Every year on a cold day in February numerous audio enthusiasts converge on the Angel leisure centre in Tonbridge, Kent in search of a bargain. This year it was bright and frosty when I arrived to join the queue of sellers at 8am but inside the big hall things were bustling with kit being wheeled in and stacked up. I spotted a nicely refurbished Leak Stereo 20 that was tempting but at £600 a bit pricey, I saw it again half an hour later in the hands of Audiojumble founder John Howes and realised that it was probably a good buy! Before long stacks of kit from the last fifty years and some even older was on sale and the buyers were queuing up. There was an awful lot of vinyl at the jumble this year and plenty of crate diggers to go with it, and a few very desirable pieces of kit going for sensible money. Those less fussy about condition can pick up decent gear for not a lot of outlay and this combined with the resurgence of vinyl beyond the hi-fi world appeared to have drawn a wider age range than usual. Below are a few of the more interesting pieces I spotted, if anyone can add more information about them don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Restored to mint condition this Garrard 301 looks as good as the day it came off the assembly line and probably sounds better thanks to Martin Bastin updates, price was £1,000.
In the era when Krell was a major player in the high end the PAM-7 was its range topping preamplifier, and even now thirty years later is worth £800 including separate power supply.
1988 Linn Isobarik’s for £1,200 including stand and crossover, the open baffle speaker has a Lowther A65 mid/hf and Supravox 285GMF for £600
Formats of yesteryear part one the 8-track cassette with a pile including Elvis, David Bowie and the Mothers of Invention.
Arcam started out as A&R Cambridge and this pre/power pairing of C200 and SA200 was one of their more stylish offerings.
One of the original Roksan Xerxes turntables going for a very reasonable price, if you like brown.
Leak TL12 Plus, mono versions of the Stereo 20, a lot of quality British iron for £700 per pair.
It wasn’t all vintage kit, cable maker True Signals showed a selection of its wares which use wiring manufactured in New York.
I used to own a Border Patrol Control Unit but not this one, I’d still quite like a Sugden A21a.
John Howes was selling this mint Loftin White single ended triode amp with 2A3 output tubes and Tango output transformers, good value at £1,495 if you can live with 3 watts.
Quad’s most attractive amplifiers in the world ever, the 33 preamplifier and FM3 tuner.
Paul Fewl makes these 12inch arms to order sometimes basing them on existing bearing systems, the top one is carbon fibre and the wooden one combines mahogany and beech.
B&W DM7s from 1977 with the first incarnation of the tweeter on top.
Formats of yesteryear part two reel-to-reel tape, these are stereo examples from the US and were priced between £10 and £15.
A ‘chrome bumper’ Naim HI-CAP power supply for £350 atop a ‘bolt down’ NAP160 power amp wiht the serial no.85 for £375.
One of the less common Connoisseur turntables with a very funky tonearm.
An early Linn LP12 complete with fluted back panel and Design Centre label which went for £600.
Clearly there’s not much demand for vintage Heathkit but you have to admire the build quality given that these are at least 50 years old.
Jason Kennedy
The next Audiojumble will be on Sunday 7th October 2018