The one that got away

Wow, Love the cars thrown into the mix. For me it was a very solid and fully sorted 72 911S for a meager $15.5, from a very dedicated Porsche guy who had one too many. I dissed it when I stalled pulling up hill at a stop light and the guy behind me was disturbed .... the car was set up for the track and I was a bit nervous I suppose. Ended up with a 74 GTV instead . Not a bad choice for fun  but I would have had a $100K car now.

This question brings back painful memories. "The one that got away" in my case was one of the early Adcom 200 wpc amps (forget the model #). I purchased in ~1986 and liked it well enough. Then had it modified by some then well-regarded mod outfit, and it went way up in sound quality overall, especially the bass. Soon thereafter I bought a used pair of Vandersteen 4's (w/integral dual 12" subs), and put the Adcom to use powering those subs (w/all tube amps on mids/treble). The sound was truly spectacular. The bass shook small objects throughout the 1st floor.

Then I read that one of the Perreaux 200 wpc SS amps was the "bass king." I bought one, used--and here's the extremely foolish part--sold my Adcom to a friend for ~$350 w/o ever listening to Perreaux 1st. Bad mistake. I connected the Perreaux to the sub section of those speakers, turned it on--and it never sounded as good as the Adcom had, either in absolute low frequencies, or overall bass impact.

He's a good friend and still used my old Adcom amp in his home theater set-up. I see it in his living room now & then--and wince!

The adcom isn’t one that got away- you gave it away! Even worse.

A fully upgraded Linn Lp12 turntable for under $10,000, but I look at things differently than most.  If it's not there when I look later, it means it wasn't for me.

I wouldn't feel to bad about letting an Adcom get away. There are probably quite a few that have been thrown away.