Anyone know where to get an "older" AM/FM Stereo system cheap? {New or Used}

[Orville]

I am trying to locate an older style stereo system, one that IS NOT Bluetooth or anything fancy, just a basic unit that has the red and black speaker press down spring clips and insert the speaker wires, release and wire is held in to make contact..

Been searching online for days and all I seem to find is Bluetooth enabled stuff, not what I need, nor do I want it.   This system is what I would use for my external speakers outside to supply the music for passersby on bicycles or walking by.  Used or new, doesn't matter, just looking for something cheap that I can replace the old one I had that is no longer functional.

Anyone have any ideas on where I can find one, must be 8-ohm speaker output, as my outdoor speakers are 8 ohm.

Or if anyone has one collecting dust that still works and wants to sell it, PM me with details.  I keep the radio indoors and feed the outdoor speakers.  I wish my Bose had external speaker connections, dang thing doesn't even have an earphone jack, or I'd be using that, but due to its lack of any external speaker connections, it's useless for that.  And I don't want to put this unit outdoors, at least not this particular unit.

Thanks for any guidance or where I might find such an older system that is only used for display purposes only.

 

[TheDucks]

Thrift stores in my area have these (no Blu or even HDMI)

I assume you want this style for POWER output?   Budget Conscious?

There are a ton of Class-D that HAVE RCA/3.5mm inputs (just ignore that it does also have BT) for under $50

BTW Many of these run on DC 12/24V (power is limited the lower the input voltage)

[Brian Mitchell]

Yard sales, thrift shops, second hand stores, pawn shops. Do they still have that place in Daytona that’s like a warehouse with tons and tons of second hand and craft shops?

[Orville]

I've called some of the pawn shops, but they haven't had anything, they prefer the newer items, the thrift stores around my area have pretty much gone by the way of the Dinosaur.  My biggest problem is I can no longer drive, don't own any transportation of any kind, so I have been searching and calling local places to see if they had anything and would ship it to me.  Only way I have of buying the majority of things I get.  Major bummer for me.    Nearest public transportation, local Lynx bus system is a minimum 3-mile walk from my house. :(   And I can't walk that distance any longer.  It sucks to get to be a decrepit old fart with disabilities.

Looks like it may be only the FM Transmitter this year, which sucks, as my neighbors are missing the music when working out in their yard since I have music playing in the off hours during the day.

I found one new item that would have worked if the speaker output had been 8 ohms, but it was only rated for 4 ohm speakers with built-in LED lights in the speakers.  So that one was a no-go.

First time I've ever encountered looking for a stereo with the credentials I want to use it for and not finding anything useable..

 

[gsmith37064]

Look on Ebay

[TheDucks]

52 minutes ago, Orville said:

I've called some of the pawn shops, but they haven't had anything, they prefer the newer items, the thrift stores around my area have pretty much gone by the way of the Dinosaur.  My biggest problem is I can no longer drive, don't own any transportation of any kind, so I have been searching and calling local places to see if they had anything and would ship it to me.  Only way I have of buying the majority of things I get.  Major bummer for me.    Nearest public transportation, local Lynx bus system is a minimum 3-mile walk from my house. :(   And I can't walk that distance any longer.  It sucks to get to be a decrepit old fart with disabilities.

Looks like it may be only the FM Transmitter this year, which sucks, as my neighbors are missing the music when working out in their yard since I have music playing in the off hours during the day.

I found one new item that would have worked if the speaker output had been 8 ohms, but it was only rated for 4 ohm speakers with built-in LED lights in the speakers.  So that one was a no-go.

First time I've ever encountered looking for a stereo with the credentials I want to use it for and not finding anything useable..

 

Those are Minimum output ohms. 8 ohm speakers will work fine without damage (as long as you don't run the Amp loud enough to clip. Clip makes a flat top that can cook a voice coil if it lasts)  Some Amps can not drive 4 (or 2) Ohm loads.

[dgrant]

Salvation army store or GoodWill

[Kapkirk]

Orville

Amazon has one delivered for $35 if you want new, I purchased mine from them in 2015 and still going strong. It's a Lepy LP-V9S Hi-Fi Stereo Power Digital Amplifier with USB SD DVD CD FM. I had some speakers from an old system and used them with it. The speakers plug in like you want. Do a search and see.

Keith

[Orville]

5 hours ago, Kapkirk said:

Orville

Amazon has one delivered for $35 if you want new, I purchased mine from them in 2015 and still going strong. It's a Lepy LP-V9S Hi-Fi Stereo Power Digital Amplifier with USB SD DVD CD FM. I had some speakers from an old system and used them with it. The speakers plug in like you want. Do a search and see.

Keith

Thank you very much!, Keith.    I checked out the unit on Amazon, and it will do nicely for what I need it for.  I see a lot of reviewers say the FM reception isn't too great, but I doubt that will be an issue since my Transmitter will be about 15-25 feet from the unit, Transmitter is outside, the new unit will be inside next to my front door.   This unit is even better than what I was looking for and far cheaper than what I had expected to pay.   I figured I wouldn't find anything like this unit for less than $179+, and I have Prime for Free for 30 days, so I saved the shipping fees too.   I should have it by Monday, Dec. 5.  Thanks for the info on it, really looking forward to testing this thing out when it gets here.   I'll be mounting my outdoor speakers Sunday as I finish up a few small details of my display, mainly running power cords to a few items that are in place, just not connected yet.

Again, really appreciate the heads-up on this one, being an amplifier is a huge plus in my book!  And the cost was well below what I was expecting to pay for a basic stereo system!

