Thrift Store Hi-Fi: Some tips and tricks
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- Опубліковано 29 січ 2018
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These days, it seems everyone wants the latest and greatest equipment for the audio needs. But there's a lot of fantastic hardware you can find in thrift stores and enjoy today. I've found that with a little patience, you can find true high fidelity speakers from the best brands, and though they may need some TLC, I think the results are worth it.
Guide for replacing foam surrounds:
www.instructables.com/id/How-t...
This is a decent guide, but I'd like to ad that removing the dust cap and shimming the voice coil isn't strictly necessary. If the driver's spider is intact, the dust cap should remain perfectly centered. It is easy to get replacement dust caps, but if your speakers have decorative or interesting driver designs (like the translucent cones in the Infinity RS-2000) you might want to try leaving the dust cap as it is.
Link to purchase a similar amplifier:
www.amazon.com/dp/B01FZKA28Y/...
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Clarification on speakers with multiple inputs:
You really only need to avoid speakers which have two pairs of attached wires in different colors (like teal/grey and red/black). These would have come from an all-in-one system, and don't have an internal crossover. Therefore they can't easily be driven with an ordinary, inexpensive amp. If you find a speaker with two sets of wire terminals, possibly with a link between them, it may be capable of bi-wiring or bi-amping and might be a rare find!
With those speakers find a car audio amplifier, the lower end ones with separate mid and tweeter outputs to drive them. The amp runs off 12V, and has the crossovers inside and an amplifier for each speaker. Otherwise a simple crossover is very easy to get and place in line. You can even use a 2uF non polarised capacitor in series with the tweeter line and get it running that way.
Ah, you saved me posting! Oh wait, I just did.
I have such pair with four terminals, black-black and red-red with a link bars linking each color. Mirai branded. My boss was about to throw them away, but I saved them.
I had a pair of British made Acoustic Energy AE-120SE...
And it have 3 pairs of binding post, one for woofers (2 per speaker), one for midrange (looked just like woofer), and one for tweeter.
They all have their own crossover, and need amps with tremendous dampening factor to power through the power hungry crossover.
I think all my main speakers are bi-wirable. Bi-amping might conceivably make sense with really top end kit but bi-wiring makes no sense to me at all.
I use my stereo to listen to my music. Audiophiles use their music to listen to their stereos
I feel personally attacked
I agree entirely; I listen on a Realistic SA10 amplifier, a couple of Pyle Home speakers and an Ion turntable. I not sure more than $100 in the system for old mainly opera records. I would rather listen to great music on a simple system than lousy music on an expensive system. Great video posting. Thanks
Hahahahahaha. Well said!
This is just backwards and makes no sense. I'm sure there are people who listen to good music on expensive equipment. You don't have to belittle anyone to make yourself feel better if you could just admit you can't afford something.
@@Alva2323 found the elitist
Also, top tip: bring an AA (1.5v) battery with you and connect it to the speaker. If you can hear an audible noise from the drivers, you'll know the voicecoils aren't blown!
Santiago Ferrari Thanks!
I would rather use a 9v battery, you're more likely to hear something.
Moonwalker917; If you use a 9V battery then you're much more likely to potentially damage certain speaker drivers, especially the tweeters of older speakers, and that totally defeats the purpose to test if they're good or not!... "Let me see if this is a good speaker"... (connects 9V battery to it)... "Well, it WAS a good speaker..." LOL!... Basically, if you can't hear the relatively loud, (but still harmless), "Pop" or "Click" while using a 1.5V battery, (an AA size one is the best compromise between longevity of use and actually being pocket sized), then there's either something wrong with the speaker, or something wrong with your ears! LOL! (Plus, a 9V battery has the tendency to quite easily get shorted out in your pocket by keys, coins, etc... Just bring an AA instead along with a few inch short piece of 22 gauge double speaker wire to connect to the speaker terminals.)
Nine volt batteries are for testing really old radio speakers from the 1920s (horns and early paper cones) because they ran on higher voltages and were higher impedence. From about 1928 or so on, they were using speakers that resemble modern ones with low voltage voice coils that needed an output transformer to step down the high voltage off the output tube. I agree with 1.5 Volts on Hi Fi speakers.
One could bring directly a phone with audio out and test the speakers.
And a connector where the contacts are open, left, right, mass/ground.
I am an audiophile and you got a great bargain. Those Infinity's are better than most would think.
You can quickly get carried away when you go down the rabbit hole of Hi-Fi audio. But if you're looking for a simple introduction, a thrift store may actually be a pretty good place to start. One thing I didn't mention was that older speakers may have worn-out crossover circuitry. This can cause audio distortion, so if you're looking at really old speakers you might want to consider updating it. Hi-Fi forums will have good guides on how to do this, and may even encourage you to design your own. Like I said, it's a rabbit hole!
The next video on Laserdisc will be released next week. For now, I hope you enjoy this quick little distraction!
hi
He was correct about one thing, though - if it's two pairs of wires (rather than binding posts), it's almost definitely a case of a crossoverless speaker.
Yes I was mainly talking about something with two pairs of differently colored wires coming out for separate woofer and tweeter driving, and had just assumed there might exist speakers from such cheap systems that had different colored terminals rather than permanent wires. I would hope that a bi-amp capable speaker wouldn't end up in a thrift store, but you never know!
From a regular person's point of view - speakers that require external crossovers are just PITA. 2 wires, no problem.
David Almersand - The thrift store scavenger :D (we all are, aren't we?)
Sony speakers from the 70s and early 80s are actually really nice, and are definitely worth picking up. It's worth remembering that Sony was once a very high end audio company, and made good, high quality products.
Connor Powers And what is Sony like now? Do they make good speakers still as I own a Samsung 2.1 soundbar.
Sony’s quality and brand prestige has steadily dropped since the 1980s, and their current quality, while it is ok, isn’t amazing, especially since they moved most production to China. Just make sure to do research on the model you are looking at, and stay away from obviously cheap models. Even so, a Sony should be a decent choice, and if you spend more, should be better than a Samsung sound bar
Agreed older SONY stuff is awesome. I will say my work bought a SONY 4K HDMI switcher/5.1 surround sound audio AMP for our main 50 in LG Plasma HDTV(has some truly awesome blacks) and it's been fantastic(don't remember the model # off the top of my head), but yeah these days SONY is a lot more miss then hit.
