It was a good day at the thrift shop


I was out running errands with my 20-yr-old stepson, whose quiet persistence got me back into vinyl after a 25-year hiatus. He spotted a large thrift shop. We turned around and stopped in. He didn't find anything he wanted--there was no Alice Cooper, and I'd already bought him a sealed reissue of In-a-gadda-davida. I with the eclectic tastes, however, came away with 10 gems. All were in like-new condition at 49 cents each, including:

-- An RCA shaded dog (mono) Van Cliburn Tchaikowsky piano concerto (reissued as 3-channel SACD, which I also have)
-- Manhattan Transfer's self-title debut album which includes Tuxedo Junction and Java Jive. Superbly performed and recorded on Atlantic in 1975
-- Musical Heritage Society of two Bach violin double concertos
-- Everest (not 35 mm) very nice London Symphony recording of Handel Water Music and Royal Fireworks music
-- Mercury Living Presence recording of Rossini overtures
-- Phoebe Snow's 3rd album "Looks Like Snow"
-- Michael Ponti recordings of Scriabin, one side a concerto with full orchestra, the other side solo sonatas
-- Bernstein & New York Phil on Columbia Masterworks of two Haydn symphonies, The Bear and The Hen
-- A real icon of the '70s: Richard Harris reading Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" with musical accompaniment on Atlantic at the height of their recording and mastering art (my wife is a HUGE Harris fan)
-- Steve Winwood, "Back in the High Life," his last recording (1986) for Island, his original label. Would make a great demo disk of how LP sounds better (even in transients and dynamics) than CD

What treasures have found you lately?
johnnyb53
I just missed a Hafler amp. Some old guy got it instead. But I did get one of those Chase line preamps that adds remote control to older pieces for $5. It works fine. Dan
A box of "records from my grandfathers house" from Craigslist. Usually these are JUNK but when I met and took a look. WOW...about 30 RCA shaded dog's in near mint condition plus about 10 old box sets of classical, jazz. The grandfather really took care of his records. Its wonderful to play LP's pressed in the 50's and they are DEAD QUITE...all in all about 100 LPs for $50.00.....I couldn't pull the money out fast enough. :-)
I just got back from Ohio and visiting family. I scored an original Stanley Brothers on the King label ($5), Sarah Vaughan "Crazy mixed up" w/Joe Pass ($5), Pontiac Bros. ($3), Sade "Lush life" ($3), Wes Montgomery "Best of" on Riverside ($5), Ben Webster/Sweets Edison ($1.50), Sanatra at the Sands ($5), a white vinyl Hartless Bastards ($$13.99 new)...... All of em mint and original..... plus many others.

Very cool!

Chris

08-03-07: Dlr
I just missed a Hafler amp. Some old guy got it instead. But I did get one of those Chase line preamps that adds remote control to older pieces for $5. It works fine.
Hey, did you know that those Chase preamps took on a second life as a giant-killer line-level preamp?

I remember back in the mid'90s, the local boutique store that carries lots of British gear (Naim, Rega, VPI, Creek, Cambridge, Tannoy...), when it came to a low-cost line level preamp, they felt that the quietest and most transparent for less than $800 was the Chase, which they sold for around $129.

You might want to try your Chase as a standalone pre, maybe in conjunction with a phono stage, to see what it can do.