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Hoard of speakers thrown out

cleonjr said:
That Is Why A person Should Record all their belongings and give a rough appraisal,I have a video inventory Made for the person that will Inherit my estate.Although it will not matter to me after I am gone,I do not want these itms to be taken lightly they should continue to bring joy and listening pleasure.I would venture to say there are a lot of collections out in the world that have no plans on life after the death of the owner.that is How the vultures swoop in and get this stuff.
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Aren't we the vultures:scratch2:? We boast about the great deals we got, i.e. it's all a matter of perspective. Besides the theme of the thread is not about vultures/flippers/etc. but rather that no one gets them and a (desirable) piece of audio history is lost forever.
 
Putterman said:
Aren't we the vultures:scratch2:? We boast about the great deals we got, i.e. it's all a matter of perspective. Besides the theme of the thread is not about vultures/flippers/etc. but rather that no one gets them and a (desirable) piece of audio history is lost forever.
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no we are not the vultures,at least to a getting them for enjoyment point of view.in a world were most things dont really matter anyway.the thread is open to opinion amd not etched in stone,You have your opinion I have mine.it is all about our mutual Love of Music and how we interprete it.
 
Putterman said:
Aren't we the vultures:scratch2:? We boast about the great deals we got, i.e. it's all a matter of perspective. Besides the theme of the thread is not about vultures/flippers/etc. but rather that no one gets them and a (desirable) piece of audio history is lost forever.
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This is exactly the theme. The only one interested in trying to get this collection into the hands of audio enthusiasts was the deceased's wife. From the very beginning, she kept saying she feared it would all end up being dumped and, in the end, that is what happened.

It was actually my recommendation for them to get an estate company involved once they relayed they didn't want my help. However, I assumed she would let me know that was being done so I could at least attend the sale or try to ensure they didn't throw it away.
 
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GordonW said:
Seriously? Who realistically would have the time to take that kind of 'crash course' on eBay pricing on something they obviously didn't know anything about beforehand- for HUNDREDS of items?

Given that- why would it NOT be worth at least SOMETHING for the time, of someone who, potentially, could greatly increase their return?

I've actually been in this exact situation before- the only difference is that a friend of mine ASKED me to help a family he was friends with, that was in almost the exact same situation (it involved speakers and vintage tube gear left by a relative that had passed away- a Georgia Tech alum, and career engineer). I agreed to help them, and my price was that I would- on mutual agreement with them on what it was- take one item as an exchange for my time and expertise. Everyone came out well on that- they were able to put cogent prices on everything (and most of it sold quickly), and I got something neat to take home and tinker with.

Realistically, the people who say "I can learn the value of anything from eBay" are frequently the ones that wind up pricing things way too high and sitting on them forever (because they looked at asking prices rather than completed sales, primarily), or throwing out valuable items that they could have gotten real money for (because there didn't happen to be any of them for sale on eBay at that particular instant). There is NO SUCH thing as an "instant education" about ANYTHING!

Regards,
Gordon.
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I think you are sort of missing my point. The OP wants the speakers and is offering his expertise on them for money. The kids are probably smarter than he is giving them credit for. They know the guy wants the valuable speakers. And if they can't afford to pay they probably think he will try to take the best speakers as payment in kind.


You can look up an item on ebay on completed listings and even current ones to get a GENERAL idea of price and popularity. Something with 5 days left with 50 watchers and 20 bids can tell anyone if something is worth a bit of coin or not.

That system works. It works on Ebay and to our chagrin thrifts are starting to use it to. If it did not work we would not be seeing it everywhere.


You were asked. The OP was offering to his services to a woman who did not have control of the estate because he wanted the speakers. It just seems a bit off to me. I might have said ask your family if I can take a look and then offer them a price for the speakers I wanted. If they declined I would have stopped worrying about the speakers I never had to begin with and move on.

Actually there are many examples of instant education. I was in a combat zone once.
 
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Always, in just about EVERY thread regarding some possible discovery there is a nay-sayer in the bunch that wants to pick apart the angles of what transpired and why it went wrong or was a bad deal for the seller, etc., etc.

