Lonelobo Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 I told Dave that I was going to tell this tale so that you all could hate me more. His response was that was not possible at this moment. But I digress... Yesterday I fortold of an ad in the paper touting "Audiophile Estate Sale". It didn't start till noon, and I usually start out between 6-7am going to estate and garage sales when I'm not working on Thursdays and Fridays. First sale turned up a very nice laminated steel Japanese pruning shear designed to use on Bonsai trees. Really...I'm into old tools ya know. Killer...IOB with instructions in Japanese. My journey took me to 2 more sales and the time was approaching 9:30 am. To get close to the front of the line at estate sales here you have to arrive an hour early and talk to blue haired ladies about depression glass. But I didn't want to be even 2nd in line at the "Audiophile" estate sale, so I decided to head on over, set up my lawn chair and pull out my books and have a read and wait for the wait for the wait. So I pull up to the address in the paper, but it's not a house at all but a lawyer's office. Weird, it's actually an old house with a lawyer's sign up outside. The door is open and people are milling about. Dammmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those audiophile bastages had beat me to the punch.....thought I. So I go up to the door and there's an elderly woman coming down the stairs with her arms full of videotapes. Sh%#$$T!!! Beat by an old lady, no less! She stops and looks at me like a deer caught in the headlights, when I realize she is a worker bee, not a raping and pillaging bee. "Are you open yet, young lady...and may I say that's a lovely shade of red on you....you got a boyyyyyyyyyfriend? Never hurts to grease the pump.... No, we're not open till 12 but if you want to take a quick look around, come on in...wink, wink, nod, nod. know what I mean. So I entered said house, or should I say tried to enter said house. In the entryway were a pair of Voice of the Theatre speakers in unknown partially dissassembled condition, a pair of EV Cornerhorns, and a giant JBL sub-woofer. I look over my shoulder....nobody pulling up, my poor little minivan alone on the street ready to blow a gasket. I try to close the door and put up a sign that reads "Sale cancelled by large gnarly gay biker gang inside. Go away!". "Could ya keep that door open...it's awfully hot in here." "Well of course, and did I mention what lovely eyes you have?" Into the first room....vcr's. Stacked and all playing beta tapes. A huge screen TV and tons of electronic boxes. No furniture, no beanie babies, no clothes...just audio and video stuff in piles...I mean piles. I see the first treasure, a Marantz 10B tuner...and a new character enters the room...The original owners son. "How much ya askin for that old tuner?" "Why that's a Marantz 10B. One of the best tuners ever made. They pull $2500 on ebay but I'll let you have it for $1500 if you got cash. See here, I got all the Ebay printouts." Heart sinks and then stops....a hopeless feeling comes over me and I consider leaving right then. I look to the door, but that old lady is staring at me and smiling at me in an unnatural way and I think I could take her, but you never know. She is looking pretty tough and she's between me and the van. I turn away and start inventoring the stacks. Let's see, 6 early Mac amps stacked like phonebooks, lots of AR speakers (some 2's, 3's, and others) stacks of reel to reel (Akai, Sony, Teac), Bose preamps, stacks of audio and video signal processing boxes. And they all have ebay prices on them, some of them have ebay printout taped to them. My god, why has thou forsaken me? I am in estate sale hell. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of ebay, I fear no evil. I repeat...kinda like shampoo... Then, on the floor, next to a Rat shack tuner, a couple of odd looking boxes. Hey, those aren't boxes, they got little holes all over em. I approach to find 2 Dynaco Mark IV's. Cool! But what's the price tag say? There's no ebay printout on em. Holy sh*#&%t! $3 ea. They are in my hands in seconds...and I remember to hold them like a football so nobody can strip'em when I'm not lookin. The guy returns to the room and extols the Macs, the Bose SS stuff, and glances at the monoblocks in my hands. "You want those?" Uh...yeah, I guess...most of these need a lot of work...I might be able to get them to work". "How about this other stuff? See any thing ya want?" "Well, I'm really more into older tube stuff". He looks at me a little crooked, pauses, then..."Well, I have a couple of old tube amps up stairs that I haven't put out yet" You want to see?" "Sure" We go upstairs and on the table are 2 amps. More monoblocks. Exposed tubes...Texas T...Kinfolks said, Jed, ya get outta there... Yep, Marantz Model 5's in great shape. A little white paint drip on one. But remember, I have no idea what they're really worth. So, I whip out my handy cel phone and call Dave. What the hell is a Marantz Model 5 worth? Don't know? Do a search! I'll wait. No hits but he gives his advice. What's the guy asking? $50 ea. cause he could'nt find any on ebay. That's a lot of money where I come from, do ya think they're worth it? Sure, anything that's early Marantz has got to be worth $50 bucks. So I gets em. So, for $106 I get 2 almost pristine Marantz Model 5's and 2 Dynaco Mark IV's. More than I usually spend, but worth a chance. Ask Dave about the speakers and he's less sure considering the price of KHorns. Guy wants $600 for the EV Corners and I don't even ask (doh slap inserted here) about the Voice of the Theatre cause I assume they're trashed. I leave by 10:30, a full hour and a half BEFORE the sale begins, pretty happy, drive 40 miles to Dave's where he gives me "that" look when I lay 4 monoblocks out on his porch. As we examine them I discover that one of the Marantz's doesn't have the bottom grill on it. The nerve of that guy!!!! I go home and get my camera and head back to the sale in progress. It's 1:30pm by the time