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Number of owners. Does it really matter to you?

I tend to buy much older stuff, like tube organs, old consoles, and large speakers, after finding them off the beaten path. Given that I tend to either purchase or trade for gear that, regardless of cosmetics, rarely has any recent service history, the story does mean something.

A single owner item usually means that the item was cared for by the owner for a long time. This means that the item was not abused, and probably functioned until that original owner was no longer able to utilize it. Cosmetics and the place of sale can help confirm this.

Any old item may need service. But equipment that was cared for is much more likely still be functional, and cosmetics are typically much better. Repairs are more likely to be "the ongoing maintenance" type as opposed to the "lets troubleshoot how bad this got messed up along the way" type. Its so much easier to replace signal path caps than trying to figure out some crazy problem that turns out to have been a hack job of a wrong transistor (or the transistor installed the wrong way).
 
Chris Brown said:
Yeah, absent of context, # of owners doesn't really mean much. Sort of cool if you are talking to the original owner directly so you literally know the entire history of the unit.

Seems like something that shouldn't matter anyway as long as you can inspect it yourself before buying.
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This was the case with my Onkyo M-510. I was able to ask and get answers about the entire history of the amp.
 
Number of owners does matter to me. It is not a total "deal killer", but it is significant. An original owner may well have original documents that came with the piece, and (if they are honest) can tell you what and when (if anything) has been done to it. They also can provide information as to when it was last used, how it was stored, and other relevant information related to condition.
 
Dazaa said:
No, my tech is very very slow and generally doesn't seem to care much. I have to really bug him to get any kind of progress, currently they power on with 60v on the terminals.
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Oh my goodness! Could there be an ulterior motive for not working on them? Are they displayed front/center in the shop? Regardless, you need to get them outa there pronto! I'm surprised you've left them languishing for so long. You're really short changing yourself there, bud.
 
When looking for something in particular my first priority is condition above all and in the case of owners it seems like the fewer the better. I can fix electronic issues, I can't redo anodizing, lettering or resquare the corners of a face plate.

If I find something with the boxes, manuals, receipts that's in great cosmetic shape chances are it's only gone through one or two homes. There are always outliers but from the pile of gear I've gone through it seems to hold true.
 
Ive bought a ton of gear and have never asked that question. Never even thought about it until i saw this post. If its in pristine condition cosmetically and functioning im usually good with it.
 
It matters to me with a manual transmission car, because different driving styles can cause problems.

As long as hifi gear hasn't been abused, how many past owners doesn't matter too much to me.
 
Not really. The condition is what matters. If one person took good care of it or 10 people took good care of it, its still been taken care of. Most of my stuff i haven't got the slightest clue of it's history anyway. Some I can infer based on condition and quality of any prior repairs but thats about it. I own one piece that I have history on, but mostly because I've owned it for nearly half of it's 47 year life and I'm pretty sure I am the only person to have ever worked on it.

I don't much care with cars either and for the same reason. One bad, original owner to me is far worse than a half dozen people that did the maintenance. My Mark VII was a one-owner car and it was very well cared for. I'm at least the fourth owner on the Continental, and honestly it seems to have been fairly well cared for too. I'm the third on the Towncar, the original owner used it as a farm truck and did nearly no maintenance. The second owner didn't really do it many favors either. Its been in my obsessive care for the last 14 years and it is probably better off now than it has been since it was a few years old.
 
I'm picky.
I don't like it when somebody selling something is indifferent and who could care less about details when it comes to a few simple questions that tell the story behind sensitive equipment.
I like to know how many owners if there's an answer to be had, if it's unknown say so.
I like to have a few Common Sense answers to the common sense questions that most people ask for all ready for people when I am selling anything whether it be an automobile motorcycle speakers etc, to me it's just common courtesy if I don't know the answer I'll tell you.
To me it's a red flag somebody selling something doesn't want to answer a few simple questions, tells me that could be something Shady going on.
I love it when I score something from the original owner like I just did with these ohm C2 speakers and the ohm model I that I just got a month ago I got from the second owner but then was able to communicate with someone that knew the first owner very well and obtain details valuable to me about the history.
What that equals to me is the knowledge that these are 100% untouched unadulterated never messed with by anybody and thus more valuable to me.
I'm willing to pay more when I understand more about the history behind whatever I'm interested in purchasing.
I recently purchased 3 year old automobile with full knowledge of the first owner and its history making me and my wife more comfortable about our decision purchase and make such a large investment.

If a particular piece of equipment has an unknown history but has documented recent history of what was refurbished and done to bring the value up and reliability then making a purchase like that can Inspire confidence also.
But purchasing something completely blind with an unknown history from a seller that is not willing to at least state that its history is unknown is not something I would do.
 
I have seen a shitload of own owner stuff that has been beat to crap......by people that don't care. It is meaningless to me. And unless I am the one buying the item from the original ownerthen I assume they are lying anyway.
 
I've been in several hobbies over my lifetime, Hifi, Guns, cars, ham radio, SW radio, model trains, scanners, and it amazes me how much stuff is just trashed by the original owner(s). I bought what appeared to be a new looking SW receiver that the seller, the original owner, hid major flaws in it's operation when he demoed the unit to me before I bought it at a decent, but not great price, with the box, manual, and inside the manual, the sales receipt with his name and phone number on it. That phone number and info wasn't supposed to be there, and with it, I was able to at least call him and get him into rage mode when the unit was shown to have problems. When I called the first time, he got very hostile really quickly and said it was "sold as is" and hung up. He lived 60 miles away and I sent it in to the repair shop at the manufacturer's HQ, where the tech found that someone had attempted to modify it and had burned up two plastic capacitors and done some very poor soldering. A buck worth of parts and a couple of hours labor and it was back in business. I called up the seller and asked him if he was the one who was a moron with the soldering iron, and he went ballistic. Way over the top. I laughed at him and he hung up. for several years, I would walk up to his table at hamfests and say to people he was trying to sell stuff to, "Make sure you test it completely, good ol' Larry is famous for selling stuff that doesn't work right!". This almost always stopped the sale from happening. One time, his wife started screaming at me, and I have to admit, it was fantastic.Then he screams, "WTF do you want??". I just looked at him and said, "My money's worth in revenge, of course!". And then I said, "If you were honest, you wouldn't have me and other people pissed at you!". Sadly, there are guys like him in every hobby, the audio one too, as I recently found out.

My own stuff, it looks new when it's 20 years old. I don't abuse it. If I sell it, I tell the buyers about any problems ahead of time.
 
Sometimes the back story helps with a piece but the final judge is always myself. Hopefully, I have learned enough to properly test a unit. If the owner looks like he is meticulous and the unit reflects that, the joy is that much better. Anyways, I don't make many bad buys anymore and if one sneaks through, that's OK. I am so far ahead in the game that it doesn't matter.
 
I like to give any new owners the full history of anything I sell if they are interested. Several times, in the past, I've done an entire suite of tests on gear only to have the purchaser really not give a s#%t, which made me realize, most people aren't like me (which is probably good).

Buying gear, I don't care in the least the history, unless it is really interesting (like bought new by Elton John or something). I peer inside, turn it upside down, check for work, screw damage etc. Smell it etc.

But, I've pretty much stopped buying gear. I have enough for several lifetimes and could stock at least 10 HiFi stores with vintage gear.
 
The thread title doesn't really specify - Are we talking about audio gear, or spouses?
 
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