What you do sounds similar to what I do. I have a lot of extra cables and power cords laying around. Once a year or so I get around to cleaning out the closet. At one point in time I did have a couple extra cartridges laying around, but I seemed to have broken that habit. It was the constant mounting that drove me away. It's much easier to swap cables and power cords than cartridges. I have a few choice NOS tubes laying around, plenty to play with, but I wouldn't say I have 'piles' of them.
Curious though....what's the thrill of having them 'just to sit there'? I like extra stuff to play with when I get bored, but I can't see buying stuff 'just to sit there'.
Cheers,
John |
Elizabeth,
You need to get you on that A@E show called "Hoarders".I bet they will pay you a lot of money for your story.You could add a few embellishments like,my problem is so bad that I'm neglecting the spouse,the kids,the pets,the bills,eating,sleeping,etc.Maybe throw in an alcohol or drug problem also.The viewing public eats this stuff up..If you need an agent,I'll be happy to represent you,for a modest fee of course!!! |
I'm somewhat of a keeper, although now and then will go on a selling spree to clear out stuff I'm sure I no longer want. There are a few of pieces I kind of which I had back (some amps, a pre, one table).
Being an empty nester with a second (vacation) home, I rationalize I need a system in every room of the house, so they all get used to some extent. When I find stuff sitting (or all of the rooms are "equipped", that's when I look around for surplus that I sell. |
Sorry, I do not fit the "Hoarders" pattern. I throw too much stuff away. In the past, I have collected hundreds of operas, then gave them away to my local library. Then I have had other collections and dumped them over the years... three years ago i was moving, and discarded half of the 12,000 LPs I then owned. Just gave 98% away and the last 02% sold locally. i have kept weeding the collection as it has gained since then, as I have made myself a rule that the LP shelving I currently own is all there is gonna be. If it doesn't fit, something has to go. Recently with the huge influx of used Rock Cds I have been buying, i need to put up some shelves, but those too will get cleaned out bye and bye...........
Now if i could just get rid of the 176,560 newspapers i have stored in my bedroom... (that is just a stupid joke.. I do NOT have ANY newspapers...?) |
A little of both. I'm sorta getting to the point I'd rather not be a "gatherer". Bill |
I work at a Transfer Station where people come to throw their trash away and everything else. I have quite a collection of "projects" in my garage and basement. Things thrown in the metal dumpster: Conrad-Johnson Premier III, SAE, Aragon, Fisher,Yamaha B-2,Yamaha-Pioneer-HK-Marantz receivers, pro gear;Speakers: Yamaha NS-10, Dahlquist DQ-10, AR, Advent, M+K sat sub,Ohm, Fourier, ADS, Celestion,etc....SME II arm, Thorens, B&O, Technics. Thousands of records from the mistreated tunes of our youth to large collections of well cared for classical. Thiel, Allison, the list goes on. Now for the stuff I've bought:Ampzilla, 2 Sons, AEA amp, Mission speakers, Fried speakers, wire and IC's galore, nothing special though. |
Good work E,they still dont get it.They forget you do this every year with great results I might add....... |
I'm definitely a keeper. I keep telling myself that I'm really just saving it for when my daughters move out or something. My sister-in-law asked me to put together a home theater for her and now that I've got most of it, I don't want to part with it. I'm constantly upgrading my cables-from cheap to Monster to Aq or so. At least I will share the lower ones with fellow teachers but not permanently. It is my selfish streak. |
I've tried to force myself to become as ruthless as possible about "selling stuff off". Especially if I'm not using it. And I've gone thru the mental gymnastics of selling some really nice things, not just audio, that "I thought I had to keep". The items that I sold & really liked, I got good $$ for, & used the money to do/buy other things with.
If you sell whatever it is for FMV, you can usually replace it....& it feels so good when you have a less cluttered house..... |
I am like Elizabeth but aspire to be like Steveaudio. |
Well, I have seen the future and it is virtual. Think about it, all those almost 200,000 newspapers that Elizabeth has will exist on her Kindel, or equivalent. Notwithstanding the 200,000 newspapers are already virtual. So, with a Mac laptop, headphones everything goes. All media becomes virtual. Simple life, the only space you take up is self. |
Mostly keeper, occasional seller. |
I'm a seller. The good to decent gear, cables and ancillaries I have, I sell to help offset the cost of new purchases. Buy a new amp, sell the old one. Some power cords interconnects and cables I keep because you never know when you'll need an extra set. I like to keep my bank account at a certain amount and anytime I fall below it I start selling things I have laying around. Of course I have extra power cords (not expensive ones) interconnects (not expensive ones) a few gadgets, not expensive ones laying around. I have a pair of expensive Siemens Halske 6922's boxed up and I will sell those however. |
I only have one system (the garage system doesn't count) but constantly go through different gear. Other than a few extra cables & tubes, I don't keep anything extra.
Tip for the extra cables: Get some storage size (1 gallon) Glad bags. |
I'm a seller; my apartment is very small (450 sq. feet), and I don't have space to keep stuff around if I'm not using it. I also figure that the longer I keep stuff in the closet, the more value it loses, so I'm better off selling now than selling later. |
Elizabeth, you left out one other category ... GIVER. For the most part, I'm a little of all three, but more toward SELLER if possible. If something has real market value ... meaning I can get roughly 50%-60% of new, then I sell it. Like Foster_9 said, I like to use the proceeds from the sale to fund new purchases. That way, every major component is in use in one of my three systems.
I also have a couple of extra PC's, and a few I/C's that I keep just in case. Most of my tubes are keepers just because if they're rare and good, it's the reason to have them; and if they're cheap and not-so-good nobody would buy them anyway!