Sony will sell you a soundbar for $500+ and it sounds like absolute shite
Sony has gone right down hill now I have the Sony shake x1d which is apparently over 1000rms it sounds okay for what it is but I have a kenwood hifi that only has 200rms and gets much louder
I'm am audiophile (for many years) and I love this video, it a great way to put together an affordable system and do what is most important which is to listen to music. Well Done!
You molest sounds?
those infinity cabs are really beautiful, the eased edges set the grilles off nicely, and the front looks great with them off - i'd leave them as-is!
I love that your not a snob and are about results.
Agreed.
*You're
It's a lot more trustworthy
@@pleappleappleap I thought that too, then wondered if it was too ironic on a post appreciating not being a snob. Honestly, I'm glad your comment was here so I didn't have to think about it more
@@AlexanderQ689 I guess that's just the kind of asshole I am. 🤩
Solid advice! Here's another tip: To get the best quality used audio equipment locate thrift shops in more affluent neighborhoods.
This applies to most things.
They probably have gold dumpsters full of stuff better than mine
As an audiophile myself I'd say: get whatever works for you. There is always room for improvement but at exponential cost. Nowadays you can actually find great speakers and amps in your average (electronics?) store. There is great sound to be found at pretty much any budget :)
I have had and loved my RS2000's for some 30 years and just recently replaced them with a pair of €1700 ATC SCM11's. Expected to be blown away by the difference, was not. Those little Infinity's are fantastic.
Im an enthusiast, your speakers are very respectable and i have owned a few pair and have done some DIY on them and found them to be exceptional and similar to bookshelves costing ten times their msrp on the right power and pre. If they sound good to you then thats all that matters, if you have guests over all the time to listen dont expect them to hear what you do. My system gives me goosebumps and smiles and contentment and there's your definition of an audiophile truly.
Ive been using a set of pioneer bookshelf speakers i bought in high school back in 98. Theyre fantastic. Ive been using them literally every day since then. 20 years and they still sound great! I have them wired up to a techniques class A amp from the 80s, the sound cannot be beat.
You mean there is no better combination of speaker and amplifier available? Have you ever heard really good speakers, whose outputs to some degree approximate reality? (By the way, it's Technics.)
all im saying im happy with it.
No offense but that sounds awful.
#0:58 "Audiophiles in the audience are gonna argue with me, and themselves, so I'll just say..." 😂😂😂😂
Don’t forget yard sales. I found a whole Kenwood system with huge floor standing speakers for $25 at one. One midrange was broken, but I found a matching one on eBay.
About a month ago, I found a PRS by eminence 12 inch 100W combo amp speaker for $5 on one of my goodwill trips. The only thing wrong with it was a pushed in dust cover. Now it rests in a diy leslie cabinet I built for a thrift shop hammond organ I have. It sounds absolutely magnificent.
Dylan Headrick thats cool
This is awesome advice. The only errata I noticed is that dual posts doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t a crossover, nor does it mean they’re bad. Most very high end speakers also have dual posts to allow bi amping.
I found a set of JBL L26 at a local thrift store for $15. Refoamed the woofers and changed the caps for around $30. This is the only way to do vintage audio for me. Cheap, fun, and rewarding.
Thanks for this, it's always fantastic to get into appreciating better sound.
0:41 Bass response can potentially be pretty huge with a 6.5" woofer, it's more about driver and crossover tuning from the manufacturer.
1:20 I still regret not grabbing those Boston Acoustics Series A speakers at Goodwill...
1:34 Absolutely, but the weight is almost entirely cabinet thickness and bracing, and some in the driver basket (the cage that is back side of the speaker unit itself). Reducing resonances from these parts is huge for reducing distortion. Any fill or deadening material is relatively trivial in terms of weight.
1:51 Not Bose.
2:04 "...or Bose..."
2:33 There are a great many high end speakers with two sets of terminals (so they can be bi-amped), and they CAN be used with one set of cables (with the terminals bridged so that they use their internal crossover, which as a general rule, they DO have). Search for the model if there's any doubt, but I've never seen a low end speaker with two sets of terminals (maybe there was some niche application?).
4:37 FALSE, the Leppy/Lepai 2020A/2020TI is entirely audiophile APPROVED. Even Steve Guttenberg, The Audiophiliac, raved about a rebrand of it (Kinter K2020A). Great for the price, just leave it in direct mode, the tone controls do degrade the sound noticeably. You can get this amp (without worrying about poor quality Amazon imitations) and other quality inexpensive Dayton amps as well at parts-express.com. They also have great-for-the-price Dayton speakers, including DIY kits if you enjoy that. Most TPA3116 based amps are good too, very inexpensive.
5:22 Modern gamer motherboards have been using good noise isolation and DACs in recent years, but many can be pretty bad with noticeable noise, a little hit and miss. You can get really, really good DACs in very small form factors for not much money, I don't see why not to upgrade to something like a TempoTec Sonata HD, it will work with your phone too (and sound way better than your phone, unless you have an LG phone with the ESS quad DAC).
5:35 🤢
5:58 Yeah I had a similar problem, looking for audiophile speakers for my desk. I settled on the smaller Audioengine A2+ used on eBay, but that's more than most people want to spend. In my research I actually almost bought the Creative Pebble V2, which for $30 I'm read they're really quite good.
That is some.....Sound.....advice. I'll show myself out....
(standing ovation)
why leave? you fit right in!
I'm sure puns of that quality are aloud.
clap clap clap!!!
I have those speakers but in black. They're decent for sure. I've been thrifting for years and I haven't seen any good hifi gear in ages. Ten years ago, when no one cared, you could get really good gear for cheap. Anything with wood grain seems to be worth its weight in gold today.
pcbjunkie same here all I see is crap at the thrift stores for audio now a days.
I totally agree. My brothers and I have been getting our Hi-Fi equipment this way for years. With a little patience and some TLC you can put together some really great systems for cheap.
A good speaker is not heavy from the insulation. They're heavy because the cabinet is thick and substantial.
