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Want An Instant RTR Collection, Only $50,000

Ozric

Ozric

Active Member
I have seen pictures of this persons RTR collection on the web before and on this site as well, it's pretty impressive. As I was trolling the bay, this item appeared at the top of the list.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nagra-T-Audio-plus-62-other-reel-to-reel-tape-decks_W0QQitemZ300100998204QQihZ020QQcategoryZ15000QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This (crazy) auction is for a collection of 63 reel to reel tape recorders, including some of the best reel to reel decks ever made.

(Watch for a separate listing I will soon put up for my other collection of 244 top of the line cassette decks plus 2,500 cassettes)

I truly believe this is auction is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I just can't see how such a collection would ever again be up for sale.

The buy-it-now price may seem high but believe me, the effort required to put a collection like this one together can not be measured in money.

All these reel to reel tape decks are fully functional, most are in mint condition and the rest are close to mint.

Only half a dozen of my decks decks are in 'only' excellent condition.

I've inlcuded some pictures of my collection. I may take some more recent pictures and update the listing later.

Each of these reel to reel decks comes with:

- original NAB hub adapters

- original take up reel

- a full reel of tape

- service/maintenance and owner's manuals

Alos included in this auction are over a thousand reels of tape, as detailed in the list below.

These are not junk tapes but top quality studio recordings for the most part and in top shape.

(note to ebay: all the recordings on these tapes are licensed - NO copyright violation is involved)

The list below includes an estimated value for each deck, in order to show how the staring price of $50,000 has been arrived at.

(note to ebay: this is the list of items for sale - NO key word spamming is involved)

For the lucky buyer (if any) I will allow 12 hours (8AM to 8PM) of my time for on site inspection and full testing of each deck at the time of pickup.

All the cabinets that currently house these beautiful recorders are included in the auction (see list below).

These cabinets are custom built and are extremelly solid so they make IDEAL shipping crates as well as display cabinets.

SHIPPING

Total shipping weight is estimated at 6,000 lbs including the cabinets - Ideal shipping method would be in a standard 20 foot container.

Shipping is possible anywhere in the world, but all shipping arrangements are the responsibility of the buyer

DETAILED LIST OF ITEMS INCLUDED IN THIS AUCTION

Important Note: the decks higlighted in green have less than 100 hours of use and the decks highlighted in yellow have brand new heads and under 2 hours of use.

No, Brand Model Price Notes
1 Akai GX-4000D $75
2 Akai GX-4000DS $75
3 Akai GX-400D $500
4 Akai GX-400D-SS $550
5 Akai GX-625 $200
6 Akai GX-630D $200
7 Akai GX-635D #1 $600
8 Akai GX-635D #2 $700
9 Akai GX-747 $800
10 Akai GX-747dbx BL 1 $900
11 Akai GX-747dbx BL 2 $1,000
12 Akai GX-77 $200
13 Akai X-330 $150
14 Ampex ATR-700 $250
15 Dictaphone Veritrac 5000 $100
16 Dokorder 1120 $150
17 Ferrograph Logic Seven SP7 $700
18 Ferrograph Studio 8 $1,800 Quarter, half and full track interchangeable headblocks
19 Ferrograph Super Seven $250
20 Fostex E-22 $800 Half inch, two track 30IPS - TRUE master recorder
21 Fostex Model 20 $150
22 Hitachi TRQ-727 $50
23 Nagra T-Audio $3,500 One of the last units manufactured, SN 0900643
24 Otari MTR-12 II-C $450
25 Otari MX-50 N-II $550
26 Otari MX-5050 BII-2 $300
27 Otari MX-55T-M $500
28 Philips N4450 $500
29 Philips N4504 $100
30 Philips N4520 $800
31 Pioneer RT-707 $200
32 Pioneer RT-909 #1 $550
33 Pioneer RT-909 #2 $700
34 Revox A-700 $700
35 Revox A-77 MK III 2T $200
36 Revox A-77 MK IV $550
37 Revox B-77 2T HS $700
38 Revox B-77 4T LS $500
39 Revox B-77 MKII 2T HS $800
40 Revox G36 $500
41 Revox PR99-MKIII $850
42 Scully 280B $150
43 Sony APR-5003V $1,500 Comes with with both 1/4" and 1/2" two track headblocks
44 Sony TC-758 $125
45 Sony TC-766-2 $450
46 Sony TC-854-4 $400
47 Sony TC-880-2 $1,200
48 Studer A-807 $1,250
49 Studer A-810 $1,250
50 Tandberg TD-20A 2T HS $750
51 Tandberg TD-20A-SE $900
52 Tascam 52 $750
53 Tascam 3030 $600
54 Tascam BR-20 $750
55 Teac X-1000R S $550
56 Teac X-10R #1 $450
57 Teac X-10R #2 $450
58 Teac X-2000M BL $1,100
59 Teac X-2000R BL $1,000
60 Teac X-2000R S $1,000
61 Technics RS-1500 rack $850
62 Technics RS-1500 woodsides $900
63 Technics RS-1700 $1,200

