I have no idea what these speakers are worth


A friend of mine recently sold two vintage Harmon Karden stereo speakers on EBAY. He sold them for several hundred dollars. That made me think that I could possibly sell the speakers that have been used as end tables in my house for the past 30 years. They are:

two Pioneer C5-A31-Max 40W
normal 20W
Impedance 16 Ohms
speakers.
I bought these new on 1967, and, as near as I can tell, they work just fine.

My wife bought two
University Sound ULTRA 1
3 way ducted speakers.

University Sounds was at the time of purchase (1967) a division of Altec - which was in turn a division of Ling - LTV corporation.

Both sets of speakers are in pretty much mint condition, and the University Sound speakers have not been electrically plugged in since 1973, but they are great for acting as a base for vases.

Our (adult, financially sound) son is interested in buying one of these sets, but we have no idea what they are worth.

Does anyone in this forum have a decent idea?????
128x128jentlemanj

No doubt people think differently. A couple of years ago, I had a nice quad of RCA 6L6GC black plate tubes, and putting them up for auction, there would have been plenty of bidders jumping at the chance to buy them, probably bringing serious money. Well, my younger son plays guitar with an amp using 6L6GC tubes, so I gave them to him. My thinking is that as I get older, someday I may need some type of help from him (not monetary) that will far exceed the value of those tubes.
You may want to go over to AudioKarma and ask about the value of your speakers. They love vintage at that site.

Just some helpful advice. Leave out the part about wanting to sell them to your son. If you don't, you'll most likely get the same kind of responses even over there.
I resisted making any comments about these systems, a couple days back, because I didn't want to make the OP feel bad. But: DAMN(welcome to the Shark Tank)!

Agree with all the other posts. I would have your wife prepare his favorite home cooked meal for hauling them away.
Here is a forum thread about a guy who got a pair of University Ultra 1's on eBay for $9.99.

You can also check eBay from time to time to see what that model of Pioneer
generally goes for. It looks like it's $100/pair tops, and mostly I'm only seeing
that figure as the asking price.

Your speakers are 47 years old and haven't seen active duty for 2/3 of their life.
And you want to get money out of your *son* for him to take them off your
hands?

What are these speakers worth? They're worth giving to your son to affirm a
family bond.
Given their extreme age (probably need to be racapped and or refoamed) and their minimalist build quality (based on the specs) ... IMO a very nominal amount at best, and then only to an ad-hoc collector.

Give them away to you son.
Not worth much to anyone but a specialized collector - if there is such a person and you can find him. Why not just give them to your son and forget about it?