Not to mention heavy magnets.
peter hansen He did mention that, when he mentioned construction materials.
peter hansen not always. It depends on the drivers.
peter hansen not correct they are heavy due to the size of the magnet
Cris Brown I own the Reference One, the higher end version of this. It's the cabinet. The driver though good quality, is not the reason for the weight. I also own the Sterling Sound 2004 towers from Infinity. Took the drivers out to refoam them. The cabinets on both are thick, dense, and heavy. It's the cabinets dude. Take it from someone who actually owns, and has worked on them.
I'm an audiophile. I won't knock your speakers. There's nothing wrong with budget Hi-Fi equipment if that's all you're looking for. I will criticize your recommendation of Bose though. Expensive Bose speakers are built like cheap Low-Fi speakers. Many have paper cone mid-range and tweeters. If you're fine with low fidelity sound at high fidelity prices go with Bose, otherwise choose one of the other brands you mentioned.
Some of the best speakers have paper woofers, even $50k ones. The Bose are just made to be cheap though and the paper tweeters are almost always for low cost.
Where the wavelength is longer than the cone of the driver, paper is fine. The cone behaves as a rigid piston at low frequencies. At higher frequencies sound waves travel through the cone, bounce off the surround and travel back creating interference patterns. I'm not talking about woofers. I mentioned mid-range drivers and tweeters.
Travis Gibby completely agree, Bose is the Apple of sound, it pretty much every good and bad way. They are decent, even often very good, but cost way way more than they should and everyone thinks they are the best of the best for some reason when they aren't even close.
Paper cones do not mean low quality speakers. I still have a set of JBL's bought in the early 1970's still sounding as good as when they were brand new. People hear them and marvel about how good they sound. Best stereo purchase I ever made. I'm glad they pre dated foam surrounds. Foam surrounds always rot out and would have done so at least twice since they were purchased. These days the same speakers in excellent condition (not beat to hell with dings and scratches) sell for twice what they cost back then . I do agree with you that Bose are not that great. But it's not necessarily because of paper cones. I am impressed by the sound that comes from the little Bose table radio's.
It's definitely not the only factor. A mid-range driver with paper cones can still sound good. But these days there are inexpensive materials which have much better cone mode damping characteristics for high frequency drivers, like polypropylene. For that reason you don't see a lot of high fidelity mid and high frequency drivers made out of paper any more.
And your right about it not being the only reason Bose not being great. The Wave Radio you mentioned has a transmission line enclosure. But unlike most transmission line enclosure, there's no damping material inside to reduce pipe resonance, a type of resonance that contributes to pipe organ's unique sound. So what you're hearing through the Wave Radio is not as true to the original as it could be. To it's credit though, the Wave Radio can produce a lot of sound for a radio of that size.
I have the bigger version of those infinity speakers with 8" woofer but they look similar just bigger. I think they're from the early 90's and I picked them up off of craigslist for a good price with metal stands. They've been the front speakers in my home theater setup since. I've had them for 8 years now and I did have to replace the surrounds on the woofers about a year after I bought them. I run them off a very early solid state Sansui integrated amp (no tuner just a pre-amp/amp) when I want to listen to vinyl records and off a more modern 5.1 DD/DTS receiver when watching movies. I also picked up the Sansui amp about 8 years ago at a thrift shop and it's in remarkable condition inside and out. The little amp is only rated at 15 watts RMSPC but it sounds so good most people would think its higher.
i also have some old infinity hifi speakers in the garage of my parents house left by the old owner. they have clear cones and 8 inch woofers in addition to a midrange and tweeter
I wonder about the whole "old amps were low power, but sounded more powerful" thing. I must attest that I have that perception, but I really cannot find any "scientific" support for it. I think it might just be nostalgia, or maybe we LIKE certain kinds of distortion.
I'm also into shopping at thrift stores for the last 30 years.
My computer audio setup uses a Telefunken Opus Hifi 7050 receiver with four 1970s Zenith 'Allegro' speakers - two front, two rear. The audio is clear with deep bass and can play at deafening levels without distortion. I am impressed how good the 45 year old Zenith speakers sound with their original drivers. Total cost for this stuff was 40 dollars.
Excellent that you picked up a couple of pairs of 1988 Infinity speakers. These were excellent studio monitors and although like you said they didn't set the world on fire, they were first rate, highly detailed units. I would have no hesitation about picking them up for a spin.
Thank you so much for the advice on this video. I used it to find a pair of the nicest speakers I've ever had for $20
"Others" is the best brand of speakers
I agree, I've got a pair of Others in the lounge, (the grey one is left and the black one is right).. They sound great.
@@frankowalker4662 Huh. I didn’t know Others made speakers.
@@williamreid6255 Yeah, they sound a lot better than Somebody elses.
@@frankowalker4662 They’re expensive as hell though. $200 on Amazon for just one of their amplifiers, not including any speakers
I found two 20W Yamaha speakers in a garage sale ( for free ), Then all I did is bought a 2.1 Logitech speaker system ( second hand for $10 ) and removed its satellite speaker and replaced with the Yamaha one. And no one can believe what incredible sound it produces now, I have party at my home almost every weekend !!
P.S. I am an audiophile and yet that sound has never let me down !
I got a pair of those Infinity RS 3000 speakers at Goodwill for $6. These were made when Arnie Nudell was still with Infinity. The woofer surrounds needed to be replaced, which was not a real problem (about $25). With a mid-fi receiver, they initially sounded a bit too bright but were significantly better with a beefier amp. I sold the speakers with a pair of oak stands (bought those for $30) for $120, which was still a good deal for the buyer.
I bought a pair of Canton (pretty good German speaker brand) CSL 100 speakers from 1989 for €25 yesterday. They sound very good and are in amazing shape. The metal grille doesn’t have a single scratch and the actually speakers look brand new.
Advent and Kenwood are excellent old-school brands as well!
every video about speakers "I'm NO AUDIOPHILE"
proceeds to show stacks of hi-fi equipment.
haha, audiophiles are really collector / hoarder territory. He doesn't have 5+ pairs of $300 headphones so I think it checks out.
@@CaptainWumbo True audiophiles will have 5+ pairs of $2000 dollar headphones, the tier you mentioned would be considered merely "enthusiast" in that community.
An audiophile collects the best equipment he can get his hands on.
A technophile collects the most interesting equipment he can get his hands on.
I think it's clear which category he falls into.
Audiophiles are like hipsters, they never want to admit what they are because they don't want to be associated with the obnoxious ones 😆
There's a difference between audio enthusiast and audiophile. He's an enthusiast for sure.
