Dear budget audio loving friends… I just want to share my joy with someone now.

I had some janky/cheap mixed with basic/ok audio gear over the last two decades. Just one of my setups was an actual real deal, premium, upper-mid-tier audiophile level treasure. I had it for a few months, it was a lot of fun, yes, it was overly expensive, double yes. The pure power, clarity and (obviously) bass were on impossibly precise and reality-bending levels for late 20s me… and most of my neighbors. There is a high probability that I have unintentionally killed some innocent flora and fauna with it. After maaany complaints about “dancing beds and glassware” etc. I just had to give it up — back then it felt like loosing something important.

So, let’s fast forward around a few years to yesterday. I think I might have created something special — at least for me — for about $50.

30 years old JVC receiver, I’ve bought some time ago as a project starter, paired with two german, vintage (50+ years old) 3-way speakers that I’ve found by a total accident on a local flea market and was pretty sure during the entire road back home that they might be dead or at least not fully functional… how wrong was I!

I just can’t stop smiling now. Didn’t have so much fun while simply listening to anything in a really long time. I can taste the rainbow of the pleasant, warm and cozy sound.

For the first time, I feel like I have a perfect setup for me and my surroundings, yet it is the cheapest one I ever had. This is crazy, this should not have happened, but it did.

Thanks for reading, I guess?

  • Avid AmoebaEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    Second hand gear is real. I had a Kenwood KA-7500 until recently. I found it thrown out 15 years ago. Nice speakers are more difficult to find second hand because they are easier to break and they often degrade with time. Things like rubbers, foams, glues in drivers. Caps in filters.

    • somnuz@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      Sure is, there definitely are pearls in the endless sea of junk. Those had some scratches on the outer plastic layer and one ugly half-torn sticker (random, not original), when I saw a circular mark left after a pot I was sure this one will be 100% dead / problematic, but the wooden box inside is intact, plus for the fun factor — there is a fat layer of glass wool (not mouldy) inside and the front metal mesh cover has some small dents, connecting cables needed a little refreshing but… from the moment I plugged them in, world became a better place.