Here’s my story of determination. My apologies for the long story.
Several years ago I saw an ad on Craigslist about some Stephens speakers in some Karlson cabinets about 2 hours away from me. They were listed at full value so I figured there’s no way I could possibly buy them. I wrote them off but in my constant searching for all things audio, I kept seeing them and I kept trying to figure out a way to come up with the cash. I ended up calling the guy to get some information to share with my friends here at AK and had a great conversation about the history of the speakers and life in general. At this point I figured they were out of reach for me but I wanted them to get into the right hands where they would be taken care of and appreciated.
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/stephens-tru-sonic-206axa.675093/
The Ad disappeared from Craigslist but reappeared some time later. Central Iowa is an audio desert and stuff like this doesn’t come up for sale much. I wanted these bad but couldn’t afford them. I finally got the courage to call him again and asked if he would consider trading for something of equal value. He said he didn’t need anything but I kept asking. There’s gotta be something you need right? He thought about it and said the only thing he could really use is a good riding lawn mower since he lived on a pretty good size acreage.
I didn’t have an extra lawn mower but I know a lot of people. I talked with a buddy that had just bought a new mower after his old one quit. He offered me his old mower for free if I’d take it away. I figured that I’m pretty handy so I’d take it and see if I could figure out what was wrong with it. It was a really nice commercial mower that I was able to diagnose. I called the guy back and described the mower and the condition it was in. He told me if I would bring it to a service station near him and it checked out he would make the trade. I loaded it up on my car trailer and brought it to the shop. They told him it was a good mower so we went to his place to check out the speakers.
He’d had these for decades and they survived several moves and a divorce. He didn’t want to sell them but he was simplifying in order to move in the next year or two. He told me that he had had them so long it was like losing an arm to let them go. I assured him that these were going to be taken care and we loaded them in the truck.
View attachment 1609889View attachment 1609890
They’ve recently become my main speakers and one of my most prized possessions. A long journey for sure but well worth it, IMO. Maybe some day down the road I’ll trade them for a lawn mower...
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/stephens-coaxial-project.708479/
