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Dump find of the year.

75.111.27.102
Posted on July 23, 2020 at 07:12:57
sanman
Audiophile

Posts: 1780
Location: Redwood Coast
Joined: November 13, 2004



Dump find of the year. Went to the e-cycle and there she was barefoot(literally footless) and dirty but not corroded. Took her home, put in new LED lamps, and new feet (my go-to feet, 1/2 wine corks). She cleaned up beautifully..sounds remarkable. As good as her big brother.
"When the demon is at your door, in the mornin' it won't be there no more"
Steely Dan

 

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RE: Dump find of the year., posted on July 23, 2020 at 08:17:14
rivervalley817
 'cleaned up beautifully'

that's an understatement! looks damn near NOS!

I tend to use a dash of black permanent marker on cork used as footers for 'blending'; no fuss no muss! congrats on the find sanman

regards,

 

That's a rare find even in the good old days of dumpster diving, posted on July 23, 2020 at 09:49:52
airtime
Audiophile

Posts: 11287
Location: Arizona
Joined: February 4, 2003
 GREAT find!!! In my hay day of dumpster diving I found some fantastic, and also valuable stuff. The weirdest thing I ever found some old McIntosh "thing". I call it a thing because I really didn't even understand what it did???? Kind of a one off thing???

I sold it on ebay back in the mid 90's. Two bidders were going toe to toe. A guy in France eventually won and paid over $500 in shipping. turned out the losing bidder was a well know musician. I was emailing with this guy a few times before I realized who the heck it was. Made me wish I was a bigger fan of the group.

 

This year and probably next year too... VERY sweet!...N/T, posted on July 24, 2020 at 23:02:49
musetap
Audiophile

Posts: 31878
Location: San Francisco
Joined: July 8, 2003
Contributor
  Since: January 28, 2004
 ,
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

Excellent ! ...., posted on July 25, 2020 at 08:42:51
reelsmith.
Audiophile

Posts: 13133
Location: CT
Joined: June 7, 2005
Contributor
  Since: January 19, 2010
 Here's my only dumpster find ...



I was just in time to stop the guy from tossing them into the empty dumpster, which would have certainly messed them up.

As he was about to let go of them I yelled "Please don't do that !".

He thought I was crazy.

Dean.




reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.


 

RE: Dump find of the year., posted on July 25, 2020 at 12:08:31
Br3098
Audiophile

Posts: 255
Location: Southern California
Joined: December 23, 2009
 sanman, just curious: what's your preferred technique for cleaning these vintage amps? I'm always worried about damaging painted surfaces and removing lettering.

 

The two extremes in vintage styling, posted on July 26, 2020 at 09:10:39
M3 lover
Audiophile

Posts: 6604
Location: SW Mich
Joined: May 29, 2005
Contributor
  Since: July 4, 2007
 that I liked best were the Advent/Proton for minimalist design and Marantz for the "lotsa knobs" category. The latter seemed logical and uncluttered in spite of the number of controls sometimes included.

My first solid state audio purchase was a Marantz 27 receiver. I bought it because of the overall reputation of Marantz and that may have been their least expensive model at that time -- 1970.

Unfortunately I didn't find the performance to be very good. The amp was fair and FM was lousy. Within a few months some neighborhood druggy broke into my apartments and stole it, along with the great Advent speakers. I never owned one but I believe the next generation of design, the 22XX series, was a far better product.

"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you've got it made." Groucho

 

Here is mine from some years ago..., posted on July 26, 2020 at 09:11:46
samstone
Audiophile

Posts: 924
Location: midwest inner city
Joined: August 11, 2002



up and running in my den. VERY nice.

 

Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 27, 2020 at 08:48:40
Charlie8521
Audiophile

Posts: 914
Location: South East Michigan
Joined: October 2, 2004



So I decided to get off the freeway and take the back roads home from a in-state business trip. Blew by an old TV repair shop, and thought what the heck, I'll turn around and see if he has any old tube equipment. Used as a door stop because of its weight was an ugly scratched up amp on it's side with no tubes in it. The guy said $20 bucks and it's yours - but you have to carry it out. Not knowing if I had something or just bought a boat anchor, I took it (see original pic). Mike Samara went through it, it is great. $20 bucks and some stretched fingers - what a deal.

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 27, 2020 at 13:34:27
Fitero
Audiophile

Posts: 119
Location: Portland, Oregon
Joined: August 23, 2002
 What a deal! Good for you!!!

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 27, 2020 at 17:41:11
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
 That's a millennium level deal! $20 for 1 of the very best amps, ever. Yowzuh!!


Eli D.

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 27, 2020 at 18:03:20
rivervalley817
 I seem to recall some threads / exchanges on this unit that you had with Michael Samra a few years ago

if you haven't, please post pix of the refurbished unit, or maybe a link back to those you did post that I missed? that would be very much appreciated!

