cc_rider wrote: 
Is it still an estate sale if they just split up?  

 kurtster wrote: 
A few weeks ago we went to the weirdest/saddest 'estate sale' we've ever seen.

Conducted by the real estate agent, everything had to be out by 4, when the 'professionals' showed up to clean out the house. Turns out it was a nasty divorce, and they both just walked away, leaving tons of stuff behind. Somebody found the guy's passport and a new credit card! Gave them to the agent of course.
Apparently she'd taken most of her clothes and such, but the signs were he just split, lock stock and barrel. Toys for the grandkids, linens, toiletries, all the stuff you'd normally take with you. 

We went through the whole house, partly out of curiosity but thought we might find something nice. And the attic, you never know what somebody stashed away. Scored a cheap receiver and a Niles whole-house distribution system, the rest of the audio gear wasn't worth unplugging. An extra remote for the main gate. Cleaning supplies. It was weird, and sad to know how acrimonious it must have been for them to reach that point.

I didn't make it to the estate sale above, this project I'm on is a booger I just can't flick. Oh well, pays the bills.
c.

 cc_rider wrote: 
That's Fisher V2.0 stuff.  Barely worthy of the original name.  Old Fisher is different from this stuff.  Maybe $75 max for the entire lot, if it works.

Yeah, some neat stuff there if it trips any of your triggers.  Sad to see stuff like this and the things that meant so much to the owners mean little to anyone else.  

But, there was a turntable there, so where are the records ?  Those would be most interesting to see.  Classical records are worth zilch, other genres are very collectible.  discogs.com has a mobile app and you could actually look up individual records in the field and get an idea of their worth, if any.

Estate sale this weekend, here is the audio gear:

• Electronics inc. vintage Fisher stereo system – sold as set – Fisher CA-274 integrated stereo equalizer, Fisher FM-271A synthesizer tuner, Fisher CRW-48 cassette deck, Fisher MT-730 linear tracking turntable, Fisher RA-015 component cabinet, pair speakers, manuals, remote; Mitsubishi HS-U120 VCR; Magnavox & RCA TVs et al; three vintage telephones; more.

I don't know much about Fisher, I wonder if it's worth a trip?

I missed out on a Sansui Model 5000 once, didn't get there early enough.

anybody know anything about Fisher gear? Dave?
c.

edit: quick Google says it's nothing special, $10-20 range. Lots of other nice stuff in the sale though, so I might go, maybe I can get it cheap.

re-edit: link to photos, lots of collectibles. See anything you need, let me know!

http://annedeeestatesales.com/pictures1801.html

 islander wrote: 
Ha. I already have all that stuff!

 cc_rider wrote: 
Nice try interloper. The real CC would have looked forward to the trip to the tool barn to get a new tile saw, and a drill powered grout mixer, and a laser level, and a 20 pack of those cool rubber dipped gloves, and a blue tarp (because it's on sale!), and.... "hey Norm, the cart is getting full, grab me one of those flat carts so we can load up on aisle two"....

 cc_rider wrote: 
Tell her to stop looking so hard.

 islander wrote: 
No kidding. But we just moved, into a much larger and newer house, so I'm hoping the home maintenance and repairs aren't so bad. That said, Jill found a loose tile in the shower floor, and I'm REALLY looking forward to repairing that...
c.

 cc_rider wrote: 
Who are you and what have you done with cc?

Anywho.... Mine is blue, so I'm sure it is worth storing for another decade or so.

 islander wrote: 
Dave already PM'ed me back. It was top-of-the-line in 1948-9. But it tracks at 5 grams (?!) so it's not a daily driver. Dave says parts-only will go for $20, working $100 or so. He has his Dad's old one, same model.

Sort of cool but I don't need any more projects!
c.

 cc_rider wrote: 
How valuable are these?  I have one in storage that was retrofitted into a Grundig console that was in my family for a long time and I have since converted into a bar (that now sits in storage, and no it wasn't working when I got it).   Mine is blue, but I'm not sure of the model.

Local estate sale has a console with a Garrard turntable. Wondering if it's worth going to take a look at. PM'ed Dave too.

 Steely_D wrote: 
I would agree with that to a certain extent.  Nearly anything will sound better with a good sound source.  I guess it was nearly 10 years ago now that I bought my current receiver.  After agonizing over what was available for how much and all the specifications and most importantly inputs, I finally settled that anything that had THX certification was going to be a decent receiver for sound quality.  Even though my Onkyo has 7.2 capability, I'm only listening in 2.0 stereo for music with a center channel for TV purposes.  The sub is old style inline with an onboard crossover to the mains.  I had to agonize over the sub, too, as the foam surround went bye, bye being at least 40 years old.  Did all kinds of research on powered subs cuz old style passive subs just aren't being made anymore.  I found out that I was likely gonna have to spit out at least $500 on a crap shoot for something decent that won't blowup in a couple of years.  Instead I ended up spending $20 on a refoam kit and a Sunday afternoon and couldn't be happier with the result.

