Record Recycling: Great Vinyl from the Thrift Store

Someone donated a fantastic vinyl record collection to Goodwill.  The collection featured great groups like Earth, Wind, and Fire.  I found Jazz masters like Thelonious Monk and Cannonball Adderly.  I recognized familiar blues kings like Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland collaborating on an album.  I picked up household names like Lou Rawls. Even Gladys Knight and the Pips were in the stacks of old vinyl.

These aren't the Eighties icons that formed the mainstays of my music collection.  But, I recognized some great groups.  When I get home, I'll get to listen to them.  So whomever you are who donated to Goodwill, thanks for making your donation and thanks for sharing your music.  It will play on!

An Old School Stereo for Less than $30

Are you looking to get a stereo cheap?  A few weeks ago, I came across a couple of interesting stereo components that could have led me to the construction of a pretty nice sub-$30 old school stereo.

First, in a Goodwill in the far flung suburbs of Atlanta, I found two stereo receivers for $24.99 each.  The first component  was a Sherwood RX-4100 receiver.  It's a 105 watt 2-channel stereo unit with 0.05 THD distortion.  The Sherwood RX-4100 Stereo Receiver received mixed reviews on Amazon.com due primarily to the lack of tone controls.  If you need a manual for this stereo receiver it can be found on manualslib.com. 

Sherwood RX-4100 Stereo Receiver

The second component was an Insignia 200 watt stereo reciever.  Insignia is well known as the house brand of Best Buy.

Finally, a solitary Lxi brand single-disc CD player was selling just down the aisle for just under $4.  Of course, the $20,000 question remains:  will a $4 CD player work?  It did power on and off.  The door also opened and closed.  A simple CD player from Goodwill just might work.  It's the multi-disc CD players that get clunky.

 

That's a lot of stereo for $29.  Of course, speakers are another matter.  However, I've often seen mondo speakers for as low as $20 a pair.  Small bookshelf speakers could go for as little as $10.  As long as you can see that there are no tears in a speaker cone and that the foam surrounds around a speaker are intact, you almost can't go wrong with speakers from a thrift store.  However, there are also some great speaker deals on the Internet.

We live in an era when any resourceful kid can put together a great stereo.  We are lucky to be living in the twilight of a golden age of stereo technology.

Saying Goodbye to CD Jewel Cases

We recently accomplished something major.  We got rid of all of our CD jewel cases.  We transferred each CD and CD cover pamphlet into a couple of CD portfolio cases.

The tough part of the project was alphabetizing all of the CDs and getting CD paperwork into the portfolio.  Here is my advice for organizing CDs in this manner:

1. Get all of your CDs together in one place.
2. Get a storage portfolio for each genre of music.
3.Divide your CDs by genre and alphabetize them consistently.
4. Start filing.  You may want to start jotting down the tunes for each CD onto a notecard to file with each disc.
5. Once you've filed all your CDs into portfolios, go thrugh ypur stack of jewel cases and make sure you didn't miss any double CDs or important pamphlets.

Once you're done, dump all the empty jewel cases into a recycling bin.

Vintage Audio Sighting: Technics SB-2745 Speakers

Just a week after buying myself mondo huge Technics speakers, I came across a second similar set in a different thrift store.  These were Technics SB-2745 speakers.  They had similar characteristics to my larger Technics SB-2845 speakers.  However, these speakers had a pronounced duct at the bottom.

Technics SB-2745 Speakers

Like my speakers, the Technics SB-2745 speakers were 200 watt speakers.  While the cabinets bore the scars of a long life, the cones and surrounds looked good.  If the sound quality came any where near the quality of my SB-2845 speakers, then someone found a great deal!

Technics SB-2745 Speakers

The frequency response curves looked similar to those of my Technics speakers.  These would definitely rock the house!  Like most Technics gear, these speakers probably don't get the respect they deserve.  Here is a discussion on Audiokarma.org.  However, I suspect that they are probably much better than the average modern stereo speaker.

As this audioholic found, people who stumble across these speakers and hook them up are surprised and pleased!

In 2025, if you are looking for floor-standing speakers that can handle some power, you might want to check out a pair of Cerwin-Vega SL-15 speakers. They are the brand's flagship speakers and you can see them here on Amazon!

Classic Cerwin-Vega SL-15 Speakers (Amazon photo)

Deals Foregone - A Sharp Mini Stereo System

I almost bought this little Sharp Mini Stereo a few weeks ago.  The speakers on it sounded really good.  The Goodwill had it priced to move at only $11.  I found a CD and listened to it for awhile.  Sound was wonderful.  The volume seemed more than adequate to fill a room.  However, the tape deck was not working.

Sharp Mini Stereo System

Ultimately, I decided to pass.  At the time, we didn't need any more stereo equipment in the house.  I think I might have missed out.  But, Sharp still makes mini stereos.

How Can I Add More Inputs To My Stereo?

In a world full of personal devices, it is easy to run out of auxiliary inputs on an old school stereo.  Most old school stereos were designed for inputs from a record player, a tape deck or two, and a CD player.  When you want to add a cellphone, a tablet, a computer, and an MP3 player, you can run into problems.
How do you add new devices to a stereo?

The answer is simple: an audio source selector switch box.   I picked a Radio Shack switch box up at a thrift store for just a few dollars and now I can plug in nearly any device wthout running out of audio inputs.  If you'd like to save yourself months of searching your local thrifts, simply check one of these out:

Pioneer Speakers: CS-G104. Floorstanding Speakers

I recently ran into some interesting looking speakers at Goodwill.  They were Pioneer CS-G104 Floorstanding Speakers.  

Pioneer CS-G104 Speakers

I didn't have my pocket knife so I couldn't pry the grills off.  However, when I shined my phone's flashlight through the black grill cloth, I couldn't see any flaws in the speaker cones or surrounds.  Even the wood laminate cabinets seemed unblemished.  Plus, it was also only $10.91 for the pair.  Plus, you just can't get this kind of quality colored vinyl laminated wood any more here in America.

 A quick check of this CS-G104 review on the interwebs revealed that owners were generally pleased with the sound from these speakers.  The interesting thing about this speaker design is that it has no dedicated mid-range speaker.  It just has a 10-inch woofer and a tweeter.  According to the information printed on the back, these are 50 watt speakers with 6 ohm resistance.  They were also made in the U.S.A. with U.S. and imported parts.

Pioneer CS-G104 Specifications

I was sorely tempted.  But, I had no rational reason to buy them.  I am quite happy with my current Pioneer bookshelf speakers.  I also like my monolithic Technics speakers.  So, I left them in the wild.  Perhaps someone else will discover them and get great joy using them in conjunction with a vintage receiver.

In 2025, if you are looking for a modern floor standing speaker, you might check out the Sony CS Speaker. It's a 3-way 4 driver speaker. It can handle up to 290 watts of output.  The speakers look like this, but you have to buy them individually.

Sony CS Speaker, SS-CS3M2, Amazon Photo

You can check them out and support this blog by purchasing them here from my Amazon affiliate link.