Post by solarrdadd on Apr 4, 2013 21:42:15 GMT -5
well, it's true that sometimes when you read about something that sounds too good to be true, that's usually the case.
it's also true, that sometimes the above, is not the case. sometimes the things you read about, that seemed too good to be true, was/is true!
the latter of the two statements was my experience today. i answered an ad on Craigs list stating:
"very rare, a pair of vintage polk audio SDA-2 speakers in mint condition, includes system interconnecting cable! available for listening audition and viewing, hurry you don't want to miss out on this!"
how many times have we seen something like this on craigs or fleabay and when we went to see it in person, it was scratched up or didn't work right, didn't sound right parts were missing or worse, you bought it on ebay and when it arrived, all of the above was true.
we put our hearts and souls into believing that someday, somehow, this will be true. someone will be telling the truth when they post one of these "pot of gold" classifieds. i'm here to tell you that i found one of them there pots of gold tonight! :celebrate:
your always nervious when going to a strange place to check out gear, especially after hearing on the news that some folks were beaten, car jacked and forced to go to an ATM and take out money all because they responded to a craigs list posting.
usually, i would take my gun with me, but, something told me to leave Persephone home and everything would be alright; so, i did.
i had been texting and emailing the seller for about 2 days and we settled on tonight for an audition. i told the seller i was going to bring a couple of cd's for listening to and he said, fine no problem.
i got there and a little man about 5' greeted me at the door. we shook hands and he asked me to take my shoes off; i'm thinking mob hit since i didn't see any carpet (i could hear Persephone whispering, i told yo dumb ass to take me with you; now you gett'in jacked!) i realized he had his shoes off and there were other shoes by the door in little cubbies. so i did.
i realized that i could see right away, in the livingroom see a receiver and a very nice (and old) pair of speakers; the owner said, we can talk about those later if you'd like to; i said yes! we proceeded to go up stairs to the top floor, just off the attic; i got to peek behind the curtain where the wizard was!
there they sat. on the floor with a nice rack of gear just behind them in the center of them. i'm sure the owner was talking about something for about 2 minutes or so, but it kinda faded into the background as i was just lost off in staring at the speakers. i did hear him say, you wanna take a closer look at them, inspect them, go ahead; so i did just that.
the cabinets were in mint condition, not a scratch on them, not a blemish either. no dings or dents. the only thing i could see is on the edges of the back were minor sings of slight wear but nothing on the cabinet body or finish that you could see. the rosewood finishes were still kickin and beautiful! serial numbers are on them and intact; i didn't check to see if they were sequential or not. hey, these speakers are 29 or so years old and look at the condition they are in! if i didn't know better i'd swear they were just unboxed and put out on the showroom floor! he took the grills off of them and gave them to me to inspect them, not a scratch or a run like perfect stockings for a woman!
the speakers all had original drivers, crossovers, everything. he said nothing had been replaced, altered or upgraded. he also insisted that i get right up there to hear each tweeter working and all of the midranges too; there was no question about the radiators working! everything was working as far as i could tell; and working well too!
we moved both speakers around so i could inspect them; both were flawless. front and back all sides hell, he even tilted them back so i could look at the bottoms; he said he has nothing to hide. after a while he said the magic words "wanna give them a listen?" i handed him my music and he put them on one by one for me.
he didn't have an SACD player so while i did bring SACD's they were the hybrid type and played the cd layer.
first up: Steely Dan: Gaucho SACD/CD
Babylon Sisters & Hey Nineteen both sounded incredible, it was almost like the very first time i had heard a well mastered SACD/DSD when all i had heard previously was a cd. he cranked up the volume a bit and things just took off!
next up: Return to Forever: The Mothership Returns CD
played Medieval Overture on disc 1 & After The Cosmic Rain on disc 2 both of these performance were really bringing out the musicality of this speaker system. all of the instruments all of the live and vibe was brought to me, the listener, sitting in the sweet spot in a single leather chair and i was, greatful, let me tell ya!
he told me that they also operated as plain old stereo speakers with the interconnect removed. we removed it and played it and i listen to the same stuff and could really hear the difference. it's not that it sounded bad, it sounded as good as anything i'd heard before and i could have been very happy with the speakers without the interconnect and the Array technology being used. it's just that with the interconnect in use and the Array in full effect, there is no doubt what you were getting when the technology was engaged with that cable.
