Help needed: value of Yamaha & Heil ESS system
 

A dear friend, the wife of my best friend who passed away 20 years ago, is finally downsizing and selling off my buddy's old system. It's taken her this long to be able to part with some things, but she finally has to sell the old homestead. The equipment has been pretty much sitting idle for most of those 20 years, and I told her years ago not to just yard-sale anything before checking with me. The equipment is:

Yamaha CA-1010 amplifier
Yamaha CT-1010 tuner
Heil ESS AMT1 speakers
Realistic LAB 400 direct drive turntable

The speakers are in rough shape - woofer surrounds have rotted out and the grills are damaged, but the electronics look ok, just grungy and in need of cleaning and servicing. The amp works, at least I get good sound out of the A speaker terminals and the phono input, and all the lights come on. The tuner lights up but I haven't had a chance to test it yet.

I'm thinking of buying the amp from her, and maybe the tuner as well. They'd look and sound great in my workshop and would have a lot of fond memories attached to them.

So, can anyone give me an idea of what any of these might be worth? I want to give my friend a good price for the Yamaha gear, and good advice on what to do with the speakers and turntable, so any suggestions are welcome.

I know there are some Yamaha fans out there - Michael, are you there???

Tony.......I recently saw an ad where a Yamaha CA-2010 and a CT-1010 sold as a pair for $599.00. That would lead me to believe the CA-1010 and CT-1010 as a pair is probably a good value at $500.00.

Looks like the Realistic LAB 400 is selling on eBay for around $250.00 in good condition.

The Heil ESS AMT1 speakers in the condition you describe are not worth much more that $250.00 tops.

Dan, thanks for the quick response and your expertise. I'm going to give my friend $500 for the Yamaha gear, refurbishing them will be a fun project and they'll look good in my workshop. The TT is easy, I can fix it up and sell it for her to a young guy I know who wants to get into vinyl on the cheap. The speakers are a bit more problematic, I'd be reluctant to ship them in their condition. and refurbishing speakers like this isn't my thing, but maybe I can find someone within driving distance who'll want them. Thanks again for the feedback.

Best of luck Tony. You're a good friend!

A good estimate if both are in good cosmetic condition and working condition. The CA-1010 will make up 75-80% of that value, as the CT-1010, while a "nice" tuner, is nothing special (The 'special' Yamaha tuners being the CT-7000, T-2, T-85 & TX-1000). Due to age, both will respond well to a recap and the tuner to an alignment after recap. If the tuner is working well, just recap the power supply and forego the alignment if it still works well.