I own many many pairs for speakers in this series. They are super bang for the buck. Our living room surround system has 5 of them plus a subwoofer. It's a lovely sounding room. I've even had a couple relatively famous friends come over to listen to their masters on my system to see how they sound. So there's that. :)
I've been using my Others brand speakers for years. Still sounds great today.
I'm a professional sound artist for media, and I'm amused by stubborn audiophiles obsessing over quality, when 90% of all music ever made is not optimized for high-end equipment. Most engineers are aware that most music will realistically end up on generic multimedia monitors, laptop speakers and earphones, so they produce in 44.1kHz/16bit to facilitate digital distribution. Of course, audiophiles will _always_ religiously attest to their "192kHz-friendly equipment that make everything sound better", when in reality, it's just the placebo effect talking.
*whooosh* there goes the point
Thank you! One of the more intelligent and informative comments I've read.
much of high-end audiophile gear is phony snake oil
It's not really snake oil, but as stated in the post, you're not going to get anything better than 44.1/16 even on a system that can produce 192k. Just because the speedometer says 180, doesn't mean the vehicle can do that speed.
Agreed!
Yeah, audiophiles will hate you. You seem to be logical.
Have you ever went to a magnolia like the ones In Best Buy’s. If not go ask to listen to there highest end speaker and tell me you do t think it’s mind blowing
Not enought voodoo for audiophiles.
Sexually attracted to vibrations through a medium as interpreted by your auditory cortex
Oh wait, thats literally what asmr is. Shit
@@dhananjeyannatarajan5366 The stuff at best buy is not exactly audiophile. The difference is mostly in the crossovers and matching of the speakers. A really well designed speaker will have a super robust crossover or not require much crossing over.
You could build an "audiophille' quality setup with a few hundred dollar tube amp, replacement tubes, and some handbuilt cabinets with scanspeak drivers for much less than they are at a audio shop.
@@norvillerodgersspeaks bro I know that I’ve even made one myself I’m just saying go to a Best Buy and try it as it is free to try especially kef blades
I started watching about 2 years ago. (Traffic lights video) going back through and watching the whole collection.
Today I set up my $45 hifi sound system. Thanks for the recommendation.
I love those old RS and SM series infinitys from the 80's and 90's. That poly cell tweeter could really sing. Also most of those models had very high efficiency which is another reason you can drive them so nicely with a small amp. You've probably noticed there is a huge performance gap between entry level home theater and fancy computer speakers and modern all in ones that focus more on looks than quality. Even low end hifi is a giant leap above the almost entire consumer electronics speaker market. I'd run those infinity speakers for as long as they can and properly cared for will give you many years of great listening.
Excellent video and thanks for making it. Thrift stores a great source that type of stuff just like over on LGR's Chanel.
Cool, I'm not the only one that makes that connection =)
My best thrift store find to this day is a Rel Strata iii subwoofer. I found it at my local Value Village for $13. It was in the furniture section out of all places. It works great with my Castle York bookshelf speakers
Great overview of what can be achieved with old equipment. Thanks!
FYI the acoustic fiber weighs almost nothing. The weight is all the cabinet, drivers, and sometimes crossover. Despite marketing to the contrary, speaker technology has mostly changed very little since the 1970s. Early foam surrounds were a mistake, and R&D at the high end has improved, but generally great speakers from the 70's compete nicely today. In many cases they're better as they were made in North America or Europe and not China. Even some well known brands have gone downhill when they moved production to Asia to increase their profits.
good to know , so i have these panasonic plastic ones , should i change them?:O
Plastic as a case material sucks. If you knock on it with your knucke you will lear it bonk at a specific note. You don't want that. The box should have no resonance.
I used to think plastics sucks as case material too, until I met this JBL pro speaker that is heavy as fuck for something that small, it sounded freaking amazing too.
It's called JBL Pro III, if you don't know about it, you would think that's just another piece of cheap shit... :P
Magnets.
They could use rare earth magnet, which are light and compact, or they can use Alnico, or any other type of magnets to suit their design... Magnet weight really can't tell you the quality of the speaker.
I use a giant pair of full-size Technics that I got for all of $25 bucks at Goodwill plugged into a $10 thrift Sherwood receiver for TV/games, turntable, cassette, sometimes computer (when I can be bothered to plug the aux in) - wouldn’t fit in everyone’s room but they are fantastic, perfectly capable of shaking the room (maybe even moreso than systems I’ve had with a subwoofer) but good at low volumes too, would never go back to TV speakers again.
Some of those old Technics were among the earliest examples of stepping the baffle to provide, in combination with appropriate crossover design, phase coherence and a natural impulse-response.. something later championed by designers like John Dunlavy.
I found a pair of Technics SB-CR33's at a garage sale for $10. After sealing the cabinets and replacing the garbage tweeters I now have the best speakers I've ever owned, I'm gonna fill them with fiberglass when I find the time.
Good overview. Some of us get too wound up about high end brands but most of the time I’m pleased with the models they never realized big acclaim
I personally would go down the second hand route for the amplifier as well... Any of the 80s or 90s Japanese amps will beat out that small Lepai thing which frankly I find rather overrated.
I'm not sure if this is a UK only thing but in the 2000s some Japanese companies like TEAC and Denon were including some quite decent small bookshelf speakers that were made by the British company JPW; for budget units these had a very nice sound.
Generally I go for old British speakers. I managed to find some Rogers LS55s - similar to a model used by the BBC in their outside broadcasts and very good quality (they are UGLY though) - for under £20 many years ago. Still use them.
Yeah and you can find good quality 80-90s amps for nearly nothing these days. I would only consider one of these cheap class d amps if you require something really small, like for example for a home made blutooth speaker or something.
Except those little Rogers are probably worth $800 now. lol. I'm terribly sentimental but I'm not THAT sentimental. If I came across a pair I'd sell them and buy some old Klipsch or Kef coaxials or something. The little first series PSB Platinums were lovely too though a bit rare now.
@@freejulianassange537 $800 you say? Ebay...!
Our Goodwill stores now price decent audio gear way high. They had some old Pioneer receiver from the mid 80 s for $199. It wasn't anything fancy either. I never see good speakers anymore. Craigslist is a good option. Every once in a while you find good speakers at a reasonable price. I found a pristine set of Boston Acoustics A100s that had been refoamed for $70. After tying a lot of speakers over the years, these stand out and I would never sell them.
