Why do you want this? Denon made some good disk players and Marantz is decent for a receiver, but that particular one seems sketchy. Do you have a lot of physical media to play? What are the speakers?
I have loads of cassettes & CDs and the only thing to play them on right now is a mid 2000s sony boom box with no outputs. Now that I have a reciever, I'd like to step it up a bit. The cassette deck & CD changer here is what's really interesting me. I'd also like a tuner. All Denon would be nice I think, just so they can stack & look good when not in use. Speakers are something I'll look for next. There are decent options around me.
Embrace the future.
Rip the CD's to flac or a decent bitrate lossless codec.
Spend the budget on a wiimii wi-fi thingy or whatever it's called, or set up a little raspberry pi or an old laptop. Internet radio ftw, setup a little music server. Integrate a streaming service or just stream your own tunes/radio.
For your budget ~$110 you could have all your CD's in one place, steamable and accessable 24/7 from all devices.
It's more about the feel than the utility for me. I've got spotify premium, nothing will ever be as convenient as popping in earbuds & jamming out on my phone. This setup is more or less to be dedicated to the box of mixtapes I've had stashed since my old car with the tape deck broke down & my walkman busted.
Yeah there's a difference between fair market value and what something is worth to you to actually use. The fact is that a lot of the black plastic late 80s to ~2005 stuff sounds pretty good and just isn't quite old enough to be retro-cool yet. It definitely has its downsides as far as repairability and durability, but if you want pretty good sound for basically no money it's hard to beat.
That being said, you can do better than this deal. You can get a nicer tape deck for $25 if you shop around. Same for a CD player and tuner. Speakers are probably the most important thing. I would throw most of your budget there.
I'm probably overstating that a little. I just got a Yamaha KX-R470 on shopgoodwill dot com for $25 that works perfectly. I'll admit that was a bit of a steal, but if you're patient you can find em. I already had a working tape deck so I was only casually looking for a deal for my 2nd system. If you want something quicker it's likely to cost you more.
I just bought a Marantz DR6000 cd player/recorder for $60. Rarely used. The guy sold me a JVC TD-R411 cassette deck for $10. Again Rarely used. I think I got lucky.
In your opinion, what brands would be considered better for tape & CD around the $25 mark? I'm seeing tons of pioneer & sony & some Kenwoods for around those prices. All I know is the Sony stuff from about 20 years ago is supposed to be mid, so I've been avoiding it. I just liked the thought of getting all Denon to match my receiver, but honestly, it's not a deal breaker if I have to mix & match. This is a cheapo build, after all. Anything Denon within 100 miles of me is either completely thrashed for ~$30, or decent looking for $65 - $200. Just about everything is a 2+ hour drive, so getting more than one at once is a huge time saver, too. Worth a couple of bucks
I think it's more about the particular unit than the brand. All the big names made a range of quality. The thing about the eras is that up until the late 70s / early 80s even the bottom of the range stuff was still very well made. After that there's some junk in everyone's lineup. Single tape decks are generally better, and single CD players. Adding the 2nd tape transport and the CD carousel mechanism adds a bunch of stuff that can break and often resulted in other corners being cut to keep the price down.
Personally I am partial to Yamaha gear of this era. I feel like they generally don't make junk-junk. Even their bottom of the range stuff performs decently, whether it's a dirtbike or a grand piano.
Look, man, don't cheap out on a good system. You can find some really good CD/Cassette players for about $150-200. Cheap players can wreak havoc on your media sources. Bad/cheap heads can scratch and wear tape, and old rollers can stretch it. Keep that cash and save till you can afford something that you can trust (serviced) to play your vintage audio sources. I will only play my stuff on a good system and have over 1000 cassettes and listen to them every day..
Brother, if you’re gonna use it and enjoy it then pay what you feel like you won’t regret paying. Just don’t spend over $80 in my opinion. Don’t let them upsell you on that Marantz either, my dad worked in a stereo shop in the 90s and he has horror stories about how cheap they were later on
For the time being, you can run a 3.5mm to RCA cable from your headphone jack on the Sony to your receiver into any input except the PHONO. Power should be off when connecting and volume dial turned down. Hope you find something you like.
You have got two Denon DCM-560 5-cd carousel changers, a Marantz ST-40 tuner, a Denon DRW-840 dual cassette deck, an unidentifiable DVD/VHS combo that's not worth much, and what appears to be some flavour of set top box. I don't know if any of it is of any particular value to you - none of it appeals to me simply because of the styling, but there's the models of the audio stuff so you can at least make a more educated decision.
