So yet again I am perusing the NW 50th and MacArthur Goodwill, and as usual nothing good comes of it. Then this odd looking brown box comes into view. It's got that weird rusted looking grate on top, similar to my Kenwood from 197x. I pull it off the shelf and take it to the power outlet. Hey, it's one of those old Technics receivers that people rave about. Model SA-303. It looks nice that's for sure, with its analog tuner dial and LED lights for meters. Personally I prefer the VU type meters, there is just something about it that strikes the mechanical side of me.
It powers on and the meters dance when I play with the tuning. It's very dirty, with red dust all over it meaning it was probably in a shed somewhere for many years. Oh hell, its $3, why not?
I buy this bad buy and take it home, hooking it up to a cheap set of speakers just in case the output transistors are fused and decided to blow up. I don't want my $1000 B&W's to explode in a firestorm of vintage sparks, you know? The first thing I try is the tuner, it works, but as with just about any old tuner, the stereo portion is difficult to pull in. Mono works fine, which means the "squelch" or whatever it's call on stereos is disabled. If you turn stereo on, it goes silent because it cannot lock a signal. No big deal, I'm not going to use it for FM anyways.
I hook into the AUX jack with my laptop and see if it will play some lossless FLAC. Works, but the left channel is distorted and static ridden. I twist the input selector knob and the volume to see if it's a pot that is causing the issue. The volume seems fine. The input selector pot is the cause. Apparently it's not making contact when turned to the far clockwise position (AUX setting). If I plug into the tape input and flip the tape lever, the input is clear. This thing needs cleaning inside, and the pots need a shot of De-oxit.
Well I never get around to cleaning it. I play music through it for a while, and put this thing into the close for three months. Now let me tell you, this past Friday and Saturday night I stayed up until 2 or 4 am posting stuff on craigslist, this receiver certainly made it into that group. Asking price? $50. It's on the list for maybe eight hours before I get an email about it. Some country sounding woman calls me and asks about it. Don't you hate it when people call, text, or email you with a generic question like, "I'm interested in your receiver" ? Yes I know a lot of people only list one thing on Craigslist, but I even got one yesterday that said, "I'm interested". That was it. Interested in what? Do you have reference? Are you hot? Oh wait, it's probably a Craigslist item you're interested in, not a casual encounter. Wrong section of the forums, buddy.
Anyways, they say they want to buy it, so I pull it out and hook it up to some Beovox S45-2 "audiophile" bookshelf speakers that I picked up that very day. Well they never show up, so I figure they got disinterested. Sunday morning they call, but Rosey and I are on the way to the Edmond arts festival to kill some time. I tell them call me around 5pm and we'll meet up to do the deal. 5pm rolls around and nothing, I call them with no response. 6pm and nothing. Geez people, don't make a deal and then bail out, it's really annoying. Anyways around 6:40 they call saying they have to 'make plans' to come over because it's "so far away from Midwest City". Oh please, I drive with the girlfriend to Tinker every weekend so I can visit the Goodwill there.
Anyways around 7:45 this cracked out woman with meth-teeth shows up at my door with a five year old kid. I notice her giant extended-cab truck parked in the street instead of the driveway. My driveway is 2 cars wide and about 6 cars deep, seriously, DON'T BLOCK THE ROAD. It's dangerous and irresponsible, not to mention lazy.
Anyways she comes in, listens, and promptly pays me $50. That's a $47 profit, or approximately 1200% margin.
Crazy huh?
Total time invested? $10 of windexing the thing to get the dirt off.
Ratings:
Price: $3
Status: Flipped
Condition: 2.50 Stars
Cost: 0.1 Stars
Flippable: 3.5 Stars
Income: $47
