[Bemopti123]

Some excellent used components that are hard to find:

speakers:  Epos Es11.  Circa 1991-1995?  Used market prices:  between 1999-2001 ~ 300.  Now:  $400-450.
                Spica TC-50s?  Circa 1991        Used market prices:  now ~ 250-300.

Amplification:  Preamps:  Any of the old Forte Models.  Circa 1987-1992?  Used market prices:  between $400-600.  Big plus:  Some contain full phono preamp stages with multiple setting, these sections might be superior to most separate phono pres available today up to $1000. 

                  Amplifiers:  I scored a Harman Kardon TT(twin transformer) 430 I believe for $90 used on Ebay. Circa 1975-1978?  I had it overhauled.  I guess I went all out, all caps replaced, many other components in the signal path replaced, had a hospital grade captive PC installed, put 2 Cardas "wheel" knob type speaker binding connections, the overhaul cost me around $500.  Perhaps it was a overkill for an used component.  The looks and the sound density I get from this unit equals something in the range of $2000 new today.  It sounds fast and very weighty.  Not shabby if you see that the power specs are about 35 watts/channel. 

Hope these experiences are relevant to the thread.

[starkiller]

Stuff from the thrifts and garage sales in the last month:

Adcom 545II---$19.99---wonderful sound
BGW 250e professional amp----$40 and sounding good
Yamaha NS-200M's---$25....cabinet challenged but superb sound
Yamaha NS-10M's---$10...being used as tables...cosmetic challenged but great sound
Crest 4000 amp...$100...bad channel..i don't always win

[Mortsnets]

I agree with Bemopti123 - the Epos ES-11s are a good value.  I've seen them from $200 to $300, got mine for $200 on CraigsList.

My Celestion SL6si speakers were under the $350 limit and are very nice too.

[TheChairGuy]

Amplifiers:  I scored a Harman Kardon TT(twin transformer) 430 I believe for $90 used on Ebay. Circa 1975-1978?  I had it overhauled.  I guess I went all out, all caps replaced, many other components in the signal path replaced, had a hospital grade captive PC installed, put 2 Cardas "wheel" knob type speaker binding connections, the overhaul cost me around $500.  Perhaps it was a overkill for an used component.  The looks and the sound density I get from this unit equals something in the range of $2000 new today.  It sounds fast and very weighty.  Not shabby if you see that the power specs are about 35 watts/channel. 

Hope these experiences are relevant to the thread.

Dual Mono straight back to the power supplies is a wondrous thing indeed!

Along those lines and probably just discontinued by Pioneer as they lost some $2Billion or something last year is the terrific SX-A9-J receiver.  Like the old HK's, they are dual mono right back to the power supply, throw in a neat remote, offer straight path options (removal of additional processing is great for sonics) and a terrific MM phono stage (the MC phono stage is not as good at all).

All for a price slightly more than paid for the overall of the HK at $695.00: http://www.independentaudiovideo.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1009880

I use it for the preamp and tuner stages (all remote!) and use the preamp out jacks with tube mono amps.  But, if push ever came to shove, I'd be perfectly suited to use the SS amp stage on this economical wonder if I had to. As a compact cornerstone of one's system, the $695 price is indeed cheap and cheerful

It's 70w per channel....so it'll drive a good bit of speaker thrown at it in a normal sized environment.

John 

[JLM]

Scored a pair of Fried A6 speakers (floorstanding 2-way) for $300 years ago (retail $1,100).  They were new, but left over from when the company went bankrupt (Bud Fried had sold a couple of years earlier).  Poorly built, just black vinyl oak texture finish, but good sound (in a full bodied bass, non-fatiguing way).  A crossover redo was supposed to help but the seller never did get the design to me.

Before that I picked up a factory refurbished Harmon Kardon 3480 receiver for $160 delivered.  Great sound (better than my $700 Rotel), but kept blowing diodes (according to the repair shop).  It came with a 2 year warranty so they paid for the 2 repairs and had a "3 strikes and you're out" (they would have replaced the unit) clause.  Unfortunately it ended up in a secondary HT system so got little use and I didn't discover it had died again until the warranty was up.

[J Fallows]

Well, how about a Planar3 with Super Elys? cart and one of my most treasured finds to date, a Creek 5350 integrated for $125.00. But the turntable has a broken dust cover and the amp needed repair.

[Mortsnets]

Although they are fairly rare used Fried speakers can be good buys, maybe because they are not that well known.  I got Fried Model R speakers locally for $100, they are so big can't really ship them.

The following on Audiogon seem like pretty good values:
Wharfedale Diamond 8.1  $129.99
Wharfedale Diamond 9.1    $165.00

[mfsoa]

Gotta agree on the Forte preamp comment.

I have a Model 40 w/ phono. I've thought about selling but it's just so much better than what it's worth (I thought more like $300 ish, today's market) that it doesn't make sense to get rid of it!

Used it in place of my VAC for a few weeks and it didn't disappoint.

-Mike

[Alexdad54]

I just picked up a used Assemblage ST-40, great price ($350) for what I have heard is a pretty good beginner tube amp...I think....

[S Clark]

Best deals that I have found here on AC include

Cambridge 640C V.1 cd player for $200
Cambridge 640P phono pre for $80 + $15 for faulty caps
Moscode 300 amp with every mod available for $500

Outside of AC, the best deal was at a junk store-- an old Knight KB-85 amp with all tubes for $10.  Massive potted iron, RCA 6L6GC tubes, Class A,  running 35 wpc.  Put another couple of hundred into recapping and new resistors to make it a very nice amp with excellent tone.  Bass is more solid and controlled than most vintage, definitely better than the equivalent Mac.

[Nels Ferre]

Glad to see you got my old Cambridge phono stage working again. 

[JimJ]

Gotta agree on the Forte preamp comment.

I have a Model 40 w/ phono. I've thought about selling but it's just so much better than what it's worth (I thought more like $300 ish, today's market) that it doesn't make sense to get rid of it!

Used it in place of my VAC for a few weeks and it didn't disappoint.

-Mike

The Pass stuff kicks ass