Today was the first of the year for my local (walking distance) car boot sale. The only Walkman or Boombox I saw there was a small Sanyo egg. I did find some bargains in other categories though without even haggling. First purchase was three Maxell XL-II C90s for £1 There were at least five mini Hi-Fis there along with a one piece Sony all in one stack. I didn't really want my next purchase which was an Aiwa Midi System with no remote for £8 However, I did want the speakers which were included with it which are rather nice Gale Aria AR-10s . Definitely worth the visit and the £9 I spent. Whenever I buy anything like this I can't help but think how much I would have been prepared to pay for something like this thirty years ago. Of course youngsters today would probably turn their noses up with their being no Bluetooth or Turntable
When I commented to the lady who was selling (her husband was there but didn't seen to have much say in the proceedings) that it was only the speakers that I found interesting she said that if I wanted I could have them on their own for £8. The thing was the whole system was already labelled at £8 so the Aiwa was effectively free, except for the effort of getting it home. If you see a bargain at a car boot sale it is always worth buying it there and then rather than trying to negotiate a better deal. I once bought a boxed Sony Playstation 2 Slim for £20 after the bloke next to me asked the price and then started trying to haggle the seller down to £10. As soon as he walked away I bought it for the very reasonable price the seller was asking. Other (off topic) purchases this weekend were a boxed Sharp solar calculator for £2.50 and a Behringer DSP Audio effects unit for £15.
£8 is a great price but i confess i would have left the lot myself, im just a fussy git, congrats tho mate
I have a pair of Gale Model 2's hooked up to my Dad's old NAD 3020i in my bedroom, very capable little speakers. Gale made some good stuff!
Here a some of my home equipment purchases at this weekends car boots. No boxes or Walkmans about this weekend! One Sony Discman but it wasn't an early one. In the photo is a very clean and tidy JVC AC-60GB colour tv/monitor with power pack. An AKAI DT-200 audio timer in excellent condition all round. A Sony CDP-313 and finally a Sanyo Betamax VTC5150. Will have a play and move them on though may hold on to the AKAI in the hope of finding some matching components as future car boots.
That little JVC monitor might be useful. They were expensive yet popular at the time probably as they (as their predecessor) were one of the first small monitors to have video inputs instead of having to mess around with aerial leads and tuners. The Sanyo Betamax really takes me back. A couple of people I knew bought them in the 1980s. They were around £300 when the cheapest VHS was £400. I have never owned one of those but at various times had three Sony C6s I picked up very cheap. By the end of the 1980s they were almost being given away. I once saw a Betamax labelled "Star Wars Tape £10 - Free VCR". Back in 1989 my boss actually got £100 trade in for the most knackered C6 which didn't even have any heads in it at the time against a new Sony C9. Sony were doing an trade in offer for "Any VCR working or not" so he needed something to trade in. Things seem to have turned full circle in that while VHS VCRs are now down to about £10 last time I looked on Ebay Betamax machines were worth far more.
Well you actually have the upmarket Sanyo. It was the VTC5000 that was £300 while yours was actually more expensive than the Sony back in 1982 ! To give an idea of prices back then I was about to finish college and start work as a qualified electronics engineer on £6880 per year.
Two more purchases, a Technics SU-X860 Reference Amp and a Sony TA-88 amp. Not tested either yet. Will be giving both a bit of an external clean first. Five pounds each. I just can't say no at those prices.
You will start saying no when you run out of space . The Technics for £5 is just amazing. My guess is that it was several £100s when new. The Sony was probably expensive too but looks to be early 1970s to me. Most people were messing around with Sinclair modules back then.
I have the whole stack system that goes with that technics amp, it was about £1500 for the lot back in the early 90's...some great finds here
Here is a pic after the clean. And it's working, not everything tested but it seems to be ok. Break for lunch now then on to the Sony one.
Another one of Sunday's car boot finds is this Sony HCD-L1. Just testing it and sounds really nice, plenty plenty bass. It's next up for a little clean. Couple of very small dings to the grills and rather dirty but otherwise very nice. Really like the cd being on display but for some reason I thought the speakers might/should slide across to cover the display when its turned off but unfortunately they are fixed grills. Would have been a keeper if they slid...it's calling for slidy doors! Anyway, quite a neat design and it's currently sending me in to hyperspace with some Jamiroquai