the highs were very clear and it's like i could easily hear the notes reaching their peaks and slowly fading downwards. the mids were more than impressive, listening to voices singing, all of the sound from them was incredible. they were brought out in such a way that you might have thought that there was more than two speakers playing it was almost at times like there was a hidden pair of front wides somewhere but you just couldn't see them.
the lows, well, shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low! he had a nice adcom 2 channel amp at 225wpc rolling those boys and man did they kick out some lows. those 12" radiators were helping those woofers do their thing! i can see that i'm gonna have to get a dedicated amp for these speakers.
i was originally expecting the speakers would has scratching and dings with other damage and i really wanted them so i was prepaired (if they weren't too bad) to offer him less than his asking price. however, seeing, and listening to them and seeing how well they were taken care of, i rewarded him with his full asking price and thanked him. i told him of my intentions and he said "the proof was in the pudding!" and it truly was!
this is my early 51 birthday present to myself and i'm kissing myself right now for giving me such an incredible gift. every penny well spent. oh yeah, he even had the original boxes with the insulation for packing! only thing we didn't have was the plastic that slips over the speakers. we were very careful and gentle with them when placing them in the boxes. packed all the styrofoam all around them and taped them shut.
we humped them down two flights of stairs and with a bit of modification to my car, we got both of them in there; my sedan understood completely! the seller had thousands of dollars in audio gear in his house. he said he collects a lot of the old vintage stuff, keeps the very, very special things and sells the rest so that he can buy more. he was the second owner of the polks. he got them for dirt at an estate sale and the widow had no idea of the value of the speakers that she was selling. she only knew her husband bought these hugh heavy things and she couldn't move them and was glad to get rid of them at almost any price so he told me.
i did get a few pictures with my iphone 5 but they dont' tell the story. i'm not sure when i'll be able to unbox these at the house (we are doing things to the basement right now) but when i do, i'll have my regular camera and take some really good pictures.
for now, here are the shots i took while at the audition:
i was sitting in the sweet spot chair when i took this picture!
cabinets and covering are intact and beautiful.
front or back, everything about them says i was cared for and you do the same!
all of the writing on the speakers is still intact and clear as a bell!
the seller still had the original boxes that they were shipped in; you gotta love that!
well, that's enough for tonight. i'm getting tired. just wanted to let you all know how things went, THEY WENT WELL! thank you all for listening (pun intended) to me go crazy!
your comments are welcome, please give til it hurts!
it's also true, that sometimes the above, is not the case. sometimes the things you read about, that seemed too good to be true, was/is true!
the latter of the two statements was my experience today. i answered an ad on Craigs list stating:
"very rare, a pair of vintage polk audio SDA-2 speakers in mint condition, includes system interconnecting cable! available for listening audition and viewing, hurry you don't want to miss out on this!"
how many times have we seen something like this on craigs or fleabay and when we went to see it in person, it was scratched up or didn't work right, didn't sound right parts were missing or worse, you bought it on ebay and when it arrived, all of the above was true.
we put our hearts and souls into believing that someday, somehow, this will be true. someone will be telling the truth when they post one of these "pot of gold" classifieds. i'm here to tell you that i found one of them there pots of gold tonight! :celebrate:
your always nervious when going to a strange place to check out gear, especially after hearing on the news that some folks were beaten, car jacked and forced to go to an ATM and take out money all because they responded to a craigs list posting.
usually, i would take my gun with me, but, something told me to leave Persephone home and everything would be alright; so, i did.
i had been texting and emailing the seller for about 2 days and we settled on tonight for an audition. i told the seller i was going to bring a couple of cd's for listening to and he said, fine no problem.
i got there and a little man about 5' greeted me at the door. we shook hands and he asked me to take my shoes off; i'm thinking mob hit since i didn't see any carpet (i could hear Persephone whispering, i told yo dumb ass to take me with you; now you gett'in jacked!) i realized he had his shoes off and there were other shoes by the door in little cubbies. so i did.
i realized that i could see right away, in the livingroom see a receiver and a very nice (and old) pair of speakers; the owner said, we can talk about those later if you'd like to; i said yes! we proceeded to go up stairs to the top floor, just off the attic; i got to peek behind the curtain where the wizard was!
there they sat. on the floor with a nice rack of gear just behind them in the center of them. i'm sure the owner was talking about something for about 2 minutes or so, but it kinda faded into the background as i was just lost off in staring at the speakers. i did hear him say, you wanna take a closer look at them, inspect them, go ahead; so i did just that.