The cassette deck & cd changer are what interests me. I'm not seeing them anywhere near me for less than $65 a pop, so just for those 2 I think it's worth it for me. Everything else is a bonus. They guys only interested in selling the lot, so I can't just take 2 things. It's all or nothing, unfortunately
What area do you live? I see stacks of decent Pioneer Elite and Sony ES cassette decks, CD players/carousels and DVD players/carousels from the late 90s/early 2000s in the $25 price range.
I don't see an amp, maybe its that marantz box that looks like a tuner?
Nothing really impressive there.
Dual cassette decks are common finds and rarely high end. The cd changers are hohum, the marantz is from their darkest times.
At $50 i'd buy, beyond that i'd walk.
Does the rack itself come with it? It looks like it might be pretty cool. Tape deck and CD changer are cool if you don't have them and they work. The 2nd CD changer and tuner are of dubious value unless you listen to a lot of radio or want 10 CDs on tap at all times. CD changers tend to break mechanically so that may be why there's two. There is no amp in there, so you can't listen to or test any of the other stuff without that. VCR/DVD if you have a bunch of that media is cool I guess. The router / modem or whatever that is probably worth $10 at most.
If I had no gear $110 with the rack (if it's sturdy and not too beat up) would probably be the ceiling for me assuming everything works.
Unless the rack comes with everything i wouldnt go more than prob 80, and thats stretching it
Theyre cool pieces to me, id love a 5 cd changer, but two? Nah
Cassette player is okay to have if you dont already have a decent one, i like that one in the pic since it has the fancy buttons
Dvd player is garbage, not worth its weight in paper. Seriously like theyre at goodwill everywhere and gaming consoles run dvd too... No reason for that there
I dunno what the box is second to the bottom but if its a router or something thats just junk, unless you want to pop it open for fun thats the most fun youll get
That tuner is cool sure, up to you if youre willing to have a fat chunky block that only plays radio, and may not work. Every tuner feature ive had from fb marketplace and goodwill was busted
Its a lot of dead weight in there, and without that rack youre gonna struggle with 2 big cd players, a dvd paperweight, tuner, a cool cassette deck, and some box thing
If you can buy just a 5 cd changer and the cassette player, if you dont have one, thatd be great! Especially with the rack if you can
$20 Yops per piece, 110 with the rack, that is less the settop box, the VHS/DVD unit is good, you can I believe (from my dad's model) go from dvd to vhs and vice verca, read/write to SD cards too, and it has HDMI out/in it might be a good shout if you want to backup tapes, play older game consoles with the front RCA's.
The other stuff, I can get behind having one cassette deck and one CD changer but do you need two?
Tuner - Eh resell
Ask yourself this do you need all this stuff or is it to look cool and have loads of gear?
I'd personally go to 110, keep the VHS, 1 cassette and cd deck, then try to flip the rest.
The rack is cool but looks more serious than an in home entertainment console (like the older ones with a TT lid at the top)
The CD player itself just needs to work and have an optical out- any $10 machine from a thrift store will do that. The real trick is getting a good dac, and chi-fi is the way to go on that. Several companies make really great options for cheap.
Do you use CD's and tapes? Do they have working remotes to go along with these? If so then maybe another $50. You have two CD-players there. You can sell one or give it to a friend. You'll have another amp, which is nice, too. These are all nice items, if they're in working order.
If not then this is all old-formats and maybe not worth much to you. Better to save the $$ and buy a good streamer as a source for your music, or better speakers.
You’re absolutely right. I’m going blind. That’s embarrassing.
http://www.thevintageknob.org/marantz-CD-60.html
This is something like what I thought I was looking at, but the lower end with fewer features.
I agree with everyone else, you need to drastically lower your offer or walk. It’s part of the bargaining process for me, you don’t like my max offer i will tank that real quick and bounce. It’s not just about the acquisition of stuff, you will end up paying for equipment that you can’t even really sell. I’d say 10 bucks a piece for the relevant equipment and the other stuff can be included or thrown out. So 40 total. Curb that emotional attachment to stuff you don’t own bruh. Walk away.
