G'day folks!

Over the past 6 months I have recently developed a midlife crisis hoarding disorder which has resulted in crawling around the burbs sifting through other peoples roadside rubbish looking for old hi-fi equipment. I then bring my plunder home with me and, much to the disdain of the handbrake, store it in my man-cave. Mostly I have found old speaker cabinets in various states of decay. It is game over for any cabinet composed of chipboard that has spent more than an afternoon in the rain waiting at the kerbside for collection. Anyhow, my man-cave is now redolent with the odor of chipboard glue, which I find oddly comforting. It also somehow compliments the glass or two of cheap plonk that may or may not be consumed while tinkering with my plunder.

I have a couple of complaints to make. The first is about chuck-out etiquette. If you are going to turf your old hi-fi gear please, at least, throw out BOTH speakers. I am baffled by the number of times I have found single, not pairs of, cabinets. I have still collected a number of these single cabinets, mostly to rescue the drivers, crossovers, etc. Brands include Jennings Research, Yamaha, Sanyo, JBL, Radio Shack. Mostly the cabs are knackered due to being left out in the rain. The second complaint is about the trolls who go around robbing the copper wire out of anything electrical. Mostly they just cut the cable, leaving the cabinet intact. But I do despair at the number of vintage CRT TVs I have seen at the kerb that have been murdered to get at the copper goodies inside.

Anyway, for me this has all been bit of an exercise in self-education. I have discovered that some vintage cabs may contain Australian-made drivers. Brands that I have found include MSI Hi-Flux, E-tone, Magna-vox. IMHO it is important to rescue as many of these as possible, as for each one rescued, another nine probably end up at the tip.

Cheers for now
Ford

G'day Ford and welcome to the forums.

I gave up on council cleanup piles a few years back now due to the lack of good radio finding opportunities that now present themselves. The best that can be had for valve gear now is a 1960s telly, awaiting a raid on its valves. Mind you, if I was lucky enough to find a 10 channel AWA 21 incher from 1956/7/8 I'd gladly claim the whole telly.

I have to say the most annoying thing I find about cleanup piles is those who don't clean up any mess they make whilst picking away at the pile. Many councils are moving away from the old system where whole suburbs put out their junk all at once to an on-call system. This is discouraging those who live off collecting scrap metals as they are the ones that tend to make the most mess and ultimately this has left whole streets looking untidy as piles wait for the trucks to arrive.

A short list of gear rescued from kerbside collection / roadside rubbish in the past six months.

A Philips turntable and a three inch stack of vinyl (this is what started it all...) including a pristine copy of Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick. This turntable is fully operational and resides in the lounge room. Me and the handbrake use it regularly to listen to our ever-growing collection of vinyl.

A pair of early seventies Stamford two-way cabinets, made in Chatswood NSW, containing MSI Hi-Flux drivers. The cabs are a bit ratty, but upon inspection the drivers are more or less pristine. The main drivers are 12 inch-ers and are fabuloso. I use these cabs coupled to a cheap-o amplifier bought from Jaycar to listen to music in my man-cave. I use this amp to test any speakers I find. It is more of a workhorse than truly musical amp, but even through this amp the Stamfords sound warm and musical, even when playing digital music.

A pair of mid-eighties (best guess) AWA two-way cabinets, containing made-in-aus Magnavox drivers. The big ones are eights, I think. I reckon these also sound fantastic.

A pair of small-ish PYE cabs with six inch Magnavox drivers. Sadly one doesn't work.

Sundry other Sony, Kenwood, Teac, Sanyo speakers of various size and age. I have turfed most of these cabs but kept the drivers and crossovers.

A decrepit 70W Jade made-in-aus keyboard amp. This still runs okay but needs attention.

A blown early eighties made-in-USA 65W Peavey solid state guitar amp. As a bit of a novice musician and home recording hobbyist, I reckon this deserves to be repaired.

The first driver I ever collected was a 10 inch Philips out of an electric organ left outside a church hall for kerbside collection. It had been completely butchered by trolls harvesting copper wire, destroying one speaker but leaving the other intact, which I rescued.

A few small speakers rescued from butchered CRT TVs, including one very cute MSI Hiflux speaker from an Australian Healing TV.

Cheers for now
Ford

Hi Brad, thanks for the reply. It is now past my bedtime, but just a short note: I myself am guilty of harvesting valves from the odd old TV, not sure of their usefulness, but with the knowledge that valve / tube tech is de rigueur at the moment, or for the forseeable future.
I know its just true hoarding mentality, but when I see something that might be useful or of value, I want to rescue it from an untimely death. I think, soon enough, the same can be said for solid state gear and even early digital gear. For example: if it still works, keep your old marantz CD player, don't chuck it out on the kerb. Or, if you have to, hopefully I can get to it before the trolls or the rain....

But I do despair at the number of vintage CRT TVs I have seen at the kerb that have been murdered to get at the copper goodies inside.

A number of Sydney Councils now refuse to collect TVs and PCs left out for hard rubbish clean-ups.

That doesn't stop people who cannot, or will not, read clean-up instructions, though.

Another reason Councils are opting for on-call cleanup collections is the number of tradies who surreptitiously dump tons of building waste onto household piles. I've caught them at it in the wee hours offloading bricks, plasterboard, roofing iron and other prohibited items for household collections. The garbos told me they pick the stuff up, even though they are not supposed to, because if they don't there's a swag of complaints and they are sent back anyway.

Some years ago I had to put out some old phono pickup arms and turntable motors. Older stuff I wouldn't entrust my records to. I live on a busy road, and I placed the stuff so people driving by could see what it was. After a few hours someone helped themselves, hopefully they could do something with it all.

I troll morning to night, ripping out every copper yoke in sight.
I may give you a fright but I don't bite, so sit tight, don't be ignorant and she'll be right.

It's just your own selfishness that blinds you.
within 24 hours those crt's will be in a hole, boohoo.

What makes you think the "troll" for lack of a word that relates, isn't doing the same as you?
because the parts are missing? oh you poor thing.

Your just a scrapper like all of us, your target is the same, you want what's inside but someone smarter got there first