JohnAudioTech I noticed that too. Once it catches on they start learning what the stuff is worth and then even over charge for it.
Robert Cary Frankly Goodwill is a joke. If you have it, try Hope Chest. Goes towards hospice care too.
James Laidler yeah I've never been a fan of Goodwill anyway. I've had some good experiences with Salvation Army. Never heard of Hope Chest.
Robert Cary They're here in Central California. Salvation Army is an OK cause. I just particularly like Hope Chest for it's cause since my grandfather died of cancer, and super cheap cassettes, lol. Nicer store all around anyway.
Around here they are still fairly good. At Goodwill I got a Pioneer VSX-D812 for $5 in extremely good condition. Then I got a Polk RM20 Subwoofer and a couple of the surrounds that came with that setup for $25 and finally got a pair of AR TSW-410s for $4 because the foam was perished. At the Salvation Army store I got a Dual CS-515 that had it's RCA cables replaced properly and a new Ortofon DN-165E with cover for $15. Maybe not the highest end stuff but I'm quite happy with the performance especially per dollar.
Great video. I've got speakers at Thrift stores that had bad woofers, mids and just ordered new speakers and changed them out and checked the crossover circuit (if applicable). In each case I came out with practically new kick butt speakers.
I thought to myself. There is no way there is a video just for this one particular question I have. "How do you thrift speakers?" But turns out, there actually is a video that answers this question perfectly. The internet is a wonderful thing.
"I'm not an audiophile"
Ten seconds later there's video of a tube amp.
You can buy inexpensive tube pre amps.
趙雷 We know they do , but in the video he says he aint no audiophile then that tube amp , No matter the price ...
Whitefang8128 tube amps or psuedo tube amps are en vogue. But yes, that caught my eye
You don't have to be audiophile to apreciate a tube amp. They look cool and technology involved is pretty fun and there is thrill of keeping high voltage stuff in your living room
But tube amps look cool, that's a fact.
I am an audiophile, the 2nd pair of speakers l ever bought were the RS-2000's. I still own them.
I am in the business of speaker repair and see it all. What I like most is how much better people find their cabinet speaker sounds after they've been worked on - because of the last time they heard it and didn't think it could be resurrected. You know that people like this, love the speakers they've had for years. People either keep what they first get or go in search of the right sound. There are so many different speakers - and they all sound different. I once put together a pair of cabinet speakers - custom from different makes with a custom manufactured xover - for our showroom. They were sold the next day.
I remember these...from my day. They were in many dorms and bedrooms! Very bright and sound great!
I like this video a lot. I'm something of a budget-phile myself.
Thrift shops, pawn shops... I do them all.
Same, but I've found less success as of late with Flea Markets, and yard sales these days then I have in years past.
Is that even sanitary without protection?
But jokes aside, I try to go to thrift stores and pawn shops weekly.
Really missing second hand stores during the pandemic... I used to go quite consistently to grab old tech someone's grandson didnt think was worth putting on ebay
Perfect timing for this video, I'm looking to add some speakers in my apartment and money is definitely an issue, this has been very enlightening. Thanks!
Excellent review and excellent find! I found a Mission 760 speaker at a thrift store for $4 that had nothing wrong with it as well as 2 nice old, not well known(Soma speakers that are made in Canada) vintage speakers for free because the 10 inch woofer foam surrounds were damaged. $60 and I replaced the damaged surrounds and the speakers sound great! I currently use them in my shop and will never get rid of them.
I have never bought a brand new high end speaker. My last score was Klipsch KL-650's for R1500, About $100 at the time. And they're amazing! to take note they were about $1500 brand new. Before that was a pair of Boston VR-20's for about $50 I scored. And my amps are pre 1980's picked them up for next to nothing. JVC JA-S55 and a Akai cant remeber the model
and you still haven't bought high end speakers... just sayin
You jelly?
I see not even one bad comment from „audiophiles“. I don’t consider myself an audiophile, I’m just lucky to own a pair of good speakers...but I would never criticize anyone who is satisfied with their own audio solution.
All I am seeing are anti-audiophile comments by triggered skeptics who seem to be irrationally angry at audiophiles, and attribute all kinds of behaviors to audiophiles that are not actually substantiated anywhere whatsoever. Most of it is projection and very condescending psychoanalysis
I just get annoyed at people that buy $250 bluetooth speakers because it says Beats on it. Like... WHY? When you can get a GOOD pair of actual bookshelf speakers for the same price or $300...
I know I'm a bit late for this particular party, but in general this channel can't be beat.
Thanks, as always.
Indeed, the weight of speakers is important, but mostly the depth of the box also.. I recently picked up a analog stereo amplifier of Onkyo and 2 Speakers of Kef at a thrift! Both the amp and the speakers are deep load! It sounds awesome 👍🏼
I myself dont care for room shaking bass, just as long as it sounds good enough, that's all I need. My neighbors across the road however ... that's a different story.
Room shaking bass is (usually) by definition, poor quality
Speak for yourself. Have you ever been to a proper orchestra concert, with tubas and double basses? Obviously not. At least ever heard a church organ? You need, and I mean NEEED a ton of subwoofer power to reproduce that stuff at home. Making that room shaking bass precise - is very technologically challenging, needs a lot of electrical power and thus is very expensive. Massive bass with good resolution is the most rocket-sciency stuff of audio. It's much easier to make a lot of bass, that make some, but meaningfull bass.
And if everything you have ever heard happened in some slum ghetto part of the world, I guess you could generalise it further and say that everything, by definition is poor quality. Food, air, people... While I restorate a pair of Philips FB860 i got at a garage sale with busted cone surrounds. They are capable of both room shaking and string reproducing.
It should only shake the room when the room shook on the recording - and then it should do it at all those frequencies and not just some massive resonance point (as often heard in louder car stereos) :)
true kek
BangDroid who cares, as long as you have more spl that ur m8's system everything is good
Oh... well - the weight of the speaker doesn't come from the foam etc and usually not even from the wooden casing. It's the magnets that matter. The bigger, usually the better as they do affect the driver's power and efficiency. It directly translates to woofer's excursion (membrane movement) which displaces the air. You missed that one bro. You've also forgotten to mention that it's pretty damn important to check the impedance if it matches your amplifier of choice.
