I luv yard sales!

capecodder

Well, as I do almost every saturday I got up reasonably early to check out the local yard/estate sale scene within the immediate vicinity here on the Cape.

First one I went to (estate sale therefore professionally run) had your typical home stuff as well as family dvd and vhs electronics. One Denon 6-disk cd changer (model something 450) almost caught my eye for $25 but I passed. Have too many similar. A vintage Nakamichi LX-3 cassette deck was spotted over in the corner ($20). Beast of a unit and probably pretty good but I never have and never will be into cassettes. Thought the electronic items were done but then I went into basement.

No not the pot of gold, but a dusty forgotten Denon DP 52F direct drive turntable sitting in the "workshop" on top of an old stereo rack. Yep Denon tt's were highly regarded in the day so I grabbed it. Tone arms on these have a real robocop look to them but are supposed to be pretty good. No other equipment so I made may way home.

It was a little dirty at first blush but seemed in good shape. Cartridge was hard to read but seemed to say Signet. Stylus seemed OK also. Well I got out the paper towels and windex and went to town. In about 5 minutes I had it spotless and the tt is in almost perfect shape, including dust cover. No blemishes anywhere. Gorgeous rich rosewood (?) plinth base. Removed the cartridge to see the model hidden under headshell and its a Signet TK7E. Quick google ID's it as one of Audio-Technica's vintage top-of-the series and seems highly regarded again. Cool. :rolleyes:

Now, I wonder if it works. Plugged it in while sitting on kitchen counter and everything "moved". Getting better, so I pull out my reliable Technics tt running in my main system and swaped in the Denon. Everything is a go so I flop on mint Steely Dan "Can't Buy a Thrill" (bought at yard sale few weeks ago for 25 cents) and lowered the cartridge. Wow, that sounds f'in great.

The Denon also aesthetically looks much better so I guess the Technics is now my basement unit (which bumps out my B&O), or... maybe the basement should get my other college early model Technics SL1200, or my vintage Sony direct drive 2251 (which actually is the best basic tt of them all but it is big and doesn't fit in my main system area). Hmm... too many platters and not enough time to turn.







O yeah..

















forgot to say...















how much it cost.....



























$10,:eek:










was that too much?:rolleyes:

mrbigbluelight

I hate to see a fellow Polkie taking a beating like that, so ...... if you PM me, I'll go ahead and deposit $15 into your Paypal account. Make that $20, I guess I better throw in a little extra for shipping.


:rolleyes:

asindc

capecodder wrote:

$10,:eek:










was that too much?:rolleyes:

Bas*%$d.

hearingimpared

capecodder wrote:

Well, as I do almost every saturday I got up reasonably early to check out the local yard/estate sale scene within the immediate vicinity here on the Cape.

First one I went to (estate sale therefore professionally run) had your typical home stuff as well as family dvd and vhs electronics. One Denon 6-disk cd changer (model something 450) almost caught my eye for $25 but I passed. Have too many similar. A vintage Nakamichi LX-3 cassette deck was spotted over in the corner ($20). Beast of a unit and probably pretty good but I never have and never will be into cassettes. Thought the electronic items were done but then I went into basement.

No not the pot of gold, but a dusty forgotten Denon DP 52F direct drive turntable sitting in the "workshop" on top of an old stereo rack. Yep Denon tt's were highly regarded in the day so I grabbed it. Tone arms on these have a real robocop look to them but are supposed to be pretty good. No other equipment so I made may way home.

It was a little dirty at first blush but seemed in good shape. Cartridge was hard to read but seemed to say Signet. Stylus seemed OK also. Well I got out the paper towels and windex and went to town. In about 5 minutes I had it spotless and the tt is in almost perfect shape, including dust cover. No blemishes anywhere. Gorgeous rich rosewood (?) plinth base. Removed the cartridge to see the model hidden under headshell and its a Signet TK7E. Quick google ID's it as one of Audio-Technica's vintage top-of-the series and seems highly regarded again. Cool. :rolleyes:

Now, I wonder if it works. Plugged it in while sitting on kitchen counter and everything "moved". Getting better, so I pull out my reliable Technics tt running in my main system and swaped in the Denon. Everything is a go so I flop on mint Steely Dan "Can't Buy a Thrill" (bought at yard sale few weeks ago for 25 cents) and lowered the cartridge. Wow, that sounds f'in great.