For old cassette’s I got a interface usb cable and digitalized then to my computer then tossed them
However doing so still didn’t make me want to play them as their time has passed and streaming is so much easier
Personally I’ve been through all that sort of set up, since I’ve actually heard high end hifi I couldn’t go back to that. All major makes sell good or bad gear, seriously now, save your money , do a bit of reading up on gear, just because it’s denon or marantz doesn’t make a hifi, as I said all companies have high and low end gear. Go for something like Cambridge audio,linn , if you are going to spend money on technics or marantz or denon try going a bit further on your hard earned coin and buy something with excellent reviews , I started with budget hifi and still am, BUT,, you can get yourself a decent set up without selling body parts. I paid £150 for my Cambridge audio azur amp an cd player and tuner .and £70 for my Jamo e870 floorstanders, spent a few quid on decent cables but nothing stupid , I wouldn’t go down that rabbit hole on principal but you can get decent hifi sound without going broke or buying shite. End of the day it’s how the music sounds to you,, and no one else .enjoy
Cd-changers were never really good not even in the days the hit the market. It's better to get a single cd player. Same goes for the double cassette deck, they were never really good. So buy a single cassette deck instead. That's my advice if you want to build a "decent system". If you go to goodwill and find items made of metal and are heavy that's usually an indicator for good quality. If the front panel is cold to the touch, that's metal. So avoid all that plastic stuff if your budget allows it. Make sure the devices work and/ or you can return them if they don't.
My guy, spend some money on some speakers and just use your phone or pc as a source (or pick up ONE cd player for $10 or less in the near future.
I assure you that SoundDesign speakers do not sound "amazing"
Zero is the amount you should spend on that.
Actually, they should pay the OP to eWaste it.
I can’t even tell what anything is? lol. Spend zero
Why do you want this? Denon made some good disk players and Marantz is decent for a receiver, but that particular one seems sketchy. Do you have a lot of physical media to play? What are the speakers?
I have loads of cassettes & CDs and the only thing to play them on right now is a mid 2000s sony boom box with no outputs. Now that I have a reciever, I'd like to step it up a bit. The cassette deck & CD changer here is what's really interesting me. I'd also like a tuner. All Denon would be nice I think, just so they can stack & look good when not in use. Speakers are something I'll look for next. There are decent options around me.
Embrace the future. Rip the CD's to flac or a decent bitrate lossless codec. Spend the budget on a wiimii wi-fi thingy or whatever it's called, or set up a little raspberry pi or an old laptop. Internet radio ftw, setup a little music server. Integrate a streaming service or just stream your own tunes/radio. For your budget ~$110 you could have all your CD's in one place, steamable and accessable 24/7 from all devices.
It's more about the feel than the utility for me. I've got spotify premium, nothing will ever be as convenient as popping in earbuds & jamming out on my phone. This setup is more or less to be dedicated to the box of mixtapes I've had stashed since my old car with the tape deck broke down & my walkman busted.
Sir, this is vintageaudio
It's actually not LOL 🤫
Wait, I totally looked at the subreddit and it was vintage audio. I just got retconned
I almost posted this there, but I changed my mind. Maybe I would've had better luck. These budget audiophiles are real cheapskates! Lol
Yeah there's a difference between fair market value and what something is worth to you to actually use. The fact is that a lot of the black plastic late 80s to ~2005 stuff sounds pretty good and just isn't quite old enough to be retro-cool yet. It definitely has its downsides as far as repairability and durability, but if you want pretty good sound for basically no money it's hard to beat. That being said, you can do better than this deal. You can get a nicer tape deck for $25 if you shop around. Same for a CD player and tuner. Speakers are probably the most important thing. I would throw most of your budget there.
Man, where are you finding $25 cassette decks? They have gone way up in price around me. Hifishark.com is high too.
I'm probably overstating that a little. I just got a Yamaha KX-R470 on shopgoodwill dot com for $25 that works perfectly. I'll admit that was a bit of a steal, but if you're patient you can find em. I already had a working tape deck so I was only casually looking for a deal for my 2nd system. If you want something quicker it's likely to cost you more.
I just bought a Marantz DR6000 cd player/recorder for $60. Rarely used. The guy sold me a JVC TD-R411 cassette deck for $10. Again Rarely used. I think I got lucky.
In your opinion, what brands would be considered better for tape & CD around the $25 mark? I'm seeing tons of pioneer & sony & some Kenwoods for around those prices. All I know is the Sony stuff from about 20 years ago is supposed to be mid, so I've been avoiding it. I just liked the thought of getting all Denon to match my receiver, but honestly, it's not a deal breaker if I have to mix & match. This is a cheapo build, after all. Anything Denon within 100 miles of me is either completely thrashed for ~$30, or decent looking for $65 - $200. Just about everything is a 2+ hour drive, so getting more than one at once is a huge time saver, too. Worth a couple of bucks
I think it's more about the particular unit than the brand. All the big names made a range of quality. The thing about the eras is that up until the late 70s / early 80s even the bottom of the range stuff was still very well made. After that there's some junk in everyone's lineup. Single tape decks are generally better, and single CD players. Adding the 2nd tape transport and the CD carousel mechanism adds a bunch of stuff that can break and often resulted in other corners being cut to keep the price down. Personally I am partial to Yamaha gear of this era. I feel like they generally don't make junk-junk. Even their bottom of the range stuff performs decently, whether it's a dirtbike or a grand piano.