Just a side note - you'd be surprised how many people with decent speakers and amplifiers boast about "that great sound" while the phase (polarity) is inverted - and they don't even notice :)
In my experience the drivers are a small percentage of the weight. I've removed them in the infinity's (obviously--to redo the surrounds) and the woofer was maybe 2 lbs? Same goes for my JBLs. Those things are about 30 lbs. A better speaker will have a heavy cabinet to tame vibrations, and the foam or batting will improve the acoustics of internal reflection.
And yes, I should've mentioned impedance. But this is an introduction. And many amplifiers can drive 4 or 8 ohm speakers just fine (including the one in the video). I am no audiophile, and frankly don't want to be that concerned about my setup!
I have the opposite experience - but it really depends on the design. Next time please educate people about the importance of impedance (and why you can sometimes mismatch those and sometimes not) and polarity (crucial for proper stereo experience). Thanks in advance and thanks for reading comments :)
Again, this is at most an introductory video using thrift store finds for examples. We're not talking about the ideal system setup. There are times when including such detail becomes tedious. I'll leave videos on those topics to channels dedicated to audio gear reviews and the like.
You're the boss here :) I only said what seemed to have been missing there (from my perspective). And thrift stores are great of course!
No worries, I always encourage extra info in the comments!
You and I have almost the same desk setup. We have the same monitor I have a similar amplifier but in red and I have two HiFi Klipsch speakers running off my desktop aux. Glad to see I'm not the only one
Spot on! I love these RS2000 using Feel So Good as my test audio 35 years ago. Let's just say our approach to audio is almost the same.
if it's hi-fi then that means they'll never cheat on each-other
Some cheap adhesive spikes on the bottom of those speakers will improve the sound more than you would probably expect.
They did in my setup. The spikes stopped certain bass frequencies resonating with my desk, improving the resolution in the lower register, and curtailing obvious boominess.
Apache Longbow
On a wooden table I would put something between the table and the speaker
And on lightweight speakers I put metal door stoppers above them with 2.5 kilos each
There are many cheap tricks in audio
hmm isnt the desk resonating bass a good thing?
Zag Zagzag It over-emphasised certain frequencies at the expense of others, making the bass woolly-sounding and indistinct. At loud volumes the desk would occasionally buzz, which sounded crap. The spikes tamed the bloated bass, and allowed it to reach down lower with more clarity.
Zag, it depends what it's resonating.
"Things" have specific resonant frequencies, so a resonating desk will increase the volume of those frequencies more than others. This "colours/colors" the sound by enhancing those frequencies more than others.
If that sounds ok will depend on which frequencies those are, and your own particular preferences.
In an ideal world, the speakers will have a flat frequency across the entire frequency range, and so would the amp, and the room you're listening to it in.
As you can guess, this ideal doesn't exist, so it's all compromises, some of which actually sound nice.
Others, like your pot of pencils clattering about in a pot next to the speaker, don't.
This is why I'm addicted to thrift stores. Great advice mate.
Loved this video, my local thrift store tends to have some serious jems every once in a while (I found a set of Technics SB-CR33 speakers along with a Sony TA-AX295 and a friend found matching Pioneer speakers and reciever) and it's really cool to see there are others who go thrift store hi-fi shopping!
Good enough is always good enough--especially if the price is right!
that's why I just use computer speakers.
I mean it beats what comes built into TVs these days
Your goodwill seems to know thrift prices. The goodwills around here only know how to charge larger amount.... those Infinitis would have been > 5x the price.
I think Goodwill is doing the same thing in my area. You used to be able to find OG Xboxs, PS2s, and PSPs. Now they charge a pretty penny on their website
We had these speakers in our high school music theory classroom in the early 90's. I think they're great. Underwhelming low end, but they have great imaging and transparency. Enjoyable to listen to.
Great video! I thrift stored a 5.1 system this week! $13 for the speakers (Panasonic...but heavy) and powered sub for $19. Visited 5 stores before I found the powered sub. Almost all the subs I found were either passive, or worked as the amp for an entire matched system.
im even cheaper than you, i get mine dumpster diving and i harvest parts out of multiple speakers and throw them together with JBweld and hot glue with great results. all in all a good video, its close to what i tell all my friends who get jealous of my audio setup.
I made a replacement speaker cabinet for a massive 3 driver set out of reclaimed ply wood (the original particle board had gotten destroyed in the rain). I got a massive improvement in sound quality after I sealed all the joints with cheap yet effective construction silicone.
I paid €20,- for a pair of Bose 205, good deal?
20 for anything BOSE is a cracking deal
Bose are never a good deal. Bose is just an over hyped brand made from very very very very cheap parts.
true but Ebay dosent know that lol
Bose 20x/301 are on par with most speakers that were once sold as a bundle/set with one of those all in one units. Not necessarily bad, and for 20 pretty much on value, but the retail prices are outragious given the mediocre performance and very cheap materials/components.
About what that shit is worth.
Infinity made some of the best small surround sound and car speakers in the business during that time period. Thanks for posting the video
Hooray!!! I totally agree with you about those little amps you can "buy on Amazon"; they are the most "fun" discovery I have ever made, for cheap.
They are perfect for kids, or an extra TV in a bed room.
If you're not an audiophile, what's that vacuum tube piece of kit?
I don't know of any non-audiophiles that would have vacuum tubes so I said the same thing as soon as I saw them.
Well, mainly I just like vacuum tubes :) In all seriousness, that is probably my best sounding amp, but it's not a true tube amp. Only the pre-amp stage is tubes, the rest is transistors. I want to swap it with what's in my stereo now, but it doesn't have the input management that my receiver does. So for now, I have it hooked into my TV which is simpler. Plus I like the way it looks centered beneath the TV is pretty, as the kids say, dope.
I'm not an audiophile either but I love tube equipment. Heathkit, Knight, Hickok, Eico, etc. for my testing gear and use it to help restore old tube radios I get. The oldest radio I currently have is the 1933 Philco 18H in my picture over there
Heathkit? Fancy an 8080? Or how about a Zed 80?