Again, THANK YOU, Keith!

[Kapkirk]

Orville

Your welcome, I can't say anything about range cause it sits on the workbench about 5 feet from the FM transmitter but it has lights on unit to display the strength and maybe more, I hardly ever read instructions just plug and play and it has played well for years now.

Keith

[Orville]

26 minutes ago, Kapkirk said:

Orville

Your welcome, I can't say anything about range cause it sits on the workbench about 5 feet from the FM transmitter but it has lights on unit to display the strength and maybe more, I hardly ever read instructions just plug and play and it has played well for years now.

Keith

ROFL.   I rarely read instructions on some things, but others, I tend to read them, but usually forget some aspects or something is written in a bit of a confusing way, and the instructions made the issue worse than if I had tried to figure it out on my own. LOL 

Sometimes they help, sometimes they don't.

And from what I read in the reviews, most said the instructions were written in Chinese, so they are still trying to figure out how some aspects of the unit works.   And a lot of instructions I've read that are from other countries that don't speak or comprehend English very well, they don't get translations from their native language into English very well.  So, the instruction manual, I don't like to say it, but the manual reads like gibberish, or just doesn't make any sense in the way the translation came out in English, looks like perhaps a very young child did the conversion the way some of the sentences read in them.  Like perhaps a first or 2^nd grader did the translation and wrote the sentence incorrectly, bad grammar, bad sentence structure, incorrect word used, things like that.

Sad that no one seems to use proofreaders anymore, when companies used them, mistakes like those never seemed to occur many moons ago, but today, good grief.   Even many books that come out from American Publishers don't seem to use proofreaders either, I find hundreds of mistakes in many books I've read that have come out within the last few years, it's unbelievable!  I used to work as a proofreader for one of the electronic companies I had worked at, making sure everything was in the correct order to prevent mistakes on the assembly line from the manufacturing process plan {MPP}.  So, I catch a lot of mistakes now when I read anything.  Sometimes it drives me crazy when folks make simple blunders, like using "loose" for "lose" or vice-versa or "brake" for "break", or, again, vice-versa.  Words that may sound similar or alike, but have far different meanings.    But unlike a lot of folks, I don't go making corrections to the person like some do, some folks are just too anal about correcting others, but I can figure out their meaning in cases like those.   But some folks just have to be the spelling or corrective police on folks at times.   Just too easy to make these most common mistakes, so I ignore them.   And some folks English isn't their native language, and if I have an issue with understanding the sentence, I'll shoot them a PM to discuss what they meant, not bring it out into  public forum, just not the way to handle it.

Ah well, getting on one of my ramblings again, I'll end this one here.  Before I end up creating another novel. LOL

 

Now, back to the unit, yes, my Transmitter is no further than probably 25 feet or even less from where the unit will be located, so I doubt I'll have any issues with using it in my display for my external outdoor speakers.  Plus, it'll be right next to a window, which will help the signal to get through even better than a solid wall.  Really looking forward to getting this set up Monday and testing it out.  Especially the amplifier component to see just how well that will either improve the sound output or, hopefully not, make it worse.

[Orville]

On 12/4/2022 at 9:38 AM, Kapkirk said:

Orville

Your welcome, I can't say anything about range cause it sits on the workbench about 5 feet from the FM transmitter but it has lights on unit to display the strength and maybe more, I hardly ever read instructions just plug and play and it has played well for years now.

Keith

Finally, got mine just a little before showtime would start on Monday evening, show starts at 5:30pm, I got it around 4:45pm from Amazon Delivery.  Fortunately, I had the speakers wired and ready for it.   It has been working pretty good, it can be set extremely loud, I set the volume to full on the unit, then I use the remote to change the volume settings higher or lower..

I did read through the manual, what a joke that manual is, it doesn't explain how to use any of the features of the remote, and what those folks call a standard SD card slot sure doesn't match today's standard SD Card either.  I doubt the size of SD Card we use in the LOR Director units would even work in that oversized slot on the unit.

Furthermore, I do have several complaints about the unit, using the remote, every time you use it to increase/lower the volume it sends an audio signal out through the speakers, a beep type sound on every press of the remote button, very annoying when a show is running and volume needs to be set during the main show as it starts up.  I run off hours' music at a very low volume overnight, so I lower the volume, the off hours' day music is a bit louder, then I have to increase the volume for the main light show.  That audio feedback from the remote should have been INTERNAL to the unit using a small Piezo speaker, not through the external audio speakers.  It's too noticeable and very annoying.

But my biggest complaint, for having an FM Radio installed, why does it NOT have a set favorite channels option, or at least an option to change the default channel?    If I turn off the unit, it defaults back to 90.8 FM, every time I turn it on, I have to reset it back to 87.9 FM.  And I have found no way to set the channel to MY default preference.   Again, the manual proved useless for any real explanation of how the features work on this unit or how to set, turn off or change anything.

The manual is nothing more than a two-page diagram and text about what the unit is, but explains nothing on how the unit works, manual on this device = totally useless, even reading it doesn't solve anything with those issues.   The remote feedback beep should be optional to turn off/on, there should be a way to save and override the default station the unit comes with to YOUR preference and the SD Card Slot is so wide, and no description for the type or size of SD Card you can use with the unit.

 

Although those are my only real complaints with the unit, with the outdoor speakers I am using with it the unit has superb sound.  And the distance to my FM Transmitter is 40 feet outside from the unit indoors, sound, clarity and quality are all excellent for what I'm using it for.   BTW: none of my manual was written in Chinese or any other language, but some of the translations still sound like a first-grader may have written them.