hammr7
03-16-2008, 12:07 AM
I am trying to turn my garage into an audio workspace, so I went to see a guy about some industrial shelving, to better use my wall space. He was clearing out a building so he could sell it, and the building had the shelving I wanted.
I'm pretty Irish, but didn't know that the shamrocks had decided to come out early this year. I walked in to find the owner loading a box truck with stuff. He was in a rush, since the building sale was supposed to close within a few hours. The building had been a high end audio-video store that had gone bankrupt, and I saw piles of audio stuff that he was going to move. I asked about all the gear that was still around, and he said the state held the inventory against back taxes, but had finally decided they didn't want the hassle of trying to dispose of it. This guy didn't want the hassle either, but had promised the new owner a clean building.
Feeling a bit like the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, I mentioned I was interested, and the owner told me to make an offer. He was in a hurry and promised he wouldn't be insulted if I was a bit conservative. Since I couldn't research anything, and had only a few moments to come up with a price, I did keep my bid conservative. On behalf of myself and my AK partner in crime, Scottchu, I offered a few hundred dollars for the boxes I could see that hadn't been loaded. I expected a rejection or counter-offer, when to my surprise the guy said OK. He kept the car audio gear (which I didn't care about) and the bulk spools of wire (which I excluded from my quote, since my offer would have been less than copper scrap value), but told me to take the rest.
In making my offer I had quickly glanced at the quantity of items, especially some boxes of audio connectors (see below) but as I loaded the stuff the quality became readily apparent.
5 pairs of very decent quality speaker wall mounts.
Almost 60 remotes and manuals, for gear from Adcom, Carver and Sunfire to Mitsubishi, Sony and Yamaha. Many of these look like tablet PC's, and are capable of advanced programming. These came from the store's demo units. Most of the demos were long gone, but the documentation and remotes were still there.
Almost 20 Pieces of electronics, including DVD and CD players, Tuners, Preamps and Sound Processors. All top-of-the-line from about 5 years ago, from Denon, Yamaha, Sony, Parasound, Lexicon, Pioneer, etc.
A top-of-the line Sony Mini-disc recorder
Over 100 still-sealed packages of various patch cords, half from the British company IXOS and half from MIT. These look mostly high end, with gold plated connectors and ceramic ends. In my offer I priced them based on a discounted Walmart knockoff pricing, not realizing how well received the MIT cables are. Lengths range from 1 meter to 10 meters. Original list prices ranged from $20 to $350 each, with some of the heftier unpriced MITs probably going for much more, given current ebay pricing.
When I was done loading this stuff, I was all but dancing an Irish reel, feeling that I had found a very nice pot of audio accessory gold. But the luck continued further, as the owner directed me to another room and told me I could also have what was left in there.
A complete B & O system, consisting of a Beomaster 6000, a Beocord 8000, and a Beogram 8002, plus a spare Beogram 4004. This included interconnect cables and some documentation.
15 loose speakers, including a complete M & K surround sound system based on the S-125s with M&K stands. There was also a pair of Polk indoor/outdoor speakers, three really nice Paradigm reference studio center speakers, plus loose speakers from M&K, Klipsch, etc.
At this point the owner said he had a few more things for me, but my SUV was so full I couldn't take anything else. So I told him he could surprise me when I go back next week to pick up the shelving I originally came for. I'll be toasting St. Patrick with at least a few cool ones for bringing me the luck of the Irish a few days early, and right through the holiday weekend.
I'm pretty Irish, but didn't know that the shamrocks had decided to come out early this year. I walked in to find the owner loading a box truck with stuff. He was in a rush, since the building sale was supposed to close within a few hours. The building had been a high end audio-video store that had gone bankrupt, and I saw piles of audio stuff that he was going to move. I asked about all the gear that was still around, and he said the state held the inventory against back taxes, but had finally decided they didn't want the hassle of trying to dispose of it. This guy didn't want the hassle either, but had promised the new owner a clean building.
Feeling a bit like the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, I mentioned I was interested, and the owner told me to make an offer. He was in a hurry and promised he wouldn't be insulted if I was a bit conservative. Since I couldn't research anything, and had only a few moments to come up with a price, I did keep my bid conservative. On behalf of myself and my AK partner in crime, Scottchu, I offered a few hundred dollars for the boxes I could see that hadn't been loaded. I expected a rejection or counter-offer, when to my surprise the guy said OK. He kept the car audio gear (which I didn't care about) and the bulk spools of wire (which I excluded from my quote, since my offer would have been less than copper scrap value), but told me to take the rest.
In making my offer I had quickly glanced at the quantity of items, especially some boxes of audio connectors (see below) but as I loaded the stuff the quality became readily apparent.
5 pairs of very decent quality speaker wall mounts.
Almost 60 remotes and manuals, for gear from Adcom, Carver and Sunfire to Mitsubishi, Sony and Yamaha. Many of these look like tablet PC's, and are capable of advanced programming. These came from the store's demo units. Most of the demos were long gone, but the documentation and remotes were still there.
Almost 20 Pieces of electronics, including DVD and CD players, Tuners, Preamps and Sound Processors. All top-of-the-line from about 5 years ago, from Denon, Yamaha, Sony, Parasound, Lexicon, Pioneer, etc.
A top-of-the line Sony Mini-disc recorder
Over 100 still-sealed packages of various patch cords, half from the British company IXOS and half from MIT. These look mostly high end, with gold plated connectors and ceramic ends. In my offer I priced them based on a discounted Walmart knockoff pricing, not realizing how well received the MIT cables are. Lengths range from 1 meter to 10 meters. Original list prices ranged from $20 to $350 each, with some of the heftier unpriced MITs probably going for much more, given current ebay pricing.
When I was done loading this stuff, I was all but dancing an Irish reel, feeling that I had found a very nice pot of audio accessory gold. But the luck continued further, as the owner directed me to another room and told me I could also have what was left in there.
A complete B & O system, consisting of a Beomaster 6000, a Beocord 8000, and a Beogram 8002, plus a spare Beogram 4004. This included interconnect cables and some documentation.
15 loose speakers, including a complete M & K surround sound system based on the S-125s with M&K stands. There was also a pair of Polk indoor/outdoor speakers, three really nice Paradigm reference studio center speakers, plus loose speakers from M&K, Klipsch, etc.
At this point the owner said he had a few more things for me, but my SUV was so full I couldn't take anything else. So I told him he could surprise me when I go back next week to pick up the shelving I originally came for. I'll be toasting St. Patrick with at least a few cool ones for bringing me the luck of the Irish a few days early, and right through the holiday weekend.