Actually I've never looked at the model number of mine, it's just a signal generator. My Hickok is a model 532 tube tester and the only reason I know that is because it's in large print on the front panel, lol. My vtvm is a De Vry 1S14 and I only know that from searching the web for a manual for the thing and my condenser checker is a Knight which I don't know the model # of either. Needless to say I have no idea what an 8080 or Z80 is, but thanks just the same.
Honestly, just FORGET about how speaker looks like... Just look for the model and google it on your phone, this is a much easier way to determine its value. There's just too much generalization on something that have too many variations.
Even my most useful "If speaker uses binding post instead of spring clamp, it must be better" generalization was shattered recently by JBL's dinky plastic speaker that sounded amazing. Just forget about that, Google it!
If it looks expensive, heavy, and looks well built, search for it on google, and there will always be that post from 5 years ago asking if ABC speaker's model XYZ is worth $15 bucks or not, and there's your answer.
I think your last paragraph is the most important one! Everyone has google in their pocket and if the speakers are any good there are going to be people talking about them!
There is really no need to guess if a speaker is good. However, sometimes you stumble upon a small local speaker maker who made great speakers for a couple of years and then stopped. In that case you have to trust your intuition.
@@llaeeZ People have different opinions though. The reviews said the Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones were decent, but to me they sounded like listening to music under water (maybe my pair was damaged in transit, I'm not sure)... :(
Back in the 80's I picked up a pair of 12" three way cabinets with blown woofers for peanuts. The cabinets where nice and dense. I bought replacement drivers from Peerless and for many years they were the best sounding speakers I could find for a reasonable price. Yes KEF and B&W made better speakers, but the Peerless drivers were used in some of the top line audiophile speakers of the 80's and they held their own for 20 years. Then the woofers' paper cones and foam surrounds disintegrated. I kept the dome midranges and tweeters for the next project I build. But for beginner audiophile speakers this is the way to go!
With the exception of the turntable (which was bought new) my entire HiFi was purchased at the same pawn shop. Sounds great; no regrets.
I don't have golden ears or anything, but I wouldn't wish Bose products on my worst enemy. The darn things are cheaply constructed and overrated.
Bose 1801's famous for being an absolute beast of a power amp. 250wpc@8ohms, 400wpc@4ohms, 0.5% THD. And this pic of the innards says it all. i.postimg.cc/Hk517KJX/image2.jpg
they are for people who don't like music, overrated is a understatement
@@victoralexander848 love music and I love my Klipsch speakers....and my bose speakers as well...
Bose used to make amazing speakers, but their popularity got to their heads and they started catering to the average. Sony did the same thing as well. I fear for Sennheiser, Audeze, HiFiMan, and Beyerdynamic.
The "seized woofer" is caused by idiots who listen to rock music and turn up the volume to the point where the voice-coil adhesive melts, because they can't hear distortion -- or don't care. I bought four Advents several years ago, hoping to restore them -- and all were damaged in one way or another. Caveat auditor.
GrizzledGeezer somebody else Seized woofers are caused by idiots playing ANY music too loud for extended periods.
Not so. There are few continually loud classical works ("March to the Scaffold", maybe). I sometimes crank up the volume for particular works -- but never push the level to the point of distortion. (I have excellent equipment, and don't have to turn up the volume to hear what's going on.) Michael Dayton Wright (designer of classic gas-filled electrostatic systems) created a modest all-dynamic system called the LCM-1. He started getting returns with blown drivers. He redesigned the crossover several times to improve power handling, but the speakers kept coming back. He finally designed a separate woofer (the ICBM-1) to take some of the stress off the main speaker. Sorry, but I have no sympathy with people who listen to crummy music, whose only "redeeming" quality is that it's loud.
Musical preferences are immaterial- this is a matter of electrical engineering. Voice coils burn out when they cannot dissipate the heat generated from being driven too hard. It could be any wave form. Physics doesn't care which form of art you assign value to.
Different forms of "art" generate different amounts of heat. Jazz and classical music don't have the kind of sustained average power likely to push a speaker "over the line". Name a classical work you think is likely to do so. I'll play it through my 37-year-old Fried Betas (a two-way bookshelf system), and crank up the volume substantially above where I'd normally listen. I'll even drive it into modest distortion. I don't expect any damage to occur.
GrizzledGeezer somebody else If you push any type of music too far it will melt voice coil, that is if you have enough amplifier power to not distort but push drivers beyond limit (even distortion will kill it)
Those are actually quite good speakers. My brother-in-law has some that I recently repaired for him and they do sound good to me.
As you said, "your mileage may vary" and most speakers (so long as we're avoiding the crapy light shoebox speakers) are a personal preference.
Thank you for a down to earth review of some awesome buys lurking on the thrift store shelves. I recently picked up a Kenwood amp from the early 90's for ten bucks at a goodwill and it sounds just fine. I also picked up a pair of Infinity floor speakers on ebay and yes the shipping can kill you there but if you"re patient there are deals out there (89db sensitivity and yes they needed refoamed) Just subbed!
Down with cheap amplifiers!
This message was brought to you by VacuumTube Gang.
Audiophools will argue which cable you should use for the best sound quality - when talking about the HDMI-cable connecting the receiver to their sound system XD
What point are you trying to make?
Do i need to make any other point than pointing out that there are many morons that have no clue but want to talk big?
thread lightly he is one of them :D
ABaumstumpf Audiophile here, wasup?
you are dumb , how much did u spent on things you dont even need?
I didn't know about being able to replace the foam until just a few years ago. I used to put Walmart brand speakers in old heavy hifi cabinets that I picked up from thrift stores or old yard sales. most amps old or new will handle a 4 phm load if you keep it to one set of speakers . the stuff I have sounds amazing and I have even used my stuff to DJ parties in the past.
Hey dude.
This is the first video I've seen of yours and i rather liked it not only cos i hate spending big bucks but also cos you can pick up good stuff and be pleasantly surprised by them. And if they disappoint then one won't feel bad. Both the Infinity and JBL looked awesome.
Thanks for the video.
I think we all agree that audiophiles are never happy.
Yeah, it wouldn't matter what you use, they'd find something to gripe about. The way I figure it, if it sounds good to me then who cares what anyone else thinks of it. I just picked up an old Fisher 125 from around 1968 and after I replace the caps and out of tolerance resistors I'll be quite happy with it. I had the same model many years ago and I thought it sounded awesome with it's own speakers. I even thought albums sounded great on it and it only came with a BSR turntable with a ceramic cartridge.
