Funny you should mention the Altec 19 as I just was thinking about them the other day and looked them up. I remember they were a coveted speaker back in the day but for some reason I never moved in that direction. I can see why people would still want them today.
I never had a deal of a life time, but got two Hammond tube G model amps for free. After capacitor upgrades and best tubes, ended up the best sounding amps I ever owned. I been collecting for 40 years.
The Versa Dynamics 2.0 turntable. San Francisco had just had The Big Quake (September 1989), and I felt the need to celebrate surviving it. A few days later, my salesman in Palo Alto called and let me know a customer had just put up a Versa for sale in their store, and he knew I was keen on (at least) hearing one, preferably owning one if it sounded as good as the review. HP had pronounced it The Best Turntable in The World, better than his Goldmund Reference (which cost an un-cool $33,000 due to the import costs and other factors). The Versa, brand new, cost only $15,000 back then. Even so, I was 100% positive I didn't even want to pay that! But the price it was going for was too good, I had to have it. So I put my Goldmund Studio/T3F up for sale on the market and it sold pretty fast. I ponied up the difference and got the Versa. Felt like I'd won the lottery! Suddenly, I now had a Versa, along with my WATT/Puppies, Convergent Reference SL-1 preamplifier, and a Goldmund Mimesis 9 amplifer. Life was good (and I was still alive)!
Ironically, my most special "bargain" was one of the very few pieces of gear I paid full MSRP for: The Technics SL-1200GAE ($3999). I think it's a wonderful piece of gear, rare, and a joy to use and listen to. I'm so glad I jumped on it when I did.
NICE! When I was DJ'ed back in the '70s, 80s and 90s, I had the original 1200s. "...and there was unquenchable lust in their eyes..." I've heard the GAE is a killer turntable! Technics actually apologized about the price! In an audiophile world where $4k is "normal," they felt bad about it. They clearly hadn't considered the pricing of the Continuum Caliburn turntable at $112K. So self-effacing, the Japanese manufacturers. It must've seem "impolite" to them to build something at that price.
Not sure if it's a bargain of a lifetime but I'm very glad to have purchased the Classic Records/Clarity vinyl 45RPM/4 single-sided disc box set of Peter Gabriel's So for $50 about 10 years ago when they were closing them out. One of my favorite albums of all time sounding about as good as it's going to. My $395 Bob's Devices (original model) SUT has also served me well over that same timespan and continues to go in and out of the system depending on cart.
POLK AUDIO R10 two-way mini monitors, $20 at GW. wasn't really expecting the world of these, but, BOY WAS I SHOWN OTHERWISE. very best speaker system i've owned to date, utterly blowing away the four-way PIONEER floorstanders i previously employed....
I was fiddling around thinking about upgrading my old integrated with a newer integrated and saw an incredible open box special on a Rotel RB-1582 MkII amp. I jumped on it. I also got a fantastic $300 off list price via open box special on my Dynaudio Evoke 10 speakers. Finally, instead of waiting for a Schiit Vidar, Parasound NewClassic 2125 v2 went on sale for $200 off, and I pulled the trigger. These were items I was looking to buy, but in the case of the Rotel and Dynaudio gear, the price offered incentivized me to buy something better that I had been considering.
In the late 90's Best Buy was clearing out all of their Sennheiser headphones, as they weren't going to carry them anymore. I got a pair of display (not demo) HD-580's for ~$90. List price at the time was, at least, several hundred dollars.
One more great deal I got from memory was a 3LP copy of Frank Zappas - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol.2. The record store prices things on the spot by searching online and they priced this particular release at $15. It is a minty copy at that. I am pretty sure the person doing the pricing left a zero off at the end as these generally sell for about $150.
Maybe 33% off MSRP isn't exactly the deal of a lifetime but when I was offered $2500 off a new Yamaha A-S3200 recently, I couldn't resist.
Would you like a brand-new $1K DVD-A/SACD player for $150 shipped?* Pioneer DV-79AVi* When Oppo was clearing out its 205's, I purchased a second one. And yes, it's still factory-sealed sitting in my closet.
My Polk LSi15 speakers plus LSiC for $300 from an old lady with a barely driven Porsche 911 in her garage. Go figure.
Yup! Back in 1985 I was at a local stereo shop, and saw that they had a Kyocera R-461 in a clearance table for a ridiculously low price. I asked one of the workers why it was being cleared out, and was told the FM receiver wasn't working. I decided to jump on it, as I really didn't care if the FM worked or not. Got it home, hooked it up, and though the FM was a bit deaf, it was flawless otherwise. When I finally replaced it last Summer, it was still going strong (I decided to replace it because I didn't want to risk blowing a filter cap due to age). Sometimes, it pays to listen to your gut!
I bought a Viva Fono phonostage from the US distributor for something like $3500. It was used at audio shows and suffered cosmetic damage. A new one, the last time I looked, sells for 16,000 Euros. I like how it sounds, it is dead quiet, and has been totally reliable. Some friends of mine think it is a bit whacky because the power supply utilizes two 300b tubes as rectifiers.
December 29th 2021. Walked into an audio store to hear some Sopra 1's. Was not considering a purchase. Walk out with brand new in box Sopra 2's at 68% off. The pair were ordered but not purchased. They lost their 10% deposit. The owner said they don't keep an inventory of speakers. All have to be ordered. Didn't want to have to pay taxes. In a span of 40 minutes it was a done deal. Paid $800 less for the 2's than he offered on the 1's which would take 3 months. On January 1st all Focal speakers went up 10%...
I tend to be of the opinion that’s if a deal is too good to be true …. it probably is! Most of the used stuff I’ve bought and sold over the decades has been fairly priced. I don’t do much of it anymore. Too many unrealistic expectations of value (sellers expect more for their used gear than they’d pay you for yours) and when you make a reasonable offer you’re a ‘low baller’. No thanks. I did get a mint set of Infinity RS1b speakers in 1998 for $1000. That was a pretty good deal, but those are few and far between.
Like getting a Sugden a21se for $2200 then needing to get some nice high efficiency speakers to match? That’s how I whoopsed my way into the spending spree that is my new hifi hobby lol
My current Salk Songtowers in custom bamboo. Came up for sale on A'gon 20 miles form my house and I took them home the same day. I went to the guys house and he had some really awesome gear, a dedicated listening room and these looked 100% new. And sounded great.
Mine's not really something I had to stretch to afford more something I didn't need. I had a perfectly good Dac that I liked a lot but came across an Audiogon auction for an Audio Note Dac-3 Signature. I certainly didn't need it but I'd always been curious to hear an AN component in my system. So I went halfway and just bid the minimum ensuring that I tried but knowing I would never win. No one else bid, so I was the proud owner of a new Dac, needless to say I was shocked when I got the notification!