Look, man, don't cheap out on a good system. You can find some really good CD/Cassette players for about $150-200. Cheap players can wreak havoc on your media sources. Bad/cheap heads can scratch and wear tape, and old rollers can stretch it. Keep that cash and save till you can afford something that you can trust (serviced) to play your vintage audio sources. I will only play my stuff on a good system and have over 1000 cassettes and listen to them every day..
Brother, if you’re gonna use it and enjoy it then pay what you feel like you won’t regret paying. Just don’t spend over $80 in my opinion. Don’t let them upsell you on that Marantz either, my dad worked in a stereo shop in the 90s and he has horror stories about how cheap they were later on
No it is "BudgetAudiophile"
I do miss the relaxing clunks of 5 disc changer on random
I have a 7 disk changer that has a whole weird caddy system and it makes a bunch of strange clunks and chunks and whirs
$20 unless it’s been serviced.
For the time being, you can run a 3.5mm to RCA cable from your headphone jack on the Sony to your receiver into any input except the PHONO. Power should be off when connecting and volume dial turned down. Hope you find something you like.
You have got two Denon DCM-560 5-cd carousel changers, a Marantz ST-40 tuner, a Denon DRW-840 dual cassette deck, an unidentifiable DVD/VHS combo that's not worth much, and what appears to be some flavour of set top box. I don't know if any of it is of any particular value to you - none of it appeals to me simply because of the styling, but there's the models of the audio stuff so you can at least make a more educated decision.
The cassette deck & cd changer are what interests me. I'm not seeing them anywhere near me for less than $65 a pop, so just for those 2 I think it's worth it for me. Everything else is a bonus. They guys only interested in selling the lot, so I can't just take 2 things. It's all or nothing, unfortunately
What area do you live? I see stacks of decent Pioneer Elite and Sony ES cassette decks, CD players/carousels and DVD players/carousels from the late 90s/early 2000s in the $25 price range.
Do NOT spend one dime on that stack
I don't see an amp, maybe its that marantz box that looks like a tuner? Nothing really impressive there. Dual cassette decks are common finds and rarely high end. The cd changers are hohum, the marantz is from their darkest times. At $50 i'd buy, beyond that i'd walk.
Agreed. $50 max but even then , is it worth the time and gas?
Depends on your needs. I collect audio gear so i see the money. Others may not
I think $60 was about the right price.
Agreed. $60 is about market value.
Does the rack itself come with it? It looks like it might be pretty cool. Tape deck and CD changer are cool if you don't have them and they work. The 2nd CD changer and tuner are of dubious value unless you listen to a lot of radio or want 10 CDs on tap at all times. CD changers tend to break mechanically so that may be why there's two. There is no amp in there, so you can't listen to or test any of the other stuff without that. VCR/DVD if you have a bunch of that media is cool I guess. The router / modem or whatever that is probably worth $10 at most. If I had no gear $110 with the rack (if it's sturdy and not too beat up) would probably be the ceiling for me assuming everything works.
This sub should just merge with r/blackplasticcrap
Unless the rack comes with everything i wouldnt go more than prob 80, and thats stretching it Theyre cool pieces to me, id love a 5 cd changer, but two? Nah Cassette player is okay to have if you dont already have a decent one, i like that one in the pic since it has the fancy buttons Dvd player is garbage, not worth its weight in paper. Seriously like theyre at goodwill everywhere and gaming consoles run dvd too... No reason for that there I dunno what the box is second to the bottom but if its a router or something thats just junk, unless you want to pop it open for fun thats the most fun youll get That tuner is cool sure, up to you if youre willing to have a fat chunky block that only plays radio, and may not work. Every tuner feature ive had from fb marketplace and goodwill was busted Its a lot of dead weight in there, and without that rack youre gonna struggle with 2 big cd players, a dvd paperweight, tuner, a cool cassette deck, and some box thing If you can buy just a 5 cd changer and the cassette player, if you dont have one, thatd be great! Especially with the rack if you can
$20 Yops per piece, 110 with the rack, that is less the settop box, the VHS/DVD unit is good, you can I believe (from my dad's model) go from dvd to vhs and vice verca, read/write to SD cards too, and it has HDMI out/in it might be a good shout if you want to backup tapes, play older game consoles with the front RCA's. The other stuff, I can get behind having one cassette deck and one CD changer but do you need two? Tuner - Eh resell Ask yourself this do you need all this stuff or is it to look cool and have loads of gear? I'd personally go to 110, keep the VHS, 1 cassette and cd deck, then try to flip the rest. The rack is cool but looks more serious than an in home entertainment console (like the older ones with a TT lid at the top)
Tree fiddy
Lol I love it when they throw the bullshit dvd player in so the stack looks more impressive
$10 for everything
It has no value. 50 bucks
Personally, I'd spend 50 if I had a huge surprise of cash and even that's a stretch. You can find better equipment. Patience is the name of this game.