To cut to the chase, what did they want to do with all this stuff was the question on the table from the very beginning and no direct answer was ever provided. It was clear the lady was more emotionally invested in all this stuff from the deceased because she knew of his love for them. But, she also relayed surprise when I expressed interest in the old speakers and not the boxes of new drivers. To her, the NOS speakers were the only items of value, but I am the one that communicated to her that the “old speakers” could have significant value (in the end, it seems only the NOS drivers are what was actually sold).

Getting no where, eventually I offered to come up (a 4 hr drive one way) and sort through them to get a determination of value. But, I wasn’t about to make the trip without trying to at least make it worth my time and expense, so, like Gordon, I asked for a single item as payment. We can make all kinds of assumptions as to why they didn’t take me up on the offer, but at this point, it seems clear that if they were so concerned about me ripping them off they wouldn’t have allowed an estate sale company to throw it all away.

This derails the whole intention of the thread which was to relay the fear that many of us have after we pass. One of our own, an audio enthusiast, no matter his history, passed away and many of the items he cherished ended up in the landfill for no one else to enjoy.
 
Dr. Morbius said:
You make it sound as though this old audio gear belongs in the Smithsonian. It's going to end up in the same place as all of the old black and white console televisions. Some of it sooner than later.
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Which is why I am not posting this in the BBQ Kamado grill enthusiast forum, there is no one there that would care. I think most of us here in this forum would have actually liked to have seen many of these pieces come out of a hoarder home and back into active use. If not, than I must really misunderstand AK altogether.

I perfectly appreciate your situation in trying to deal with your parents hoard in a timely and manageable way, but can't you also see that in this case there were at least many items that someone would have continued to enjoy and it is a shame they couldn't be passed along? We are not faulting the heirs, only saying that it sure would have been nice if the items were not in the dump. Simple as that.
 
Dr. Morbius said:
And that's exactly what's going to happen to all of it eventually. Same with us except we call it a cemetery.

You make it sound as though this old audio gear belongs in the Smithsonian. It's going to end up in the same place as all of the old black and white console televisions. Some of it sooner than later.
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I like the cut of your jib Morbius.

Now off to Metaluna.
 
There should be A orphanage for unwanted Speakers.lest we forget one mans sweet music is another's horrible noise.All speakers deserve the chance to be heard by someone that can appreciate them.I am sure the Deceased Gentleman wanted these speakers to carry on.
 
Well, I stopped by the sale I posted pictures of. And guess what I found!!!

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I did poke around on the bench and found a coffee cans with a bunch of old radio tubes in it and managed to salvage a couple 12AX7s and 12AV7s out of.

I think it's there on the right...:D

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Andyman said:
Well, I stopped by the sale I posted pictures of. And guess what I found!!!

attachment.php


I did poke around on the bench and found a coffee cans with a bunch of old radio tubes in it and managed to salvage a couple 12AX7s and 12AV7s out of.

I think it's there on the right...:D

1.jpg
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To Funny as you hit the nail on the head.
 
One persons rubbish, is another persons treasure. Even if there was 'junk' amongst the speakers, I 'll bet there was some useful stuff too. Another angle with all these speakers is that they could be used to repair/replace damaged speakers. Once a resource has gone its gone for good.
 
This is tough stuff. Having been around seniors a lot since I got a paper route at age 9, I recognize that a lot of inability to let things go really is an inability to face a future that doesn't look bright.

My mom and dad left me to clean out two houses and sell them off for peanuts in the depths of the great recession. My sister was convinced that because everything was old it had some value. Now she still pays a storage fee to keep some of that crap while I've cherry picked the few mementos that are enough for me. I've sent the pictures to relatives. I've filled four dumpsters. I've reconciled myself to never doing this to my own kids.

My dad's basement didn't look too different than Andyman's photos. My mom was living in her mom's house, though she and my dad remained married. While newer, that house still had radiator covers that my grandfather had built and put into that house from the old house, even though that house had forced warm air heat and no radiators.

Ugh.
 
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