the best way to get a great river for cheap would be go record in a studio that has one. get one of those power screwdrivers. wait until the engineer goes out set the mics up. buzz the great river out of the rack with you screw driver. you may need wire clippers if he was smart and soldered the connections. pretty simple. a larger studio ask for a floor plan before you go in, they usually have them. see where the bathroom is in relation to the control room which makes for a good excuse, especially if you have to walk through the control room to get to the bathroom. the bathroom makes for a great place to do the final stash. you can even bring a gear rack with a few open spaces. if you carry the thing out and the enginner see's it he probably won't even know it's his. especially if he only sees the backside and it isn't an esoteric peice of gear. don't try it at nubz studio, my stuff is all wired and I have cameras everywhere. I've caught people trying to rip off large peices of gear before. It's pretty easy to get mics too.