Why should this picture get some excited?

[Tiver]

Why do some of us continue to peruse CL and Estate sales and ebay? OK, the simple answer is some of us are looking for upgrades that are a bargain. BUT, why is it that gear representing lesser or lateral moves gets the blood flowing as well?

I know this topic approaches what has been much discussed, but I am constantly feeling the need to control the urge to go after after things that I don't need, won't likely use, and can't legitimately consider to have a value upside. I manage it at this point. But why won't it just leave me alone?

Oh, I know there might be the rare find that seems to make it all worth while. I get that part. But why do I feel this compulsion to look at gear I know has no place in my stack or plan?

Here is a local estate sale picture that epitomizes my condition...It's a beater stack in a dingy photo.....wait!!....what's this!!.....Yamaha!!!...possibly Pioneer!!!!....Turntable!!!. Speakers!!!!!

Cool your jets dummy. No reason to get excited

I know I am not the only one who suffers this condition. You'all got it under control?

 

[Mister Pig]

Yeah I just buy stuff that is so good it hurts to pay for it. After that the audio kitty is empty and you got great tunes. Buy it for the quality of sound, save the bargain shopping for the cereal isle at the grocery store.

Cheers
Mister Pig

 

[Tiver]

Yeah I just buy stuff that is so good it hurts to pay for it. After that the audio kitty is empty and you got great tunes. Buy it for the quality of sound, save the bargain shopping for the cereal isle at the grocery store.

Cheers
Mister Pig

That's the credo of my aspirations. Holding steady for now. Still have to subdue the occasional impulse.

 

[Mister Pig]

That's the credo of my aspirations. Holding steady for now. Still have to subdue the occasional impulse.

Stick your weiner in a vise and give the handle a few spins. Your nefarious impulses will disappear in a blink of an eye.

Cheers
Mister Pig

 

[GChief]

That’s why I really don’t go into BT anymore.

 

[bberkom]

Some photos with no real description of gear other than “speakers”, “receiver”, or “stereo” have more score potential than others. Here’s the vague CL browsing photo that led me to my ADS L1530’s. The receiver and tt weren’t too bad either, but they got flipped. Gotta have patience, but then strike when the iron is hot!

 

[Tiver]

That's the reason for looking. But there is still something about the lesser stuff that haunts me just a little.

 

[twiiii]

If that's the earlier Yamaha with out the switching power supply, then it will be a great sounding unit. The Pioneer is a great unit, no need to guess there. I don't like auto changers so that would be for some else. All the pieces might need some loving care, but thats to be expected of units from the 70's.

 

[Tiver]

If that's the earlier Yamaha with out the switching power supply, then it will be a great sounding unit. The Pioneer is a great unit, no need to guess there. I don't like auto changers so that would be for some else. All the pieces might need some loving care, but thats to be expected of units from the 70's.

Maybe you hit it there.....Even if it's a piece that doesn't improve one's setup, we still know there is a lot of sonic value just collecting dust in someone's pile of stuff and for this we are (I am ) tormented slightly.

My OP is definitely about a combination of both sentiment and exuberance. It's not about the thought of any type of "flip".

 

[Nightwisher]

This stuff's cool. I enjoy it and it keeps me occupied away from more stressful things. I don't care if I don't need it.

 

[sqlsavior]

Blame advertising. If yours is a genuine question, that's my answer. You have been conditioned since birth to want and expect instant gratification, first from your mother, then as you grow up, from spending your money. If Ford, Chevy, and Dodge stopped advertising huge pickup trucks, the senseless demand for them would simply disappear, sooner or later. But, you say, there are no television commercials for old audio gear. It doesn't matter. The pattern has been ingrained.

 

[jcamero]

I admit, I'll drool over those images posted in estate sale listings, then come to my senses. Long wait lines to get in, (if not first in line, you might as well be last). Over priced, aggressive shoppers, etc... Fun to look though.

 

[wu6fiend]

I peruse CL and eBay regularly, but I'm immune to virtually all except if its got a JBL or Sony ES label, that's my Kryptonite. The JBL stuff I'm specifically interested in is now consistently (ridiculously) priced at a level I cannot justify, and I already have the zenith Sony ES components anyway. But I keep looking, its like a minor itch that needs continual scratching. Silly really, because our little house has no more room for more stereo stuff, and there are enough components sitting idle in the basement to set up at least two complete additional systems.

 

[PanheadXR290]

I'm the estate sale CL eBay Audiogon buyer most scorn because if I see a piece of gear I can profit from flipping even a downgrade makes me excited .

 

[Tiver]

I'm the estate sale CL eBay Audiogon buyer most scorn because if I see a piece of gear I can profit from flipping even a downgrade makes me excited .

It doesn't much matter who the buyer is. Once the deal is gone it's gone.

If I chance upon some like the ADS L1530 on a stroke of good fortune, they are as likely to find there way into anyone's hands......anyone who is looking.

This thread isn't about anything other than why. Flipping isn't my thing, but I still have to shrug off the desire to chase a deal. And I manage to do so because a while back (years) I realized it wasn't doing me much good, and the pickings definitely thinned out.

Even still, I like to peruse estate sales for useful things and certain Americana as decoration. If I see a Pioneer SX1050 for $30, I get jumpy and I am pretty sure it's going home with me.......even though I have one on the shelf that just sits there unused. I don't know, maybe I will display latent flipping tendencies. Maybe the SX1050 will end up, upon my own demise, at an estate sale for $30

 

[darkblue94]

Saw an estate-sale ad yesterday that showed 2 pairs of Yamaha NS1000s, one was NS1000M. Took a few moments for my vintage audio "chubby" to subside enough for me to accept that I actually CAN live without them. I hope whomever got them will enjoy them like I would have.

 

[gbroot]

Op, I don't agree that the urge for more gear is a sickness or condition. Isn't it just a normal thing?

 

[ETLS]

I get excited just opening my eyelids in the morning.

 

[Bodyblue]

Blame advertising. If yours is a genuine question, that's my answer. You have been conditioned since birth to want and expect instant gratification, first from your mother, then as you grow up, from spending your money. If Ford, Chevy, and Dodge stopped advertising huge pickup trucks, the senseless demand for them would simply disappear, sooner or later. But, you say, there are no television commercials for old audio gear. It doesn't matter. The pattern has been ingrained.

How silly. People do have free will. The sale of large trucks has little to do with advertising and more to do with cheap gas and how really nice modern trucks are.......oh and long termed loans. The American truck market will never go away because we have always needed them and will until there are no farm or ranches or people that tow boats etc. In other words for at least as long as there is an America as we know it.

Sure advertising helps sell stuff, which keeps the economy rolling and people employed and families insured. Yep totally senseless.

 

[sqlsavior]

The American truck market will never go away because we have always needed them and will until there are no farm or ranches or people that tow boats etc.

That's the sensible demand. I was referring to the senseless demand.