I get there and the Macs are all gone to one guy and there's another guy loading up the EV speakers and the Voice of the Theatre's are on the porch and he's telling the owner that all he wants are the drivers out of them really. I offer to take the cabinets off his hands.......and he agrees...I do not understand what the F*&Y*&K he could be thinking. Plus I find out that the drivers are all in perfect shape cause I removed them...and they sold for $250 for the pair. God DOES work in mysterious ways. So I got lucky and screwed up both on the same day in the same place for all the right AND wrong reasons. If I could have strapped that old lady on top of my minivan with one of the speakers tied on with a 100' extension cord, I could've changed my name to Clampet. The second cabinet completely filled the back of the van. Dave and I unload them and we simultaneously realize that $250 for them would have been theft...but a little too late. So now I've got a week to sell the cabinets or they become very classy plywood. If someone will give me a clue how to include multiple pix in my message I will post them here. Oh, by the way, I found the missing bottom grill for the Marantz. PS/ In my last message, I asked if anyone was looking for anything in particular I would keep an eye out for them. Nobody said nuthin about monoblocks.....so I guess I'll keepem. Stay tuned for the further audio scavenging aventures of "Ignorant lucky audio novice bastud". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Bey Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 I hate you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 They are beautifull. If you ever intend to sell them,I'll be more than happy to buy them from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 saweet deal! what part of texas? if there is ever one in houston, you MUST give me a heads up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 This IS Texas. That IS my listening room in those pictures. Possession IS MORE than 9 points of the law in Texas. The door combination has been slightly altered and the old one is wired to a doubled-barreled (vintage, of course) shotgun (that rusts). Like they said at Gonzales "Come and take'em." :-> Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Unbelievable. I think I'm going to throw up. Anyone care to join me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Yak! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 those dynacos appear to be Mark III not Mark IV -c7s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 The devil is playing trickery on you and you will be punished for your sins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 LoneLobo, Be a pal and sell me those mark IV mono blocks !!! Hell I'll give you almost any fair price you ask !!! Be a pal dude I've been searching for a nice set of mono's for a year !! Please Please Please !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 They are Mark III's. However, let me know if you want first dibs and I'll pass it on. He's off at an edit session today. As they aren't mine I can't promise you anything, but he does do this to make a profit...the easier and quicker the better. Well, in his defense, he is working on what to put his personal system together from. However, it is mainly to pull our chains. I think his main criterion is to put together a vintage Heritage system for less than 300.00. I'd never make it...couldn't stand to part with anything. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Mallet, I am definitly interested. I don't care if they are 3's and I think he should make a profit !!! He did all the leg work ! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 OK, unless he's promised someone else, and I don't think he has, I'll serve as your advocate and witness. I'll tell you this, his primary video business has been really down in the recession, so this is important to him. He's fair, but you can expect a significant markup on the 3.00. Let me take that back...if he were REALLY fair, he'd let me have the 5's for all the PWK button I've take from him for the past 20 years. :-> Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Oh when do you expect to hear from him ? I have a set of Heathkit W4M's that I'm watching on ebay and if they stay low I'm going to have to grab them. The auction ends tomorrow at noon. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 I can give him a call later tonight and see if he is around Email me your number to damallett@attbi.com and I'll pass it to him. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 LoneLobo you can not only shop you can write too! A most enjoyable tale! Thankee Matey! BTW - As I once said to HBDRbuilder " You should be wearing an eye patch and scratching your arse with a hook! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good2BHome Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Congratulations Lonelobo and Mallett!! You really don't know how lucky you really are . The Ad I saw stated that the sale started at 8:00 AM, not at noon. I saw it at 9:00AM on Friday morning. I figured every thing would be gone as of when I saw it. So I missed it, which is my fault. You were very lucky that someone else didn't beat you there. Congratulations again Best Wishes, Good2BHome (Mike) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 I can't possibly imagine picking a set of those up for $50 a piece, and then selling them. Craig seems almost desperate, on the verge of an emotional breakdown -- I hope he ends up with them -- I would hate to see anyone from the forum sent to the loony bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 The Mark III's were 6.00 for the pair. It was the Marantz 5's that were so pricey. BTW, I got a response in "Older Speakers" that indicates the VoT's would have been worth at least 2000.00, perhaps more. They had 250.00 on them... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 I have no idea how to respond to that. Completely unbelievable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.