But if something really doesn't have a solid market (even on EBay), I'll sometimes just give that away. Most of my old main system - CDP, receiver, speakers/cable, I/C's - is installed at my daughter's home. Recently I gave away my bedroom system - Denon, Oppo, Polk, Bluejeans I/C - to a friend to make room for tube integrated with digital wireless front end.
Have I sold or given away something and later regretted it? Yeah, but I get over it and life moves on. It holds down the clutter and makes for an interesting hobby. |
With 5 amps, 4 speakers, 2 TT, 5 cartridges, box full of cables, and mountain of vibration tuning devices, I guess I qualified as a keeper?
But every so often I will be in selling mood and off load all the spare gears, but as long as Audiogon is up and running I still face the danger of buying something new to try and spare gears just sit at the corner and collect dusts soon after. |
For the number of old relics I have around, would have to say a keeper. Would like to become more a seller and use the funds for better gear that I would really like to hold onto for the long term. Anyone like to buy some old recievers and tape decks cheap. :] |
I tend to be a seller out of necessity to buy different gear, but I sometimes regret not keeping spare IC's (balanced & single ended) to experiment with as well as NOS tubes. Also would be have been nice to have kept my departed subwoofer ( REL Storm) and Dynaudio 1.3SE monitors for those times when I'm in between key system changes. |
I tend to sell something if I upgrade the component , but I find myself buying better versions of cd's, for instance mofi and still keep the orignal cd as well so I end up with additional copy's |
I'm both a keeper and a seller(occasional giver as well).I sell when things become cluttered or when I need $$$.
I tend to keep favorite speakers the longest.I also keep 2 channel analogue amps,preamps and tables and cables longer than digital and HT gear which becomes dated in a year or two.A/V receivers and pre-pros are the worst culprits! |
I'm a seller.
Some of the stuff I've sold has proven to be a major mistake...especially tubes, e.g. matched *quad* NOS Siemens CCa in original boxes, matched quad of original Genelex Gold Monarch KT88. The list goes on... |
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One thing about deciding to "clean house", even partially, is that hopefully you'll get so much cash, or in your PP account, that it will make you forget how much you liked the stuff (if you did). And if it's not even worth selling on fee-bay or CL, schlepping some boxes of stuff to Goodwill or Salvation Army can make your house feel "lighter".
But like Tvad, I have a few selling regrets: A mint condition Nikon from the early 80's, that I bought new in SF. A Fender-Rhodes electric piano that I drove to NYC to buy in the early 70's, then sold too cheap about 10 years ago. An old bmw. Things I had personal history with.
Audio gear, some things I'd still love to have, like a pair of Merlin TSM-M's in a cool red finish, a VTL pre-amp etc., but I got top $$ for them at the time.....
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I don't know why, but I have about 10 pairs of speakers, all different shapes and sizes from Maggies to high quality monitors.
I have 4 good quality amplifiers both tube and solid state.
2 tube preamps and 1 solid state preamp.
3 CD players.
2 turntables.
And numerous vintage equipment including integrated amplifiers and receivers I have collected.
Like most of us I have a closet full of interconnects and speaker cables, spare tubes, cartridges and assorted parts.
I almost forgot I have a subwoofer too.
Oh yeah and 2 tuners.
Make that 11 pairs of speakers. I just remembered another one.
There may be something I'm forgetting.
I guess that would make me a KEEPER.
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Not a keeper. The thought of perfectly good gear sitting in a closet unused gets to me after a month or two. The problem is there have been pieces I sold which I hadn't. I usually knew at the time it was a mistake.
Do keep a spare amp, set of speakers and source around just in case they are needed though. |
I may consider myself a 'flipper'. i tend to buy one of whatever, then replace it with something else of the same type. I don't have the resources to keep a bunch of stuff around AND please the greedy little audio kid in me who wants new toys all the time. Things are pretty much in constant rotation.
No real regrets on selling stuff except the cool little Shindo Aurieges I sold last summer for vacation funds. Man I bought that for such a good price, too. Every component change I always wonder, "I wonder what the Shindo would sound like in here..." grrr... |
I sell till there's something I want to keep. I had my Altis Ref dac for 12 years until selling it last year. |
My problem is that I only buy stuff I like, and then, since it is stuff I like, I can't part with it. I give some away now and then, in the remote hope of kindling a similar appreciation in some other poor soul, but since my wife makes me buy a larger house every ten years or so, there is always another closet. What I really like about this is that I can listen to what I thought I liked thirty years ago, source to speaker, and transport myself back... I think these recesses of the mind would die otherwise.
A few times a year, I upgrade some of my LPs to mint original or collectible audiophile pressings, and take a foot-high pile to our local used record store. I have six very nice cabinets and this is all the volume I allow myself to own.
Be honest-- How many of you deliberately do NOT count how many components you have, and do NOT display all of it at once? Do any of you have a spare linen closet with all your spare turntables on each of the shelves? Not that I do... |
I only collect cats. And newspapers. And twist-ties. And pretty seashells. And... oh never mind. |
Eb, and Flow. Keep a few pieces, sell a few pieces. I sold two pieces this week, and found three. I buy to sell often, and rarely find anything I like that I can find cheap. Everything else is tested, and finds a home.
It is nice to have a few extra nice units. Especially as backups. I have never had a unit fail on me yet, and everything I own is older. No tube units. |
Seller, definitely and the reason is room. Living in the UK, we do not have as much storage space as you guys. That is a useful discipline. I have one of everything I need, well not CDs and LPs , I have more than one of those. My shelf space is full to, so my software buying is right down. |
