Hooked them to the Marantz for a quick spin and both are performing flawlessly. Very impressed with the Polk's given their size. Matched with a sub seem to be a solid performer especially for a small bookshelf speaker.

luvtolisten
11-27-2009, 09:18 PM
Hi Kid, you always find the neatest stuff! Another good find. You've inspired me to hit the GW stores by me. I did find a pair of vintage ADC 303 AX, good shape,not a great speaker but ok. They were $30. But it still is fun to look. Anyway, nice find! Again!

dakatabg
11-27-2009, 10:44 PM
Lucky you! I am hunting everyday on craigslist and I can't get that great deal as you did today!

thekid
11-28-2009, 05:18 AM
Lucky you! I am hunting everyday on craigslist and I can't get that great deal as you did today!

As the saying goes "Some days are diamonds some days are dust". I am fortunate to have a good number of thrifts in my area that provide a nice little circuit that I can hit without too much effort or gas. As I have send in the past though I always do my thrifting my son or the rest of the family and the time spent with them is the real "treasure" I always take away in from these little ventures.

Luvtolisten- I picked up a pair of those ADC's awhile back. Nice wood cabinets that, if needed, can clean up real nice with a little Howard's Restor-A-Finish and 0000 steel wool. Fairly decent sound as I recall though you might need to do a little tweaking to bring out their best. You can probably forget about trying to do any kind of re-cap though. The caps as I recall are all stuck together in some sort primordial looking goo.

luvtolisten
11-28-2009, 07:10 AM
As the saying goes "Some days are diamonds some days are dust". I am fortunate to have a good number of thrifts in my area that provide a nice little circuit that I can hit without too much effort or gas. As I have send in the past though I always do my thrifting my son or the rest of the family and the time spent with them is the real "treasure" I always take away in from these little ventures.

Luvtolisten- I picked up a pair of those ADC's awhile back. Nice wood cabinets that, if needed, can clean up real nice with a little Howard's Restor-A-Finish and 0000 steel wool. Fairly decent sound as I recall though you might need to do a little tweaking to bring out their best. You can probably forget about trying to do any kind of re-cap though. The caps as I recall are all stuck together in some sort primordial looking goo.

Thanks for the tip Kid, I have accumulated 18 pairs of speakers, most from CL and the thrift stores. I was wondering how to go about restoring some of the cabinets. I have a pair of Realistic Nova 7B's,(made back in the 70's when their stuff was good) which I had to change out one of the tweeters (shot) with a soft dome, added a resistor to tone it down a little,but they do sound decent now. I would like to restore those cabinets.
I was able to cut my way thru that goop, on the ADC's, it had a 6uF cap, which I replaced. It also had 2 inductors which I left alone.They are have a nice sound too.
I was wondering how often do you make the "tour" ? Once a week? Once a month? Is there was a day better than the others? I was thinking once a week, on Monday (usually people clean out over the weekend). I really enjoy the vintage speakers. Good value and fun to tinker with.

JoeE SP9
11-28-2009, 07:15 AM
As the saying goes "Some days are diamonds some days are dust". I am fortunate to have a good number of thrifts in my area that provide a nice little circuit that I can hit without too much effort or gas. As I have send in the past though I always do my thrifting my son or the rest of the family and the time spent with them is the real "treasure" I always take away in from these little ventures.

Luvtolisten- I picked up a pair of those ADC's awhile back. Nice wood cabinets that, if needed, can clean up real nice with a little Howard's Restor-A-Finish and 0000 steel wool. Fairly decent sound as I recall though you might need to do a little tweaking to bring out their best. You can probably forget about trying to do any kind of re-cap though. The caps as I recall are all stuck together in some sort primordial looking goo.

If you run into a "vintage" Marantz receiver with the horizontal dial let me know.

luvtolisten
11-28-2009, 07:18 AM
If you run into a "vintage" Marantz receiver with the horizontal dial let me know.

