Just got into the cassette scene, and I saw an Onkyo TA-R24 for sale in a thrift store for $75 USD. Got a few scuffs on the front, not sure if this price is fair or not. Ones on ebay seem to go for $45. What do you think?
I used to walk by decks like that for $7.99 at the local Goodwill, I might be wrong but it doesn't look like much, especially at that price. Ebay sales show it has some legs and that's where the seller is getting his pricing from. This fall I found two really nice decks one was $12.99 (it's really nice but I can't remember the brand and it's out in the shop) and the other, a TEAC GX-F60R, was thrown in with some other equipment I wanted. If it was around $20 and maybe needed a belt, it might be nice for a first deck but I'd keep looking. I didn't see this post before when I recommended Onkyo in your welcome post, Onkyo has some much nicer decks that used to go for easy money.
For $75 I would expect either some kind of warrantee (e.g. one month) or the opportunity to check out every function in the shop before parting with any money. Knowing it was a fully working would be an advantage over eBay. If there is any problem with the deck then it is more like a $10 unit. To give an idea of prices a local pawn shop had two Technics decks at £45 each. So far one has sold while the other is still there.
I see. The deck does not have volume adjustment, so testing with speakers would require a preamp and then the speakers themselves. I will keep an eye out for other deals. Thank you for the advice!
I've had really good luck with most of the decks I've bought, I usually just check to see if the belts are working and most of the time they don't. It gives me a good reason to get the deck for cheap. I don't think I've ever paid more than $20 for a mid-line deck, they really made millions of them.