But to your point.  I've always gone for the best sound from the source which will sound better at the other end on any system, cept a $10 set of ear buds.  Nothing sounds good on those.  I've noticed the greatest return from attacking it from the source end.   Now my most expensive single piece of equipment is my VPI record cleaning machine ($1100 and worth every flippin' penny after using it for a year), followed by my turntable (a non export 100 volt SL1200 from Japan) and cartridge.  A cleaned record is simply amazing.  But if the primary listening source is 128 kb vbr mp3's, who cares what you're listening to them on.

Its a new type of listening where the primary listening is done flat, no eq's and we are relearning what the music actually sounds like. 

So if you have a decent rig, receiver and speakers, and play quality vinyl and quality wav files, its gonna take a whole lot of money before you actually notice an appreciable difference.  Even average speakers will sound decent when they aren't trying to reproduce all the static and fizz in poor quality sources.  They are simply doing less work and become more accurate as a result.  Speakers are still the biggest variable.  A receiver that is THX certified and has an onboard microphone speaker analyzer will tune in any speaker system and adjust for the room and differences in the speakers themselves leaving you with a very tolerable result.  

And iffen you primarily listen through headphones, the source is the most important factor.  I don't, but its prolly why I still have pretty decent hearing.  On the car, interiors are getting pretty quiet, with noise cancelling and all so you can actually appreciate a higher resolution source in a car now.  One last observation.  Through all of my playing around with music, the bulk of music that I listen to and most music for that matter made prior to 1990 other than electronica very little goes above 10,000 khz which is the upper limit for AM broadcast.  Contemporary music doesn't exceed 15,000 khz very often which is the upper limit of FM broadcasting.  You don't know what you don't hear.  All the nuance is happening between 200 and 4000 khz which most people can hear even with degraded upper frequency level hearing.  Deafness is a separate condition.  Keep your speaker wire the same gauge and length for each pair of speakers and spend your hardware money accordingly at a minimum quality level, like THX and you should be able to smile and have a few bucks in your pocket to spend on music.

 

 Steely_D wrote: 
A down to earth friend of mine long ago said, "Women are like stereo systems, find a decent one, take her home and learn to live with her."

Could be generalized to all gender relationships and all electronics. 

 black321 wrote: 
warehousedeals.com is returns/overstock/one offs from Amazon. you can sometimes find some good deals there.

Steely_D - interface issues can be especially annoying. I wouldn't dissuade anyone looking to enhance their experience, I would just say to know what you are after and to know when enough is enough. Also, Bose sucks.

 Steely_D wrote: 
In another few years you won't even remeber the pain in your wallet, if it is what will bring a smile to your face.

 Steely_D wrote: 
But sounds like maybe you scared yourself out of a necessary upgrade?.  How about this, go on your local craigslist site and do a search for a receiver, amp or whatever it is you are looking for.  Pioneer, Denon Marantz, and Yamaha all have some very good stuff that can be had cheap on craigslist.  If you find something relatively new and has what you are looking for, get the model # and check out an online review, like audioreview.com.  You can also check out ebay to see what they are selling for (sometimes folks on craigslist have high expectations). 

Another source is Accessories4less.com.  They sell discountinued/refurbished gear at pretty good discounts. 

 Steely_D wrote: 
What are you talking about in terms of high end/average?  Not many even have a receiver these days, relying on a sound bar for home theater, or some portable bluetooth speaker for music.  For the majority something like a sonos system will sound great.  So I think you are mostly right, the returns on investing more than a $500-$1000 or so on a home system diminish quickly...just to squeeze out that extra bit of nuance.

Most folks look at high end audio as if it were a commodity; each product relatively indistinguishable.  But at the high end, it's a hobby.  Would you complain to someone who collects trains for a hobby: Why did you spend x$ on those old Lionels, when those plastic ones at Walmart go round the track just as well?  Or a Ford Focus does 80% of what a Porsche does, right?  If you are into high end gear you can often become too analytical and forget to hear the music...but the analytical part is part of the fun...how did that new piece change the performance, and did I like the change?  I know a few folks who are into high end, and none of them are braggarts (seems to be perception coming from those who arent into high end, or maybe just another example of the liberal media ). 

Go into your local high end shop and listen to one of their reference systems...and then say you don't hear and appreciate the difference.  And then have them compare an mp3 file to a CD quality or better format.  

But you don't need to pay retail to get better sound.  You can do it on a budget if you go the used route.  I have 4 systems in my house (living room, den, bedroom and basement) with a combined retail value of about $40,000...which over the years I've spent less than $10000 acquiring.  My best buy was when my local shop was cleaning out their old stock and I picked up a Proceed preamp/processor that retailed for $4000 for $300.  It doesnt have all the latest codes, but sounds amazing.  And fixing or making your own gear/wire... is part of the fun...just like fixing an old train.  Refoaming old speakers, replacing a capacitor in an old amp...I like the work that one of the members (Swell Sailor?) on this site has done with old turntables. 

 islander wrote: 
Indeed. 

 islander wrote: 
Wise words. And besides, I think that my ears are the limiting factor these days.