Quantegy GP9, 1/4" 2500 $500 50 brand new tapes, $10 per tape
Maxell XLII 35-180 $645 43 tapes, $15 each
Various 10 1/2" Nab reels $3,360 480 commercial studio tapes, 1/2 track 15 IPS, $7 per tape
Various 7" reels $2,730 390 factory prerecorded tapes, 1/4 track 7 1/2 IPS, $7 each

Custom cabinets $2,205 ($30 per tape deck, 63 tape decks)

Total $50,165




I am very curious as to why he has suddenly decided to part with a good chunk of his collection. :scratch2:
 
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Sorry,

I just thought it would be of most intrest to the people that look at the Turntables & Tape Section
 
:jawdrop: HOLY CRAP! I think i've seen the link to this guys collection here on AK before, maybe he's downsizing, gonna get himself an Ipod, or two. :D
 
I have seen this before. He always lists the entire group. knowing that no one will bid on it. He doesn't want to sell, he just wants the attention.
 
I'm inclined to agree with above #6, CableGuy2: He knows that the odds of actually selling the lot are extremely remote at best. I mean seriously...WHO has THAT kind of money laying around? Probably not many. And those who do ($50K plus at least another grand in shipping, depending on where it's going) probably aren't likely to parlay it into a bunch of tape decks. Although what the reasoning behind the emotional payout of all the discussion is, given what the insertion fee to Ebay was, is anyones guess. (It should be noted that in all likelihood, when he gets down to the 24 hour remaining mark, he will lower the price to a dollar, get his balloon insertion fee credited, and then pull the plug on the auction before anyone has a chance to bid on it. But again, why anyone would do this, well...obviously there are some issues there.)

Can you imagine someone calling his bluff on it and actually purchasing it?

While at first the sudden windfall of cash might be described only as orgasmic, it would be short lived. NOBODY amasses a collection like that and doesn't have an almost neurotic obsession and passion with the hobby. I think that once the reality of what he did sets it, you're REALLY going to see someone in emotional dire straits.

Then there is always the other possibility that maybe he really does want to sell the lot. Perhaps he lost his job, fell behind on his mortgage, has a terminal illness, who knows.

We can only speculate.

If this guy is who I think he is, one of those decks used to be mine. About 2 years ago, I had a black Akai GX-747dbx. I sold it to him for about $500. It was in pristine condition. Except for the belts on the tension arms had snapped. And I had no idea where or how to try and get it fixed. And frankly, didn't want to bother. So we agreed on the price. And he took it and said he got it fixed and it was running like a champ.

Regardless of his rationale behind the listing, he did at least accomplish his goal of garnering lots of attention and spurring a lot of discussion.

Now let's all watch him and see if 1) assuming no one buys the Big Lot, he follows through on his promise (threat?) to sell it piecemeal and 2) see if during this time, he BUYS anything else.
 
Keep in mind that the IRS can be extremely demanding this time of year. If one can hit the jackpot and sell it all off in one fell swoop, so much the better, albeit rare.

Selling off a hunk of your collection VS. having the IRS come and take it, along with everything else you own, is a no-brainer.

Then again, maybe some oil sheik will think it's a bargain and pull the trigger...
 
There have been a few other "dream collections" of gear sold over the years, like that warehouse full of NOS gear that was sold off piecemeal on the 'Bay, the huge pile of manuals more recently, etc... Imagine if you simply bought them all, to create a "super collection". You'd end up like that missile-silo collection in Europe, "plus". The world's largest collection of audiio-related gear. A huge "super audio museum". <cue maniacal "I vant to rule da vorld" bwaahaahaa laughter>

:scratch2: Then the headaches of storage cost, security, preservation, etc.. would set in, along with thoughts of "what will happen to all this when I'm gone?" On second thought, :no: :no: :no: Let someone else with more money than balance try it.
 