When you become accustomed to high end, reference quality equipment, your ears and brain become trained to where anything less doesn't get your mojo flowing. Can you still enjoy watching movies on a 19" mono, tube TV? The problem is most people have never experienced a reference system properly set up but feel qualified to denigrate audiophiles. I know the term is tossed around freely in a disparaging way but it is someone who cares deeply about music but also about the gear on which it is played? Many claim to be, but have neither the equipment or historical knowledge to be classified as such. I mean who doesn't listen to music?
Just because you drive a car doesn't make you a "gear head". It's a hobby and a serious one to some.
I had no problem with anything until you said you use the DAC in your MONITOR. Why? Why not come out of the computer where the DAC is certainly of better quality?
he mentioned Using Displayport which means he more than likely is using his GPU to handle the sound output and as the sound data transmitted via the DP cable is Digital its less prone to interference from other components inside his computer, it also means hee's at the mercy of his monitors sound decoder
You told me nothing I didn't already know.
Most likely didn't want string another wire up to the desk.
Maybe his monitor does some kind of image processing, using it's internal DAC is the easiest way of making sure that the audio and video are kept in sync. Nothing more annoying than finding that the DP/HDMI processor in your screen causes just enough milliseconds of lag that you hear an explosion before you see it. Or people start talking before their mouth moves on screen.
Even if that's just a 50-100ms out of sync, it's noticable and annoying AF.
DIGITAL to analogue converter, it would make no difference other than at a worse case scenario of dropping out audio. Probably did it for convenience .
Great video. Recently found pair of EPI 100s for $60! Twice I've found small powered subwoofers in the $6 range that include outputs to reg speakers. Sourced by Alexa pucks, I now have great sound in my kitchen and workshop. My Goodwill gives three day test period for store credit.
I never thought of checking thrift stores for stereo equipment. Good idea! I usually hit up pawn shops and garage/estate sales.
Adding to the list of brands to look for: Cerwin Vega, Marantz (won't see them too often, but my HD-880s are AMAZING), Carver, B&W. These are much more on the audiophile side of things, but there are amazing deals out there if you really look and maybe get lucky. Cool vid!
Audiophiles are the same as snobs that think they can see the difference between 1080p and 4k on a 30 inch screen (without HDR) from 15 feet away. They are kidding themselves. Listen to whatever you think sounds good. Period.
Does other people understanding something you don't trigger you?
Vlad G - great - and i am sure you can provide evidence that audiophiles can hear what no human has ever been able to show that he is capable of. You too suuuuuurely can hear the difference between a track playing at 48kHz 16 bit and 192 kHz 24 bit - yeah,t oootally.
Agreed, especially since it's a video about thrift shop finds. But people just hear hi-fi and go 'no, no, no, you need to get... *lists insanely high end stuff and complicated setups not befitting a thrift shop video*' :p
exactly :D
or those guys who think can diff between a 320kbps mp3 and flac
i bet he would buy the 500+ kHz 64bit things cause he is surely able to diff them :P with a 16k iphone XX
"I'm not an audiophile"
Yes, yes you are. No shame in that either
737215 People dont seem to understand what an audiophile is. Im not sure if he is one though.
No, he's not an audiophile, he's a person who knows electronics.
People who know electronics:
Understands that even the cheapest modern computer dacs have enough quality for it being transparent, with a >100dB SNR and
God Hey, I actually agree with you on most things. I was especially surprised that while you realize that digital has less limitations it doesnt always matter because of real world and manufacturing factors.
There were some things that I think you oversimplified however. You can research a lot and find arguments here and there against abx testing for example as it puts you in a different state of mind compared to normal listening. But I 100% agree that more should do it when testing music or gear, Im guilty too ;^)
Im not sure about the DAC statement, can you really not make better DACs than 5 dollar alternatives? Considering youre making discrete information into a continuous variant it just seems to me like theres a lot going into it, not sure though.
The cable discussion is something Im afraid to get into. I see myself as a reasonable person, and it doesnt totally make sense why it would make a difference to me either. But I want to at least keep an open mind, and because I did at least one gentleman recently gave a reasonable argument for it. Again back to digital, a USB cable transfering digital data only needs to meet the requirements of the transfer, if so nothing should be lost. But when were talking analog the data is again continous and as such doesnt travel as just 1s and 0s. I dont know, Ive never tried it, Ive never heard it, Ive never seen any scientific study on it, I dont want to take any sides yet really. Hope I dont look like an idiot for it.
Whats this 24 bit of dynamic range however, never heard of it and why would it kill your ears?
Lastly, I just want to say that I identify as an audiophile, at least according to my working definition. Im sad that you associate all audiophiles as audiofools, it reminds me of the current feminist climate, where people think all feminists are blue haired fat girls screaming kill all men. Its really just a loud minority that gets overprojected. Same with any group of people, including audiophiles I believe.
I do think when I do abx testing my subconscious tries not let me hear the difference, or rather, I desperately don't want to hear the difference, because that could mean I would want to reencode all my music, so yeah, ABX isn't perfect, but is better than nothing. Many times I think hear a massive difference between 2 audio files, then I do an ABX test and "oh wait, I can't tell the difference".
When I said 5 dollar alternative, I don't mean that any 5 dollar dac is good, what I'm basically saying is that any dac that isn't complete crap reaches easily the point where you can't tell the difference. Besides the 5 dollar dac I mean an IC only, not a full board per se.
As for cables, as long as they have a reasonably low impedance, their impedance is within the tolerance limits wont affect any perceptible sound.
24 bit audio has a dynamic range of 144dB and 130dB and is loud enough to damage hearing permanently
This link explains it better.
people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
God Thanks Ill check it. Its nice to find reasonable people from time to time ;^)
I have some infinity modulus with emit k tweeter that where passed down to me and with a good amp and a pair of subs they sound incredible.
I'm so glad you mentioned replacing the surrounds if they are shot. Although NOT a thrift store purchase, my DynAudio speakers from 1997 cost me about $2k back then, and they still go for that now. However, the surrounds eventually crumbled away. Not having the money to replace the speakers, I found out how to restore them for about $57. Did that a couple of months ago, am so happy that my beautiful speakers are returned to their former glory. Now imagine if I'd picked them up for $50 originally... :)