Ahhhh, the "2200" series, very nice!

thekid
11-28-2009, 09:08 AM
Well I have never run across a good Marantz receiver in a thrift however I did score my 2245 of off CL along with a minty pair of KLH 5's.

http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=30994

CL is often a better place in my area for good deals rather than the hit or miss situation you have with the thrifts but as I said earlier hitting the thrifts is about more than just getting good deals on gear. Further north of where I live I see alot of mid-high end stuff on CL but the sellers there seem to be more aware of the market value and price it accordingly.

Luvtolisten- In response to when are the best days to go thrifting. My guess would probably be any day of the week after Tuesday but it probably depends on the individual stores. You are correct that alot of stuff gets dropped off over the weekend but they have to sort it (and in some cases test it) and price it before it hits the shelves so in most cases whatever is dropped off on the weekend mostly likely won't be on the floor until Tuesday at the earliest. How often you go depends on the area as well. Many of the thrifts in my area actually send trucks out to pick donations up so they get a fairly steady stream of items which means if you snooze you loose. There is a bit of a science behind it IMO so I would recommend if you are going to start doing this you get a phone book out and see what thrifts are out there. You can map out a route and also determine after a few trips which ones you want to hit regularly and those that you may want to visit maybe once a month. Good Hunting!

luvtolisten
11-28-2009, 09:21 AM
Thanks for the tips Kid. I do have a route planned. What you say makes sense, as far as waiting past Monday. I can't wait to get started. The "hunt" is always fun.

Worf101
11-29-2009, 03:34 PM
The buzz went through the town like wildfire... The Kid had come to town...
Oldtimers gasped as the Sheriff and his deputies mounted quickly and made tracks east out of town leaving the citizens at his mercy...

As the bar cleared out with a cacophony of boots and spurs, one man cooly poured himself another shot of red eye. Seems his information was correct, he'd heard weeks ago that The Kid was headed north leaving a trail of gutted thrift stores in his bloody wake. The tall stranger spat on the floor... well there'd be blood today for sure... but not his.

This was HIS town, HIS territory and he'd be damned if some punk kid with a fancy draw and pearly grips was running him out and taking his vintage gear. As the sounds of horses and wagon's retreated in the distance the Tall Stranger heard the lonely tread of hooves on main street. He took one last swig, turned his glass upsided down and stood. Adjusting his two gun rig he looked at himself in the barroom looking glass, throwing his serape over his left shoulder he turned and walked through the swinging doors and out into the noonday sun.

Worf....

thekid
11-29-2009, 06:38 PM
The buzz went through the town like wildfire... The Kid had come to town...
Oldtimers gasped as the Sheriff and his deputies mounted quickly and made tracks east out of town leaving the citizens at his mercy...

As the bar cleared out with a cacophony of boots and spurs, one man cooly poured himself another shot of red eye. Seems his information was correct, he'd heard weeks ago that The Kid was headed north leaving a trail of gutted thrift stores in his bloody wake. The tall stranger spat on the floor... well there'd be blood today for sure... but not his.

This was HIS town, HIS territory and he'd be damned if some punk kid with a fancy draw and pearly grips was running him out and taking his vintage gear. As the sounds of horses and wagon's retreated in the distance the Tall Stranger heard the lonely tread of hooves on main street. He took one last swig, turned his glass upsided down and stood. Adjusting his two gun rig he looked at himself in the barroom looking glass, throwing his serape over his left shoulder he turned and walked through the swinging doors and out into the noonday sun.

Worf....

Walking out onto the dusty street the Tall Stranger spotted a lone horse standing about 50 yards ahead in front of the local Goodwill store. A lean figure in a weathered duster sat astride the mount leaning slightly forward and peering into the store front window. Suddenly the figure leaned back and in one swift motion swung a leg over the saddle and slid to the ground.