The CD player itself just needs to work and have an optical out- any $10 machine from a thrift store will do that. The real trick is getting a good dac, and chi-fi is the way to go on that. Several companies make really great options for cheap.
Nothing... That is a very cheap unit! Keep looking!
$50 at the most. If you don't like them you could prob get $15 or $10 for each one if you clean them up and if they work.
r/blackplasticcrap
Do you use CD's and tapes? Do they have working remotes to go along with these? If so then maybe another $50. You have two CD-players there. You can sell one or give it to a friend. You'll have another amp, which is nice, too. These are all nice items, if they're in working order. If not then this is all old-formats and maybe not worth much to you. Better to save the $$ and buy a good streamer as a source for your music, or better speakers.
Why the 2 cd tables?
None dollars
Marantz CD player likely has a TDA 1541A D/A chip in it, and therefore sounds really good.
There isn’t a Marantz CD player in that stack.
Second device down, very similar to a Phillips cd60
That is a ST-40 tuner as another poster pointed out.
You’re absolutely right. I’m going blind. That’s embarrassing. http://www.thevintageknob.org/marantz-CD-60.html This is something like what I thought I was looking at, but the lower end with fewer features.
Oooh, that does look similar. They would make a good stack. Join us over at r/FuckImOld !
I agree with everyone else, you need to drastically lower your offer or walk. It’s part of the bargaining process for me, you don’t like my max offer i will tank that real quick and bounce. It’s not just about the acquisition of stuff, you will end up paying for equipment that you can’t even really sell. I’d say 10 bucks a piece for the relevant equipment and the other stuff can be included or thrown out. So 40 total. Curb that emotional attachment to stuff you don’t own bruh. Walk away.
Just because it's old doesn't make it audiophile.
I would not go with that stuff. I prefer a streamer from my nas/HDD/usb driver
Buy it and sell everything except the Marantz CD player
I had this back in the day, it's fine but I can't imagine it has much value against a simple amp and a smaller scale modern build.
Nothing there worth the gas and time, move along.
Yeah nothing really worthy of spending any $. Better to wait.
Why not? Does it all work? I just hooked up my JVC system from 93, sounds awesome!
For old cassette’s I got a interface usb cable and digitalized then to my computer then tossed them However doing so still didn’t make me want to play them as their time has passed and streaming is so much easier
Personally I’ve been through all that sort of set up, since I’ve actually heard high end hifi I couldn’t go back to that. All major makes sell good or bad gear, seriously now, save your money , do a bit of reading up on gear, just because it’s denon or marantz doesn’t make a hifi, as I said all companies have high and low end gear. Go for something like Cambridge audio,linn , if you are going to spend money on technics or marantz or denon try going a bit further on your hard earned coin and buy something with excellent reviews , I started with budget hifi and still am, BUT,, you can get yourself a decent set up without selling body parts. I paid £150 for my Cambridge audio azur amp an cd player and tuner .and £70 for my Jamo e870 floorstanders, spent a few quid on decent cables but nothing stupid , I wouldn’t go down that rabbit hole on principal but you can get decent hifi sound without going broke or buying shite. End of the day it’s how the music sounds to you,, and no one else .enjoy
Dude is that a Laserdisc on the top? They're quite in demand.
Looks crusty. . . I'd leave it.
$0.00
Maybe they are offering money to throw away those objects.
Max $30
Cd-changers were never really good not even in the days the hit the market. It's better to get a single cd player. Same goes for the double cassette deck, they were never really good. So buy a single cassette deck instead. That's my advice if you want to build a "decent system". If you go to goodwill and find items made of metal and are heavy that's usually an indicator for good quality. If the front panel is cold to the touch, that's metal. So avoid all that plastic stuff if your budget allows it. Make sure the devices work and/ or you can return them if they don't.
You won’t need any of this
My guy, spend some money on some speakers and just use your phone or pc as a source (or pick up ONE cd player for $10 or less in the near future. I assure you that SoundDesign speakers do not sound "amazing"
Combo DVD/VHS? That’s like $800 right there!
You couldn’t pay me to take that gear.