Another navel gazing post: Turntables
Jstas
Posts: 14,842
Have you shopped for one outside of this place recently?
Prices are through the roof! Additionally, spare parts and new cartridges are becoming hard to find or super expensive for all except the most common brands/models.
I have a few sitting around that needed attention and was working on getting them cleaned up and cleared outta here 'cause I'm tired of looking at them but every place that I normally get repair parts from has everything either back ordered or out of stock. To repair one old Technics I had to actually get a similar model with similar internals that's beat to snot just so I could cannibalize the parts and get it fixed in time for a friend's kid's Christmas present. Yes, a friend's daughter wants a record player so she can play Billie Eilish albums and be sad that she's listening to her favorite artist. He asked me if I had anything because the prices for non-disposable junk are astronomical and he didn't want to drop $300+ on a half-decent turntable for her.
Even then, though, three years ago when I came upon this particular Technics turntable, they were going for $50-$75. I just paid $62 for a broken one. Working and in rough shape they are being listed for $100 and selling with bids over $150.
So between the supply chain issues and the surge of "retro" media needs, old electronics are a booming market. So if you need some extra cash and are handy with some testing tools and soldering iron, maybe start hitting some of those flea markets, yard sales and estate sales and pick up some stuff that needs some love on the cheap. Flipping it will get you a pretty good profit if you can keep your costs down.
And yes, the "retro" media thing is real. We were in an FYE store last night. Remember them? They used to sell music and movies like Sam Goody and Tower Records? Yeah, well, not a CD in the place. They had a few racks but they were all vinyl and believe it or not, cassettes. The movies were all used DVDs, not even Blu-Ray but, I did see a few "pre-owned" HD-DVDs sitting there for a buck each.
Anyway, I asked the lady that was sorting through and reorganizing the vinyl back to where it was supposed to be and she said that vinyl and the all-in-one record players they have are hot sellers this year. They have burned through thousands of LP sales since the beginning of November and get new deliveries of LPs every day and the most popular piece of electronics gear in the place was a 4-in-1 combo LP/Cassette/CD/Tuner unit with a built in speaker that they've sold over 250 units of since they started carrying it in July.
I've also noticed that lots of new receivers at entry levels and slightly above are all advertising "phono inputs" or "real phono inputs" now where as they haven't had that kind of stuff since the mid-90's. You had to go to the Best Buy Magnolia stores at the minimum to find anything with an on-board phono input.
Times, they are a-changin'.
It's weird.
I don't like it.
Prices are through the roof! Additionally, spare parts and new cartridges are becoming hard to find or super expensive for all except the most common brands/models.
I have a few sitting around that needed attention and was working on getting them cleaned up and cleared outta here 'cause I'm tired of looking at them but every place that I normally get repair parts from has everything either back ordered or out of stock. To repair one old Technics I had to actually get a similar model with similar internals that's beat to snot just so I could cannibalize the parts and get it fixed in time for a friend's kid's Christmas present. Yes, a friend's daughter wants a record player so she can play Billie Eilish albums and be sad that she's listening to her favorite artist. He asked me if I had anything because the prices for non-disposable junk are astronomical and he didn't want to drop $300+ on a half-decent turntable for her.
Even then, though, three years ago when I came upon this particular Technics turntable, they were going for $50-$75. I just paid $62 for a broken one. Working and in rough shape they are being listed for $100 and selling with bids over $150.
So between the supply chain issues and the surge of "retro" media needs, old electronics are a booming market. So if you need some extra cash and are handy with some testing tools and soldering iron, maybe start hitting some of those flea markets, yard sales and estate sales and pick up some stuff that needs some love on the cheap. Flipping it will get you a pretty good profit if you can keep your costs down.
And yes, the "retro" media thing is real. We were in an FYE store last night. Remember them? They used to sell music and movies like Sam Goody and Tower Records? Yeah, well, not a CD in the place. They had a few racks but they were all vinyl and believe it or not, cassettes. The movies were all used DVDs, not even Blu-Ray but, I did see a few "pre-owned" HD-DVDs sitting there for a buck each.
Anyway, I asked the lady that was sorting through and reorganizing the vinyl back to where it was supposed to be and she said that vinyl and the all-in-one record players they have are hot sellers this year. They have burned through thousands of LP sales since the beginning of November and get new deliveries of LPs every day and the most popular piece of electronics gear in the place was a 4-in-1 combo LP/Cassette/CD/Tuner unit with a built in speaker that they've sold over 250 units of since they started carrying it in July.
I've also noticed that lots of new receivers at entry levels and slightly above are all advertising "phono inputs" or "real phono inputs" now where as they haven't had that kind of stuff since the mid-90's. You had to go to the Best Buy Magnolia stores at the minimum to find anything with an on-board phono input.
Times, they are a-changin'.
It's weird.
I don't like it.
Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
Comments
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Yep Wal Mart has more LP's than DVD's and CD's combined. My son in the past sent pictures of friends apartments that have lots of albums and not one player in sight. It's all about the art and "coolness" factor for the mid 20year olds. He asked how many albums I used to have. I said in my prime had about 100 and YES I had a decent player to go with them. I also told him how it was a ritual to go to the record stores on payday and flip through every section to get a good look at the cover art, and of course buy several and bring them home and play.
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Yes, a friend's daughter wants a record player so she can play Billie Eilish albums and be sad that she's listening to her favorite artist.
I disabled signatures. -
Watch out -- tape is comin' back with a vengeance. You heard it here first.
Not just cassettes, either -- no, no...
PS I thought I posted this on the "post a picture" thread, but it seems pretty apropos to this thread, too.
oh, and now there's this one, too...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/comics/zits-by-jeremy-scott-and-jim-borgman/ss-AARfLq6?ocid=msedgntp#image=8Post edited by mhardy6647 on -
Oooooh, 8track!Yep, my name really is Bob.
Parasound HCA1500A(indoor sound) and HCA1000(outdoor sound), Dynaco PAS4, Denon DP1200 w/Shure V15 Type V and Jico SAS stylus, Marantz UD7007, Polk L600, Rythmik L12 sub. -
Seems like every TV commercial I see that is supposed to be someone's living room has a turntable in the background."This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon
