Good Deal on a Pioneer SX-850 Receiver

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It may not be Audiokarma . But it is what this great country was built on " free Enterprise"

Could not have said it better myself. It ain't the sellers, it's the buyers. Spring is coming. Lots of deals abound! :yes:

 

[beemer]

Case in point:

I like Kenwood, and I flip some items. This particular piece I'll describe is a keeper to me 'til I find a nicer one............

Boston C/L......seller sez......"Mint" Kenwood KR-9400 $100.

I offer $70 and tell them I'll come right away as it was only two towns over. Seller agrees and off I go in a bitter windy 0 degree Massachusetts winter evening.

I get there, and insted of "mint" I see "filthy". He had to splice a new plug on the powercord. Some lights out. Power switch does not shut off. Controls scratchy. Again, I still feel it is worth the $70 so we conclude the transaction.

Fast forward to the following weekend. I completely disassemble this and blow dust out and de-oxit away. Careful disassembly of the power switch and a cleaning makes it work again. Re-assemble and now except for the wood veneer end panels the old girl looks pretty damn good. Test with headphones and she sounds good too.

Update to last Thursday eve. I decide to use this in the livingroom on my wall mounted B&W's for FM use. Hook it all up, turn it on and poof! Out go the reciever lights and no relay click or sound........back to square one....

Disassemble again and search for problem. 3 fuses mounted on the back mainboard ON THE INSIDE.....no access without pulling the amp driver boards and MAJOR disassembly. Sure enough, there's a 3 amp glass fuse blown.

Replace that, completely re-assemble for the SECOND time. Re-install in living room. Now she works fine

OK, if I want to flip this, I should sell it for $70 :nono: LOL I think not.

My opinion only. Not intended as any sort of flame. I LOVE this board and the lack of attitude.

Best,

Paul :thmbsp:

 

[Retro Stereo]

Retro; I apologize. I came across the wrong way and I'm sorry. Didn't mean to make it sound like I'm personally attacking you. Isn't the first time I've been wrong and I'm sure it won't be the last. I will keep my thoughts to myself on this matter in the future. I can definately see your side of things and it appears I have changes to make in my buying and selling of certain vintage items. I'm certainly not after your "goat" and I hope you accept my humble apology. Looks like once again I've opened mouth inserted foot so to speak. Brian

Hey Brian,
This is mighty big of you and just so you know, we're cool, and if I've done anything to offend you, I'm sorry as well.


Greg

 

[Retro Stereo]

Well....I've made it a practice to keep my opinions to myself here at Audiokarma, however, I feel this is an unfair judgment against a fine person.
Like Retro, I buy and sell gear off of ebay. In fact, his example was an inspiration to me when I first started my ebay business (offering a warranty on the product, excellent pictures and description). So, let's walk through an average transaction from start to finish to see what all it entails.

John Doe finds an amplifier at a yard sale for $10. Without the knowledge or ability to properly test it, he list it on ebay for $100 just like he found it (this is a proper definition of a "gear flipper"). His listing has one fuzzy, little picture and states that the amp is sold "as is" with no returns. Upon searching his previously sold items, you notice that the heaviest item he has sold to this point was a beanie baby. Hence, a huge crap shoot on his packing abilities. Feeling lucky that day, you pull the trigger and pay the seller within minutes with Paypal. Several days pass without hearing a word from the seller. After a few unanswered emails you finally get word that the amp was shipped (usually without tracking information).

A few days pass and it finally arrives. You lift the package and feel the amp rattling around inside. Upon opening the package, you feel a great sense of relief that it arrived without damage. Another bullet dodged. Typical with 30 year old equipment, the unit is covered in grime. You remove the cover, blow the dust out, and hook it up on the bench. It powers up, but, has no sound (again, typical with 30 year old gear). After an hour or two of troubleshooting, you determine the parts you'll need to get it up and running. After extensive searching, your able to find that "out of stock" part needed (these parts are above and beyond the mandatory replacements of the caps in the power supply and protection circuits). You then gather the unit up and set it aside for the week or two wait for the parts to arrive.

The parts arrive and the real work begins. After several hours of replacing the defective parts, cleaning the switches and controls, adjusting the bias and offset, you have the amp running at peak performance. It sounds wonderful, but, you know your work has just begun. You remove the faceplate and knobs and start the cleaning process. Again, several hours later, you have the unit looking as good as it sounds. You then insert it into your own system and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Wishing you could keep every piece of gear you restore, but, knowing that is an impossibility, you list it on ebay for what seems like a ridiculous price to those unaware of the process it took to get to this point. You receive several insulting emails from ebayers complaining about your price and offering you the original $100 you purchased the item for. Trying not to let it get you down, you stand firm on your price and you offer a warranty and guaranty it's safe arrival, eliminating any risk to the future owner.

So, lets look at what it took to get it to the "flipping" stage---
1) The risk and mental anguish involved in receiving the unit in a reasonable enough condition to restore.
2) The possibility the the parts needed are unobtainable.
3) The hours it took to repair and clean the unit. (You laugh to yourself when you realize you made less that minimum wage, but, know in your heart that money is second to your love of the equipment).
4) The time involved in photographing and listing the item.
5) The time and expense to properly pack and ship the item.
6) And finally, the responsibility of standing behind your product.

So, in the end, you've turned a $10 non working junker into a piece of audio equipment that someone will enjoy for years to come. What better audio "karma" is there? Then, you repeat the process again and again because the joy you receive far outweighs the minimal financial gain you might have acquired. Remember, it's all about the music!!!

Craig

Craig,
Exactly!
Several of the the units I've taken in over the years from eBay have ended up being parts units. Some from shipping damage as you mention, others from being hacked so bad from someone just messing with the electronics and not knowing what they were doing. eBay is deifintely a crap shoot, and I've been burned plenty of times as a buyer.

Also, thanks for coming to my rescue, I appreciate it.



Retro

 

[averagewhiteman]

vp stereo wrote

"you notice that the heaviest item he has sold to this point was a beanie baby"

haha, sooo true, I laughed out loud!

 

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Double post. OOOPS.

 

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The SX 850 I took to Rob needed two 39 Cent Transistors. I watched him replace one. Most of the work was testing, and figuring out what transistors. And getting to them. I thought it was interesting, to say the least, to watch this process. The Kenwood Amp, and Tuner that were purchased with the 850 have a new home. And the buyer is pleased.
I complain about prices often. But I can't see any fault with the Seller on Ebay for pricing. It's the Buyer's. And many of them do not know what they are doing.
Now I dropped of a Sansui 7070 at Robs, that will need much of what motorstereo said above. And it was an awful packing job. Hopefully the seller does not contest my claim, and the unit will be free. In the state it's in, it's not far from being free.