What are your favorite budget finds in audio?

I happened across a nice sounding SACD player for $13.00 at Goodwill today for the living room system. Sony CE595 carousel player.

 

Lp's

-Bill

 

Haha, well yeah but I was thinking more in terms of hardware.

 

Brand-new Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi universal player (DVD-based) for $150.00

 

At this very moment I'm listening to a newly purchased pair of Sennheiser HD202 II headphones. I bought them because this morning my newish Koss Porta Pros stopped working on one side (dodgy cable, as per!) so I ran into my local Richer Sounds after work and bought these as a cheap replacement until I get the Porta Pros soldered up...

Well, I'm pretty surprised at what this pair of £27 headphones can do. The earcups are a bit sweat-inducing (I feel the need to separate them from my head every five minutes!) but the sound is really not as bad as you'd expect for what they are.

I'm currently listening to them with a custom EQ curve as I start to work out their weaknesses and strengths and my current settings seem to be working really well with them! Absolute bargain (as long as the bloody cable lasts!)

 

Oh, and here's was a couple of others...

A few years ago I went through the listings on Freecycle, a site where people gave away items they no longer want to those who email them and come to pick up the items.

By chance and only a few days apart I managed to get two absolute gems! I picked up a Cyrus Two amplifier with it's matching PSX power supply, it was faulty but free. After a little work (previously bodged repair meant some new transistors, full electrolytic recap) I had the thing up and running and it started my passion for these little amplifiers and now restore and refurbish them for others on a regular basis!

The other was an Acoustic Research EB101 turntable, once again, faulty but free. Found the poor quality in-built output cables had gone dodgy, new cable I had already in the house were soldered in, and voila, worked a charm! Sold that one later for some holiday spending money... sort of wish I'd kept it and sold my rumble-infested Pro-Ject Debut III!

 

^^
Yep. The 202s are the "go-to" headphones for radio stations on a tight budget, too. Been using them here for over 10 years.

 

I got my Dual 1249 off Craigslist for $20, put $30 in parts and a few hours of work into it, and it plays like a factory-fresh champ.

 

Probably the Vandersteen 1C's. They really scale well as I upgrade supporting components.

 

Extremely surprised with what I've got out of them with a little EQ'ing! I'm assuming they're still breaking in, will run them onto tonight with Alan Parson's "Sound Check" running through them on repeat... Nearly always does the trick for new headphones with me!
Really hope I don't run into any cable woes like many do...

 

I own the same player. It's very nice. Did you get the remote?

 

I agree.

 

Sansui AU-217, serviced, in mint condition, and delivered for £33 back in 2009. Absolutely loved it. Amazing sound quality from it, totally caned many modern equivalents and drove a pair of Mission 752s with ease. 30w of 1970s fabilicious grooviness!

 

USED - $90 for a great-condition Denon DP-37F turntable.
NEW - $49 for the Art DJ PRE II preamp.

 

I bought a Pioneer SX-434 off of eBay last fall for $100 shipped. Dead solid clean...barely a scratch. I bought for my son in Virginia who wanted a "vintage" audio setup as a housewarming gift. The receiver was a deal in itself but I got extra value when I saw him open the box it came in.

 

Audio Technica AT-440MLa carts. I've never spent more than $100 for one, though, so I'm not sure what I'll do when when my current one and backup give out.

Boston Acoustics A series speakers. They are all I use, and sound great to me, for very little coin. Plus, I learned how to refoam them, so I can get even foamless ones up and running at very little cost.

As far as guitar stuff goes, my best deals have been an old '70s 25-watt Alamo Fury amp that I got for $50, and a used (but essentially new) Squier Classic Vibe Tele that I got for $260.

 

My favourite guitar purchase was a Squier Tele Custom II. Found the receipt the other day, only paid £197 pounds for it about (nowadays they go for around £250). It's proven itself to be my favourite axe since the day I walked out of the shop with it... And such a bargain at the price!

 

No remote but I have enough Sony remotes maybe I can find one that works.

 

I bought a Resolution Audio CD-50 for a little over $300. The seller said it was cosmetically challenged which it was. When I unpacked it I got out some cleaning supplies and began cleaning. The cosmetic issues were 95% gone when I finished. This cdp had a $3K MSRP in the late 90s. This purchase was more than ten years ago, best purchase I ever made.

 

The Audioquest Dragonfly DAC (I have version 1.0): versatile, portable, and even random YouTube videos sound fine through it...

One of my favorite purchases from the Classifieds section.

 

This weekend my Goodwill finds are as follows:

1. Dynaco FM5
2. Dynaco SCA-80Q

Each unit was $6.97.

 

Most recent as well as biggest budget surprise were a pair of small PSB Image B5. Saw them on sale for $250 down from $400 over xmas and took a chance with the intension of using them for background radio music. Holy audio snob (mid-fi) underestimation! I can't pour the power into them like my ATC, which bloom (or whatever word means gets better as it gets louder), or they lose their composure. Kept at moderate loudness with quality sounding stuff and I don't feel I require anything better...most of the time.

 

Sierra Nevada. Twelve Pack. Fifteen bucks.

 

For free:
A pair of B&O Penta 3 speakers, a nine driver tower speaker with a built in 150 watt amplifier. New $3,500 a pair. While the amp has a B&O specific input, it also has RCA in, turning the amp on when it sees an input signal. They are currently in my basement, hooked up to the whole house music system. Controlled by a keypad in the wall, from which I can select the various sources, adjust volume and even call up a playlist from the music server, it's a pretty trick, simple, and clean set-up.



Last year one of my old customers gave me these. He just wanted them out of his house. He'd just taken delivery of a pair of B&W Diamond 800 speakers and these were in the way. I was glad to have them.

Years ago the same guy gave me a Linn LP12 with a SME 3009 arm. It's sitting in my stereo storage room. One of these days, I'll get the Linn rebuilt. It would make a dynamite second turntable.

 

I have both versions and it's hard to beat the Dragonfly 1.2 for the price.