Pawn Shop Adventures

[ThatM1key]

I don't know what to say in the first sentence. So basically me and my father hang out and visit pawn shops mostly every Saturdays. Most of the time nothing changes because these pawn shops only pay 1/4 to 1/5 value on items versus pawn stars famous 1/2 value. I guess you can think of this a blog or diary or something. You don't have to reply at all.

Today nothing's really changed. Overpriced DVD players from the 90s, cheap TV's that have terrible colors & subwoofers more worn out than a chick at an orgy. I guess somebody finally bought the Fluance Signature Towers that were priced $100 below MSRP, they have been sitting there for many many months.

Not surprisingly, the $3K KEFs are still there, and there hooked up to a chitty budget $150 Harman-Kardon, most of the time it's hooked up to these super cheap 5.1 Yamaha AVR's, that are always trash-bin-ready. Somebody turned the Bass all the way up and the clarity was gone, I turned the bass down and it sounded a lot better. One of the clerks thought I was super interested and walked over, turned up the volume past half way and asked if it sounded good. A few months ago, The nicest amp that those KEF's were hooked was to a oldish Sony ES Receiver, that my father eventually put on layaway. He wanted something that was similar to my Sony and gotten sick of the constant relay clicks in his Onkyo.

Next week we'll see what happens. Cheers.

 

[JSmith]

these pawn shops only pay 1/4 to 1/5 value

Last time I pawned something was a long time ago and it was an expensive, close to new, Sony Walkman which cost $250 new. Bastard gave me $50 and not a cent more, then after I didn't pay it back in time he had it up for sale for $150.


JSmith

 

[ThatM1key]

Last time I pawned something was a long time ago and it was an expensive, close to new, Sony Walkman which cost $250 new. Bastard gave me $50 and not a cent more, then after I didn't pay it back in time he had it up for sale for $150.


JSmith

I don't pawn stuff there but I do sometimes sell. These pawn shops don't really test stuff before they buy. I initially bought a cheap pair Polk T15's to play around, nothing serious. I quickly found out the tweeters were blown, luckily I got money back.

 

[JSmith]

These pawn shops don't really test stuff before they buy.

Definitely not... never buy cd/dvd/bd players from pawn shops, always dirty lens' or failing laser heads.

I do sometimes sell.

... sorry, coudn't resist dropping in a few relevant meme's.

JSmith

 

[Blumlein 88]

I used to check pawn shops out frequently. Haven't done so in a decade or so. Come across some interesting stuff. Acoustat 3's in good shape and good price. Purchased a pair of the original Koss ESP9 Electrostatic headphones. Worked perfectly and Koss sent me a brand new pair of leather ear pads for them free. Had a FR chart for the pair I had included with them. I used those for 10 years or so and sold them when prices went up on them for a time. Found a few high end tuners people didn't know about over the years. Scored one of those really good US navy tube testers once. Also some tube SW radios in fine condition.

Have run across some super deals on two expensive binoculars. Guys sold it to me for what they paid taking them in pawn. They were just in the wrong part of town for anyone to look for such things. So they'd had them in stock for 18 months. $1800 pair for $250 in like new condition, and a $750 pair for $150.

Never pawned anything. Seemed a bad deal. You get 10 or 20% of its real value and the chance to pay extremely high interest rates. Purchased a Mig/Tig welder, a really nice name brand one with all the stuff to connect the inert gas tanks. Fellow I knew said he pawned it and reclaimed it so many times he couldn't afford to have it around anymore so he sold it to me.

 

[ThatM1key]

Another product I gotten that didn't work right, was sadly, the Philips FA960. Left channel was blown and I had that thing on layaway for a while . They initially offered me store credit and "couldn't" do cash but my father forced them to give me cash.

From that same small pawn shop, a few years ago. I saw a pair of Polk S55's for $350 together and I immediately put them on layaway. I eventually paid them down and got them home. Nothing wrong with them and I love them ever since.

Definitely not... never buy cd/dvd/bd players from pawn shops, always dirty lens' or failing laser heads.

There always higher than eBay prices. I seen BD players cheaper at thrift stores ironically.


I remember a few months ago somebody told me pawn stars made a video telling people they don't buy stolen stuff:

My local shops do check serial numbers but they do buy ""stolen"" car radios, with the plastic brackets still . They make you sign some paperwork stating that you own the item your selling/pawning, but that's not gonna stop some people.

 

[ThatM1key]

Visited the same big pawn shop today with my father. PS4's are still selling like hotcakes. I saw a big "Nice Looking" JVC receiver but it had a bult in graphic equalizer (bad sign) & was very light. Fluance towers came back out of somebody's layaway, probably because they realized for a $100 more you can get a new pair. The 3K KEF towers, are gone, mostly put in the back because its dumb to hook up cheap amps to it and listen to rock at high volumes. I have pictures of this but I don't fell like posting them, anyways I saw these tower speakers. It was some "Jamo" speakers and they wanted $750 for them. I pulled off the cover and they were just some cheap 4-way Pioneers, Must've had the wrong price tag but I didn't see any Jamo's in the store.

Visited the ghettoish thrift store. They had bunch of used toilets still. Somebody donated a Polk Audio CS175, from the online pictures, it looks cheap but man, this thing felt nice, they wanted $30 for it, not bad. I saw a Honeywell HT-900 for $4, but they won't let you test items anymore.

 

[ThatM1key]

We went to our "favorite" thrift store today, nothing special at all. Saw a new small pack of floppy disks for $5 and 1980s pioneer tower speakers for $100. FTW, they get this stuff for free anyways, I don't why they charge so high these days.

Next was the big pawn shop. They kind of finished there LP "testing station". Onkyo receiver with these "mini towers". They forgot to plug in the Sony turntable, my father plugged the line level turntable into the phono jack and the sound too boosted, I told him to switch to the normal rca's and he got mad. I turned the treble all the way up because there was no top end at all but I soon found out, the tweeters were already blown . Could this pawn shops hire people that actually test stuff before they buy junk? Anyways, I saw this cute Klipsch set, small bookshelf's and small subwoofer, $400, nope.

We went to the smaller pawn shop, same stuff mainly. Lots of 4GB RAM laptops, for some reason. I saw PSVR headset for $180, too much. I think you can get $300 headsets for PC's these days.

My father likes Klipsch but I warned him that if you "go up in tiers" with them, you don't always get better audio and could be worse than the lower tiers. That's why I like Polk Audio, you pay more, you actually get better audio.