The Denon also aesthetically looks much better so I guess the Technics is now my basement unit (which bumps out my B&O), or... maybe the basement should get my other college early model Technics SL1200, or my vintage Sony direct drive 2251 (which actually is the best basic tt of them all but it is big and doesn't fit in my main system area). Hmm... too many platters and not enough time to turn.

I love to hear analog goodie stories. . . one word of caution though. Most cartridges once used, the suspension on the cantilevers start to age (dry rot) slowly. That means that if the suspension is toast and you try to use it on an LP you could literally etch a new groove into the LP. You dodged a bullit playing that Steely Dan LP.

I had a similar experience recently. I have a VPI TT with an SME IV tonearm with a Talisman Alchemist (excellant) cartrige mounted. Now in its day this cartridge was raved about and I can tell you it could track anything (good tonearm has a lot to do with that also). I was tempted to play one of my audiophile quality LPs on it but thought better of it. I took out an old piece of crap LP (I use this for testing purposes) and tried to play it. At first the cartridge tracked that baby like it was new, shortly after I heard this screeching, scatching, scary, incredibly startling sound. The rubber or whatever was used in the suspension was dry rotted. Thank goodnes I tried with the test LP first.

Good luck and keep us up on the progress of the new TT.

Joe

Systems

Nice find.Is that one of the Denon models that has a servo tonearm?

Polkersince85

That beats out the Dual 604 direct drive complete I picked up at Goodwill for $7 yesterday. We have got to be careful, this audio stuff will blow your budget.

George Grand

You guys pay way too much for this stuff.

capecodder

hearingimpared wrote:

Most cartridges once used, the suspension on the cantilevers start to age (dry rot) slowly.
Joe

yeah I am aware of this and I will definitely keep an eye on it. So far, so good but very early to know.

capecodder

Polkersince85 wrote:

That beats out the Dual 604 direct drive complete I picked up at Goodwill for $7 yesterday. We have got to be careful, this audio stuff will blow your budget.

Nice find also. I bought a beautiful Dual 1219 this summer for $25 and it now rests in my son's college apt. What bullet proof tts they are. For some reason I haven't come across Thorens in my yard sales??

capecodder

GV#27 wrote:

Nice find.Is that one of the Denon models that has a servo tonearm?

That would assume I know what a servo tonearm is....



By the way. how the hell do you do multiple quotes in a single response??

danger boy

nice snag capecodder.... i enjoy reading stories like yours.. make me know i have no chance of scoring anything good like that here. LOL

prob a good idea to pass on the cassette deck. those don't fetch much money if you try to flip it. I see really nice Pioneer and Sansui casette decks at GW all the time for about $15, i tried to flip one. and i actually took a $3 hit on it. :mad:

capecodder

Danger- Yeah I checked eBay and while Nakamichi cassettes used to be a brand to have, that model didn't bring much. It probably sounds great but i really don't have any interest in cassettes. Not sure what brands/models still are sought after.

Polkersince85

capecodder wrote:

Not sure what brands/models still are sought after.

I think some the upper end Sony ES models bring some payback if you can get it cheap.

hearingimpared

I would think that if any brand would bring in some cash it would be Nakamichi, they were at one time the cream of the crop.

Tex

I bought a stack of Nakamichi stuff today but paid alot for it. The main reason I bought it was for the Cassette deck. When I walked up to it the first word I saw was "Dragon". This is one of their most sought after cassette decks. There was also a power amp, preamp, cd player, and tuner. The whole set up was $250. Not sure what all works yet but I think it was a steal.

hearingimpared

Tex wrote:

I bought a stack of Nakamichi stuff today but paid alot for it. The main reason I bought it was for the Cassette deck. When I walked up to it the first word I saw was "Dragon". This is one of their most sought after cassette decks. There was also a power amp, preamp, cd player, and tuner. The whole set up was $250. Not sure what all works yet but I think it was a steal.

