Where to draw the line on buying gear?

G

Greg Stroup

New Member
At what point do fellow members walk away or jump in when buying vintage gear. I have a chance to pick up a Sansui G8700DB locally for what seems like a pretty good price. I checked it out, no scratchy pots or switches, everything seems to be solid and working mechanically. Now for the bad. The wood case is fairly beat up and there is a large patch of surface rust on the right rear lower corner. Lastly, there are a few fins knocked off of a heat sink. The faceplate and knobs looks great considering the age. I was a little nervous about trying to take pics or seem too excited at seeing one of these in the flesh. At what point is something considered parts or could be restored.
 
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I buy the best sounding stuff i can afford. And since it goes in my living room it has to be in good cosmetic condition. That's my line.

I have no use for vintage receivers so i wouldn't buy one no matter how collectible it is. But that its just me and what i like and think is important. Others may disagree.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
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Greg Stroup said:
At what point do fellow members walk away or jump in when buying vintage gear. I have a chance to pick up a Sansui G8700DB locally for what seems like a pretty good price. I checked it out, no scratchy pots or switches, everything seems to be solid and working mechanically. Now for the bad. The wood case is fairly beat up and there is a large patch of surface rust on the right rear lower corner. Lastly, there are a few fins knocked off of a heat sink. The faceplate and knobs looks great considering the age. I was a little nervous about trying to take pics or seem too excited at seeing one of these in the flesh. At what point is something considered parts or could be restored.
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Greg the Sansui you're looking at is a very good receiver. Price, with the damage, needs to be known to tell you whether it's a good deal (should be posted in Dollars and Sense). Take a multimeter with you and measure the DC offset out of the speaker outputs. THis will give you a gauge as to whether it requires immediate work or not and might be another bargaining chip.
 
I bought a Sansui 5000x with a broken power button off C.L, I couldn't test it. . Killer price it was worth the chance. it was dirty also. It worked I was lucky .Sounds like your G8700DB was dropped .Still worth a chance for the right price.
 
Right now it is listed for $400. I would like to get some more bargaining tools before trying to negotiate on price. In other areas of my life, I have spent money on hobbies that were high end in quality. It is a unique opportunity, because these Sansui monsters don't come around locally very often in my area.
 
Needs pics here before anyone can render a judgment. If I like the look of something, I buy it.
It's a bit of a problem for me, as (like many here) I now have way too many pieces.
Wood cases can be repaired or replaced & in the process upgraded.
 
I will try to get more pics of it tomorrow and a detailed assessment of what may need repaired. Thanks for the opinions so far. The attached image is from the listing.
 

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Is it cosmetically nice and something I want?
Is it free or close to it? Can I lift it? Go for it.
Is it cheap and I really want it? Go for it if chain of command approves.
All other cases- I don't need it that bad, if at all.

Takes a lot of years to reach this point and there isn't much of anything I really need.
 
Can you put up with it as-is? If you can't live with it, how much will it cost to fix to a point where you can deal with it vs how much would one you don't have to mess with cost?

SOmething I've learned from buying cars over the years is that you do not make a restoration project out of a parts car. I've done it, its stupid, expensive, and frustrating. If you want a clean example, start with one.

My scale is skewed because I work on my own stuff. A lot of what I own and have fixed I'd never bother with if I were paying someone to repair it for me.
 
At $400 I'd be all over it. If in good condition cosmetically, even if there's issues and needs repairs, I'd still buy it. Can't go wrong at $400 as you can easily dump it at $400+ if needed. Sansui's are in demand. In fact, I'm buying a 9090 which needs work but looks fantastic.
 
Mister Pig said:
I buy the best sounding stuff i can afford. And since it goes in my living room it has to be in good cosmetic condition. That's my line.

I have no use for vintage receivers so i wouldn't buy one no matter how collectible it is. But that its just me and what i like and think is important. Others may disagree.

Regards
Mister Pig
Click to expand...

Buy new? Not for everyone.
 
Greg Stroup said:
At what point do fellow members walk away or jump in when buying vintage gear. I have a chance to pick up a Sansui G8700DB locally for what seems like a pretty good price. I checked it out, no scratchy pots or switches, everything seems to be solid and working mechanically. Now for the bad. The wood case is fairly beat up and there is a large patch of surface rust on the right rear lower corner. Lastly, there are a few fins knocked off of a heat sink. The faceplate and knobs looks great considering the age. I was a little nervous about trying to take pics or seem too excited at seeing one of these in the flesh. At what point is something considered parts or could be restored.
Click to expand...

G8700DB was a legitimate Monster Receiver but it suffered from cost cutting. The wood case is particularly fragile and looks terrible even when perfect. Broken fins knock big dollars off value. Even if the receiver works perfectly, flipping will be a problem and it will not be worth anything close to ebay. If buying, 50% of ebay is max. At 50%, I have doubts it can flip for profit.
 
1) price, if I decide to flip it, can I at least break even
2) if 1 is good, have I ever played with the unit.
If I have not had the experience, 1 may get re-evaluated.

Remember, YOLO.

Cosmetics are not a major issue with me.
I do appreciate nice cosmetics but I’ve busted my ass fixing so many pretty things and enjoyed so many working dogs with little effort that I will take working over pretty if pushed.

I want to hear it, I don’t need to look at it.
 
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