Cheap Arvin console

[radiotvnut]

OK, in some respects, this one may be worse than the Philharmonic that I picked up the other day. OTOH, at least this one has an AM/FM stereo radio.

This is an Arvin AM/FM solid state console with a BSR record changer that a friend picked up for me at an estate sale for $30. I would have never paid that much for this had I seen it; but, I went ahead and paid him for it. This same person used to see stuff and then tell me about it a week later, after it was too late. I told him to call me on his cellphone if he saw anything in the future and I'd tell him rather to get it or not. Or, go ahead and buy it if he couldn't get me and the price was very cheap (I guess I need to define "very cheap"). I'm afraid he may turn down something good if I refuse what he buys; so, I just pay him and hope I can come out on top in the end.

As you can see, the cabinet is not the best. As far as the operation, the controls are very dirty and the record changer is gunked up.

Hopefully, I can get this working out of my junk parts and make the cabinet look better so that someone will hopefully buy it.

[Kamakiri]

I always kinda feel sorry for ones like this. Since they've been around so long, I feel as if they deserve a home where they'll be used and enjoyed.....but of course one can only have so many of them in one home

[DavGoodlin]

Beleive it or not, consoles with that cabinet style are more desirable than the outlandish Mediterranean and Early American styles.
Some Restor-a-finish and coat of paste wax would probably sell that for you.

I wonder if that was one of the last pieces Arvin of Columbus, Indiana made.
You could probably get that chassis working fairly well and compare to the Philharmonic, tubes vs transisitors maybe even sell both..
Hopefully that BSR changer can be made operational and find a record mat for it.

[dieseljeep]

Regarding: The items picked up at an estate sale.
I found, bargaining at estate sales, works differently at estate sales, conducted by a third party.
Everything is marked high the first day and they won't bargain. Usually the second day, the prices are discounted and more realistic. It depends how bad you want the item.
If it's a family, they're a bit more liberal in bargaining.

[radiotvnut]

What I've found is if the sale is run by the family, the stuff will be cheap and they'll negotiate because they want/need the stuff cleaned out.

If it's a company running the sale, everything will be jacked up and they usually won't negotiate.

A while back, a friend was at an estate sale in a neighboring small town and he spotted a nice looking Stewart-Warner console radio/record player. It was around 12:15 in the afternoon and it was priced at $100; but, would be half-price after 1 PM. My friend called me and I told him that $100 was too much and to wait until 1 and get it for $50. The problem was that his wife was on his butt and he couldn't wait until 1. I told him to go ahead and het it if he could talk her into selling the radio for $50; but, despite the fact that it was less than an hour until 1 PM, she wouldn't do it. She even told him that traffic had been low and that no one had really paid attention to the radio. IMHO, she was stupid for not taking the $50. Had that been me, I would have taken the $50 and said, "thank you."

Personally, I don't like sales where they tell me to come back later and we'll deal. I'm here NOW, I have cash NOW, and I may not be willing to come back after I leave. When I'm selling something, I'm going to get what I can while I can.

[radiotvnut]

I may end up parting this out. I could get this thing working like new; but, it would be labor and money intensive and I'm tired of fixing things, only to have people seriously lowball me on the price. The record changer uses a Euphonics cartridge with a busted stylus (you might know it would be something that I don't have on hand).