the cabinets were in mint condition, not a scratch on them, not a blemish either. no dings or dents. the only thing i could see is on the edges of the back were minor sings of slight wear but nothing on the cabinet body or finish that you could see. the rosewood finishes were still kickin and beautiful! serial numbers are on them and intact; i didn't check to see if they were sequential or not. hey, these speakers are 29 or so years old and look at the condition they are in! if i didn't know better i'd swear they were just unboxed and put out on the showroom floor! he took the grills off of them and gave them to me to inspect them, not a scratch or a run like perfect stockings for a woman!
the speakers all had original drivers, crossovers, everything. he said nothing had been replaced, altered or upgraded. he also insisted that i get right up there to hear each tweeter working and all of the midranges too; there was no question about the radiators working! everything was working as far as i could tell; and working well too!
we moved both speakers around so i could inspect them; both were flawless. front and back all sides hell, he even tilted them back so i could look at the bottoms; he said he has nothing to hide. after a while he said the magic words "wanna give them a listen?" i handed him my music and he put them on one by one for me.
he didn't have an SACD player so while i did bring SACD's they were the hybrid type and played the cd layer.
first up: Steely Dan: Gaucho SACD/CD
Babylon Sisters & Hey Nineteen both sounded incredible, it was almost like the very first time i had heard a well mastered SACD/DSD when all i had heard previously was a cd. he cranked up the volume a bit and things just took off!
next up: Return to Forever: The Mothership Returns CD
played Medieval Overture on disc 1 & After The Cosmic Rain on disc 2 both of these performance were really bringing out the musicality of this speaker system. all of the instruments all of the live and vibe was brought to me, the listener, sitting in the sweet spot in a single leather chair and i was, greatful, let me tell ya!
he told me that they also operated as plain old stereo speakers with the interconnect removed. we removed it and played it and i listen to the same stuff and could really hear the difference. it's not that it sounded bad, it sounded as good as anything i'd heard before and i could have been very happy with the speakers without the interconnect and the Array technology being used. it's just that with the interconnect in use and the Array in full effect, there is no doubt what you were getting when the technology was engaged with that cable.
the highs were very clear and it's like i could easily hear the notes reaching their peaks and slowly fading downwards. the mids were more than impressive, listening to voices singing, all of the sound from them was incredible. they were brought out in such a way that you might have thought that there was more than two speakers playing it was almost at times like there was a hidden pair of front wides somewhere but you just couldn't see them.
the lows, well, shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low! he had a nice adcom 2 channel amp at 225wpc rolling those boys and man did they kick out some lows. those 12" radiators were helping those woofers do their thing! i can see that i'm gonna have to get a dedicated amp for these speakers.
i was originally expecting the speakers would has scratching and dings with other damage and i really wanted them so i was prepaired (if they weren't too bad) to offer him less than his asking price. however, seeing, and listening to them and seeing how well they were taken care of, i rewarded him with his full asking price and thanked him. i told him of my intentions and he said "the proof was in the pudding!" and it truly was!
this is my early 51 birthday present to myself and i'm kissing myself right now for giving me such an incredible gift. every penny well spent. oh yeah, he even had the original boxes with the insulation for packing! only thing we didn't have was the plastic that slips over the speakers. we were very careful and gentle with them when placing them in the boxes. packed all the styrofoam all around them and taped them shut.
we humped them down two flights of stairs and with a bit of modification to my car, we got both of them in there; my sedan understood completely! the seller had thousands of dollars in audio gear in his house. he said he collects a lot of the old vintage stuff, keeps the very, very special things and sells the rest so that he can buy more. he was the second owner of the polks. he got them for dirt at an estate sale and the widow had no idea of the value of the speakers that she was selling. she only knew her husband bought these hugh heavy things and she couldn't move them and was glad to get rid of them at almost any price so he told me.
i did get a few pictures with my iphone 5 but they dont' tell the story. i'm not sure when i'll be able to unbox these at the house (we are doing things to the basement right now) but when i do, i'll have my regular camera and take some really good pictures.
for now, here are the shots i took while at the audition:
i was sitting in the sweet spot chair when i took this picture!
cabinets and covering are intact and beautiful.
front or back, everything about them says i was cared for and you do the same!
all of the writing on the speakers is still intact and clear as a bell!
the seller still had the original boxes that they were shipped in; you gotta love that!
well, that's enough for tonight. i'm getting tired. just wanted to let you all know how things went, THEY WENT WELL! thank you all for listening (pun intended) to me go crazy!
your comments are welcome, please give til it hurts!