I remember the Dragon, that was a really, really great piece, very well made I remeber the heads were some kind of new special material but I can't remember exactly what.

Great find, good luck.

Systems

Tex wrote:

I bought a stack of Nakamichi stuff today but paid alot for it. The main reason I bought it was for the Cassette deck. When I walked up to it the first word I saw was "Dragon". This is one of their most sought after cassette decks. There was also a power amp, preamp, cd player, and tuner. The whole set up was $250. Not sure what all works yet but I think it was a steal.

If every thing works than you did real good on that deal.
Nakamichi made THE best cassette decks and the Dragon was their best unit and I think it sold for several thounsand dollars back in the late 80,s.
Which amp did you get PA5 or PA7?

George Grand

I have an upper end Sony ES cassette deck in the He-Man rig. It sounds okay. I had one of those LX-3's and it was a gorgeous machine, cosmetically and sonically. You wouldn't have too much trouble flipping that. The LX-3 that I had was left on my desk at work as tribute for something I must-ve done.

schwarcw

Great score capecodder!

capecodder

George Grand wrote:

I have an upper end Sony ES cassette deck in the He-Man rig. It sounds okay. I had one of those LX-3's and it was a gorgeous machine, cosmetically and sonically. You wouldn't have too much trouble flipping that. The LX-3 that I had was left on my desk at work as tribute for something I must-ve done.

Hmm... that could be taken many different ways GG. Sounds like there might have been some interest in the LX3 around here. I might be able to track it down and if I do maybe I'll offer it up here for cost and shipping. I have no clue if it works mind you.

capecodder

Tex wrote:

I bought a stack of Nakamichi stuff today but paid alot for it. The main reason I bought it was for the Cassette deck. When I walked up to it the first word I saw was "Dragon". This is one of their most sought after cassette decks. There was also a power amp, preamp, cd player, and tuner. The whole set up was $250. Not sure what all works yet but I think it was a steal.

Wow- I just checked what Dragons were bringing on eBay. You did VERY well. They sell for $500-$900 typically.

George Grand

No, I have no interest Codder but thank you. I have a beautiful Tandberg TCD-310 in my half-assed HT rig, and a Nakamichi BX-2 as a back-up in case either of the other two fail. And some other kind of Nak also around here somewhere.

capecodder

Hey no problem GG. Wasn't necessarily directed to you only but not sure if I can even find it. Tandberg also made nice decks. Definitely prettier than the industrial Nakamichi look. I still think their line of receivers were some of the nicest looking at the time.

George Grand

Agreed. Tandberg receivers are gorgeous, and I'd bet any amount of money this TCD-310 I have will still FF or rewind a C-90 cassette faster than anything else ever made. Built like a tank. I also have a non-working one of those laying around for parts in case the good one needs them.

janmike

Nice find. At that price how can you go wrong.

capecodder

GV#27 wrote:

Nice find.Is that one of the Denon models that has a servo tonearm?

Guess it is a servo tonearm. Hadn't noticed but it says so right on it . Still not sure what that means.

Tex

To answer GV#27 it is the PA-5 amp, and the CA-5 preamp.

capecodder

Hey Tex, you really did get a great deal since you probably got about $1500 worth of equipment.

Systems

capecodder wrote:

Guess it is a servo tonearm. Hadn't noticed but it says so right on it . Still not sure what that means.

Instead of relying strictly on gravity and counter wieghts for tracking the servo arms were electronically assisted.

Systems

Tex wrote:

To answer GV#27 it is the PA-5 amp, and the CA-5 preamp.

Sweet.

bikerboy

Nice find on the TT. I have a Denon DP-72 and think you will like your Denon a lot. My brother has a Nak Dragon TT and I keep telling him that I can take it off his hands. He doesnt think so. I also had the cartridge rot cause the stylus to fall off on the old cartridge many years ago. The coils and magnets also weaken over the years and a new cartridge would be a good idea. I am amazed how good LPs sound.