I tried a search without success

regards,

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 28, 2020 at 03:45:53
Uncle Mike
 I ran into a situation I couldn't couldn't pass on, not as good as yours but still good value. About 10 years ago on the auction site was a decent , not nice Citation II that was scratched up, much like yours and advertised as being modified. Pictures showed the aluminum center brace that also holds the power supply was missing. The special incentive I had were a quad of new KT99 EI type II tubes and 6 used RCA and Sylvania 12by7a. I could identify the KT99 by Jim McShane's markings on the boxes just like the ones I had in my stash. All that for $600 when the tubes alone, if I could get them, would have cost at least $400.
Since then I checked the transformers and they are good. A was brace fabricated to do duty as the original was supposed to. Restoration is a work in progress as I have had a updated Citation II in service since before acquiring this one.

 

No change, posted on July 28, 2020 at 11:30:23
Charlie8521
Audiophile

Posts: 914
Location: South East Michigan
Joined: October 2, 2004



So except for having tubes in it, I choose not to do anything currently to the appearance of the unit - so still butt ugly. Attached though is an image I have, which I think is one repainted by Mike Samara. Now the McIntosh 240's with the chrome chassis and black paint always looked great to me (didn't sound as good to me, so I sold both of the one I had). Some day I might try to do something that can easily be removed to make the Cit-II look more attractive. But when I run it I do like having a fan blow across it to dissipates the heat it develops down, so anything I do has to take into account heat that is being generated.

 

RE: No change, posted on July 28, 2020 at 12:10:04
rivervalley817
 thank you! she looks better cleaned up and tubed

were your Macs 'gone through' as well??

I've seen comments by M. Samra that the McShane power supply mods work wonders for those too

with regards,

 

You're not going to like this..., posted on July 28, 2020 at 15:17:32
Charlie8521
Audiophile

Posts: 914
Location: South East Michigan
Joined: October 2, 2004
 I dumped the 240's. Like $700 for the one, and I forgot the price on the other (great deals for someone, but they were bought As-Is and I made a minor profit). Gone through by a previous McIntosh Dealer Tech, but not like McShane. Through the years I just stumbled on some stuff and bought it for the heck of it. And than years later I'm saying to myself what am I doing with this gear, it's just sitting in the closet - why do I need five amps when I can only listen to one at a time - there's probably someone else out there that would really enjoy having it to listen to (oh, I had an Empire turntable (I think 698 I paid $400 for) that was stunning from the original owner, and a beautiful MR78 Tuner that made a guys day - I paid only $100 for it). I've become a semi-minimalist, if I'm not using it, it is gone. I only buy stuff now if I know I can pass it on to someone that it will make their day (family)- unless its like a upgrade to my current ARC LS28 preamp or I'd be a fool to pass on it ;)

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 28, 2020 at 16:36:55
belyin
Audiophile

Posts: 1285
Location: New Orleans
Joined: November 1, 2003
 For a brief moment, I thought you were going to say you found the one that got away from me. About 20 years ago I went to a garage sale near me where a man was selling off the contents of his deceased uncle's house. (The man had been a radio station engineer.) I found a Citation I preamp that I bought for $10. Naturally I asked about the power amp, but the nephew said he had thrown it out a few days ago. He did save the tubes which he gave me. I also scored a Transcriptor Skeleton tonearm for $2.00 and a few lp's. A week later, I circled back, and the seller proudly told me he had found 4 (!!!) unbuilt Citation II's (they were also offered as a kit) still in their boxes. He said he had sold them for $200 for all 4 and asked me if I thought he got a good deal. I nodded with less than complete conviction and
shrugged.

 

Nice, we had the same knottypine paneling in our basement clubroom. )MT(, posted on July 29, 2020 at 18:27:11
J. S. Bach
Audiophile

Posts: 9576
Location: Chester, SC
Joined: November 28, 2001
Contributor
  Since: June 29, 2004

Later Gator,
Dave
Find more about Weather in Chester, SC

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on July 29, 2020 at 18:50:40
Jim McShane
Dealer

Posts: 5910
Location: Chicago
Joined: January 13, 2003
 Just to clarify - the Ei tubes I carried were KT-90, not KT-99. IIRC KT-99s were Chinese made copies of the Ei tubes.

And yes, the type II KT-90 Eis are simply GREAT tubes!! I wish Ei was still in business...

That amp was one NICE find Uncle Mike!!

 

Thanks for the help..., posted on August 1, 2020 at 12:06:22
Uncle Mike
 All cylinders weren't firing that morning!

 

RE: Harmon Kardon Citation-II, posted on August 9, 2020 at 14:46:22
ph5y
Audiophile

Posts: 178
Location: DC
Joined: October 30, 2010
 Hmm.. I find it more common that the dingy grocery store has a damaged pair of little XAM speakers for $150.
It's never too late to turn back the clock.

 

RE: Dump find of the year., posted on December 8, 2020 at 17:02:51
mjcmt
Audiophile

Posts: 1445
Location: NC
Joined: November 29, 2004
 Outstanding. I love it when folks come across remarkable deals. Congrats!


 

RE: Dump find of the year., posted on July 26, 2021 at 15:46:04
Roypercy
Audiophile

Posts: 331
Location: New York
Joined: December 18, 2003
 Awesome score!

 

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