what was the decision that helped you buy your gear?

How did you come to make the decision about buying gear?

  • Heard it at a friends house

    Votes: 6 8.0%
  • Read about it in a magazine or trusted someone's opinion

    Votes: 16 21.3%
  • Took a chance because of price at a TS, Yard sale, or on CL

    Votes: 17 22.7%
  • Auditioned it while at a HI-FI shop

    Votes: 18 24.0%
  • Heard it at AK fest

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Other: Please tell us!

    Votes: 16 21.3%

  • Total voters
    75

jpdylon

non-active member...
OK, how did you make the decision to pick your specific gear, whether it be speakers, amps, integrateds, pre-amps, turntables, etc? Price, availability, chance, or something else?



I personally read alot about4 channel and the QRX series sansui receivers, and then got to sample one with QuadBob. After that i had to have a 9001, and later snagged a project for $250.

I first heard my dream speakers while shopping for a father's day present. I had never heard any AR speakers before. I had a listen to some AR-9s and fell in love. Couldn't afford them until about 7 years later when I found some for $500.
 
Most of my decisions were a product of the magic combination of reputation and the right price. The Yamaha amp and tuner were a direct result of my joining AK. Only my CD player was bought after an audition; the rest was bought without even listening to it first... that includes the KEFs! To say I got lucky with the resulting sound is a huge understatement.
Tom
 
RichPA said:
I voted "other" because there's no "all of the above" response ...

haha, knew I should have added something like that.

Neat to hear people's stories about how it came to be permenant in your system. Thanks for sharing.
 
I usually have to hear it -- that's the final straw in decisions that result in a purchase. Not so much at a friend's house -- usually at a high-fi shop.

Second to that (for example, vintage gear gotten on eBay), it's opinions. The SX-1250/5590 is pretty highly thought of (don't know if it's the best match for my Dynaudios, but...it ought to be good for something :wink: ), and the CS-06's...well, I was just dying of curiosity about those for my own reasons. They're surprisingly bad, but they just may need a tune-up, which I plan on doing at some point.
 
Well, I look mostly for stuff that I remember from my youth, that I could not purchase myself, being young of age during the great stereo wars of the seventies. I remember all the cool systems my older brothers and their friends had, and always wanted a Pioneeer rack or Sansui system for my own. I have found a few nice pieces around that fit my budget (LOW!) and still have most of them around. Hard to part with them! Sadly, it's time to make some room around here, and I will have to make some tough calls on what stays and goes. Just means that when I start collecting again I'll have a place to put stuff!
 
RichPA said:
I voted "other" because there's no "all of the above" response ...

Ditto. Never pass up a good CL or garage sale bargin but those choices are based on what I have read about on AK or heard in other folks systems.
 
When it comes to deciding to buy any particular piece of gear, it has been a combination of factors for me. Comments from others here on AK have been a definite influence. Cost is a factor. Brand name is a factor, sometimes. Appearance, weight, and what I can see of components and build quality each plays a role. I try to buy good stuff (in terms of sound and build quality and design) at below market value. Since I hunt for bargains as much as I hunt for specific items, a lot of it has to do with sheer luck: what I buy each month depends a lot on what I manage to find.

What STAYS in my system, though, mostly comes down to how it sounds, and how well it fits in (synergy). Also influenced somewhat by quality, appearance and condition. The rest either gets in "the collection" for occasional rotation if it is something I really like (=it grows on me after I've owned it a while), or gets sold on (if it doesn't grow on me).
 
I'll have to go with 'other' as well - almost everything I have owned was bought based on listening to it - either at home, in a shop or in another system.

The opinions of others who's choices in audio are somewhat synergistic with mine can point me in certain directions to investigate but it almost always comes down to listening.
 
Just went back to my days in the Army......Most of my old gear was sitting in my basement waiting for me to pull my head out of my ass.........




love to all....:banana: :banana: :banana:
 
I blame radioactive!!! ;)

he told me long ago about these rare amps you can find sometimes in old consoles, well I've never found any in a console, but I do own three of them now! And I've only found mention of 7 of them left in the entire world! :banana:
 
I also went with other, as it depends on which system. My original was bought new and auditioned at Pacific stereo back in the day. The rest has mostly been finds, with a few I was able to audition at the sellers home before buying. But mostly I buy used, test in MY environment(s) and decide if it is a keeper or not. I’ve sold off quite a few experimental buys, and made at least a small profit on all but one piece. (So Far)

This particular poll should have gotten the multiple selections option set…
 
I had a lot of reel2reel tapes that i had recorded back in the day plus all of the 45's and albums that,somehow,survived the moving guys. Now I have two complete vintage systems. The only problem is that the r2r that got me back into this audio madness is the only piece that will not will not work properly. Even after a complete rebuild the heads are apparently missaligned. Need a tech close by. Any suggestions?
 
In my High School days three names were synonymous with music:
PIONEER
KENWOOD
JVC
All were highly regarded, but you were only really somebody if you had PIONEER in your car or at home.
So I took that to mean something. Most people that gave me rides home had nice looking PIONEER decks in their vehicles.
Then after seeing a friend's-brothers setup:SX-1050-HPM-100-CT-F900 and other pieces I knew then it was special. After I landed a RT-909 for $175 in 83' then my cousin landing a SPEC-1 & SPEC-4 along with a SG-9500 for under $10 bucks I knew what I had to do. My mission in life to get a SPEC rig.
The Realistic Mach Twos were based on my cousin getting the original Mach Ones after I heard those I was hooked. By the time I found the money to get a pair they were already producing the Mach Two in 1986. So I went after those and are still my main speaker today.
Never saw any McIntosh or Sansui gear till I was much older so I never knew about those much at all. The only other silver gear I really ever saw in person was MCS stuff from JCPenney and whatever my Aunts/Uncles and cousins had for gear.
 
1) Because I remember it from my youth
2) Because I don't remember it from my youth.
3) Because.
 
Trial and error!

Tried a ton of different (used) amp, speakers and other electronics until i found what satisfied me, on both sound and styling

Most of the rejects are still in my basement and actic!

Francesco
 
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