The Tall Stranger thought he had been spotted and instinctively reached for the pistols slung low around his waist. Before he could draw them out he saw the lean figure stride through the swinging doors of the Goodwill. Then it hit the Tall Stranger- it was Wednesday, new donations were being stocked and he had not yet been in the store to see what new treasures were there for the taking. Not today-Not this town-Not this store the Tall Stranger muttered as strode with a determined stride towards the store front.

Reaching the front door he stopped and suddenly drew himself up. Was this The Kid? What if the stories were true? Can I take him? He stood there seemingly for an eternity. A thin bead of sweat began to roll down and into the corner of his dry lips. The salty taste snapped him back to the moment at hand. He reached into is vest and fingered his debit card. He had checked his account back at the bar and knew he had the funds to take on anything that awaited him inside. The sun was behind him. He had the edge. He went in.

Stepping into the bare flourescent glow of the store his nostrils were quickly filled with the smell of disinfectant and moth balls. Where is the Electronic section in this place? Two women pushing through the racks of blue jeans suddenly looked up and catching his piercing gaze headed for the checkout. He turned back to resume his search for the The Kid. He spotted the lean figure in the weathered duster over in the knick-knack section. Knick-Knacks?? What is he doing over in the Knick-Knack section?

The Tall Stranger watched for several minutes as the lean figure spent several minutes picking up and putting down several figurines and small vases. The Tall Stranger shook his head cursing at another false alarm. He looked around and seeing the Electronics section he made his way over to see what this flea bitten town had to offer him. His disappointment only intensified as his eyes surveyed the usually dross of Sony VCR's and APEX DVD players.

Maybe this town has some Vinyl he thought and he turned slightly towards the door to see if there were any racks of LP's awaiting his deft touch. Suddenly his eyes caught the lean figure drawing two small speakers out from underneath the weathered duster. Before the Tall Stranger could react he saw a blur of motion as the lean figure swiped his card and scooped the speakers under each arm. The Tall Stanger began to run towards the door but his route was quickly blocked by a store employee pushing a cart filled with Barry Manilow records and Care Bears.

By the time the Tall Stranger was able to get to the front of the store he saw only a trail of dust and the lean figure riding at a gallop out of town. "It was him"! "It was The Kid", he shouted. He ran towards the startled cashier yelling "What did you sell him"!!

The cashier shrunk at the sight of the screaming stranger.
"It was nothing mister, honest, just a pair of Paradigm Atoms for $5"

The Tall Stranger's shoulders slumped and he turned to drag himself out the door knowing that The Kid had beaten him. The stories were true.

Worf101
11-30-2009, 05:16 AM
Well played sir, but I vow vengeance!!!!!! LOL, I see sick minds think alike.

Much love...

Worf

luvtolisten
11-30-2009, 06:03 AM
:lol: Sounds like you guys watched the shoot' em marathons over the weekend too ( Clint Eastwood, along with my favorite "Tombstone").:thumbsup: All I can say is: "I'll be your huckleberry".:lol:

Worf101
12-01-2009, 06:27 AM
:lol: Sounds like you guys watched the shoot' em marathons over the weekend too ( Clint Eastwood, along with my favorite "Tombstone").:thumbsup: All I can say is: "I'll be your huckleberry".:lol:
Over active imaginations and under work glands I suppose. Just too much fun for a work day.

Worf

thekid
12-01-2009, 03:07 PM
Over active imaginations and under work glands I suppose. Just too much fun for a work day.

Worf

Agreed!

It was a nice change from the coporate memo's I normally write.

I loved your take and it inspired me to continue your story.

winston
12-04-2009, 08:09 PM
Agreed!

It was a nice change from the coporate memo's I normally write.

I loved your take and it inspired me to continue your story.
Please Do (kid) I'll Be Reading "LOL" in a good way.
Hey can I "Dub" you guys as the Thrifty bounty hunters & The Sergio Leone Spaghetti Poetic Soceity. hey kid watch you back on the way to take out the next "GW"
your being tracked..... Nice Thread!!