Des_Lab said:
... (It should be noted that in all likelihood, when he gets down to the 24 hour remaining mark, he will lower the price to a dollar, get his balloon insertion fee credited, and then pull the plug on the auction before anyone has a chance to bid on it. But again, why anyone would do this, well...obviously there are some issues there.)
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Hhhhmmm, wonder if it would be possible to keep a close eye on the auction, and "snipe" it in that second or two when it had a seller-set BIN of $1, and legally force him to honor the sale at that price. Bad Karma, perhaps, but in dollar terms THAT would be a real SCORE! :D
 
Why would $50,000.00 be a lot of money for something like this I know camera collectors who will drop $30,000 on a single early daguerreotype camera. Or car collectors that $100,000 for some ugly green Mopar from 1969 is nothing.

Canon Digital EOS-1DS Camera BODY ONLY $7,000.00

Canon 600mm f4.0L lens $7,000.00

Canon 24mm f1.4L $1200.00

Canon 35mm f1.4L $1200.00

Canon 50mm f1.2L $1400.00

Canon 65mm f2.8 Macro $875.00

Canon 85mm f1.2L $1800.00

Canon 70-210 F2.8L IS $1700.00

Carbon fiber tripod wimbey head Acraswiss ball head $2000.00

Computer storage programs Laptop chargers memory cards etc. Add another $5000,00

This totals about $45,000.00 then add the SUV and gas to get somewhere to take photos and $50,000.00 dropped on a hobby don't seam so much.

So that they can go around and take photo's of birds and nature to print out 4X6's to show their friends.
 
Mark W. said:
Why would $50,000.00 be a lot of money for something like this I know camera collectors who will drop $30,000 on a single early daguerreotype camera. Or car collectors that $100,000 for some ugly green Mopar from 1969 is nothing.

Canon Digital EOS-1DS Camera BODY ONLY $7,000.00
Canon 600mm f4.0L lens $7,000.00
Canon 24mm f1.4L $1200.00
Canon 35mm f1.4L $1200.00
Canon 50mm f1.2L $1400.00
Canon 65mm f2.8 Macro $875.00
Canon 85mm f1.2L $1800.00
Canon 70-210 F2.8L IS $1700.00

Carbon fiber tripod wimbey head Acraswiss ball head $2000.00 Computer storage programs Laptop chargers memory cards etc. Add another $5000,00 This totals about $45,000.00 then add the SUV and gas to get somewhere to take photos and $50,000.00 dropped on a hobby don't seam so much. So that they can go around and take photo's of birds and nature to print out 4X6's to show their friends.
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Well, I totally agree... There's plenty of people with the money to buy this collection. It's just a matter of finding someone who wants it, but it only takes (1). I believe he's for real with selling and he is basically advertising his current/future auctions and possible off eBay sales. I am not so sure that eBay refunds listing fees unless it's their mistake. They will however refund the listing fee for listing volitions after they pull the auction. I think the listing fees would only be $4.80 (4.80 for $500 and up) so $5 bucks to advertising something like this to millions is pretty cheap.
 
I don't think he really wants to sell it either. He had this same collection on ebay a few years back with the same cat in the pictures. I think last time someone asked him if the auction included the cats. :D

He also has a large cassette deck collection that has been on ebay also IIRC. :scratch2: And he is still buying decks and related components if you look at his feedback.

Never the less a nice collection that's for sure. I don't have to worry about temptation here as I have neither the cash or the space to house it.
 
it's a museum!

Vintage TX said:
Nice collection, wish I had more space and more money:D
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You sure are right there, TX. In my books, it is THE best collection I have ever seen or heard of, and ingeniously packed into a somewhat small room for the quantity he has.

Surprised he doesn't have more Nagra machines, the little ones. They have always intrigued me, sort of like the Minox cameras. Maybe he does, but is hanging on to them...?

And yes, although the prices he puts on individual machines are more or less fair market value, ANYone buying the lot would expect to pay probably half that value. If he really means to sell them, he will do much better selling one at a time.
 
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