He who dies with the most toys?
- Thread starter J. Frum
- Start date
That the $64K question.
Hopefully he was a dealer, or a repair person. The routine description of 'pitted' on the Mac equipment tells otherwise.
wow, that's a lot, probably too much 
. I am wondering if he/she enjoyed or play them regularly or it just sat there collecting dust...
. I am wondering if he/she enjoyed or play them regularly or it just sat there collecting dust...
I'm seeing surface rust on fasteners here and there...seems to imply 'compulsive hoarder' albeit with great taste in investment-quality gear.
Many of the amps had tubes and there were several lots of tubes themselves.
I have to admit that while I understand that preparing this huge pile for auction is a big job there has been a certain degree of laziness involved. There are countless Empire tables listed with the covers missing and then separate auctions which include a number of the covers all together. Grrr....
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I wanted to say that earlier about all the owners manuals and tubes. Someone just took it all apart or is not knowledgeable enough to pair it together and make more money!
Well, the person who knew about all that stuff is no longer of this world, and who's to say the people left with it want any more burden from it? They probably aren't hi-fi fans, maybe they just want this out of their lives with as little pain as possible to get whatever they can get back from it.
My father, an avid model train collector, had to help the widow of a friend of his who died, leaving behind a gigantic and extremely valuable collection of model trains. She didn't know anything about it all and I sense that the entire thing had been a burden to her even before her husband's death. My dad did what he could in the amount of spare time he could devote to it, as they didn't live next door. Enough to make sure she didn't get ripped off. But the entire thing was probably a huge burden to her. My dad has been trying to teach me what is what in his collection, but its like a foreign language to me. I dread the day I have to have the gigantic train sale and know I'll be the one doing the equivalent of leaving off all the motor covers for the Empires or not putting the right tubes in the right amps
My father, an avid model train collector, had to help the widow of a friend of his who died, leaving behind a gigantic and extremely valuable collection of model trains. She didn't know anything about it all and I sense that the entire thing had been a burden to her even before her husband's death. My dad did what he could in the amount of spare time he could devote to it, as they didn't live next door. Enough to make sure she didn't get ripped off. But the entire thing was probably a huge burden to her. My dad has been trying to teach me what is what in his collection, but its like a foreign language to me. I dread the day I have to have the gigantic train sale and know I'll be the one doing the equivalent of leaving off all the motor covers for the Empires or not putting the right tubes in the right amps
Burden:
I got a free pristine AR XA turntable from a most charming woman, along with a few jazz albums (original Miles Davis Seven Steps To Heaven, among others). Her late husband was a huge jazz aficionado and she was selling the house. The LPs went to Goodwill months earlier, she gave me what was left in the attic.
She wanted stuff to go to a good home, didn't care at all about money. Just wanted it gone and not in the trash.
I feel sorry reading this listing. Nothing appeals to me; it only seems sad, a bit lonely, and somehow dingy.
I got a free pristine AR XA turntable from a most charming woman, along with a few jazz albums (original Miles Davis Seven Steps To Heaven, among others). Her late husband was a huge jazz aficionado and she was selling the house. The LPs went to Goodwill months earlier, she gave me what was left in the attic.
She wanted stuff to go to a good home, didn't care at all about money. Just wanted it gone and not in the trash.
I feel sorry reading this listing. Nothing appeals to me; it only seems sad, a bit lonely, and somehow dingy.
For starters - I'm sure you'd do vastly better at putting the parts together than the folks who put together this sale did. It is pretty clear that when it came to things like the turntables they didn't even really try.Well, the person who knew about all that stuff is no longer of this world, and who's to say the people left with it want any more burden from it? They probably aren't hi-fi fans, maybe they just want this out of their lives with as little pain as possible to get whatever they can get back from it.
My father, an avid model train collector, had to help the widow of a friend of his who died, leaving behind a gigantic and extremely valuable collection of model trains. She didn't know anything about it all and I sense that the entire thing had been a burden to her even before her husband's death. My dad did what he could in the amount of spare time he could devote to it, as they didn't live next door. Enough to make sure she didn't get ripped off. But the entire thing was probably a huge burden to her. My dad has been trying to teach me what is what in his collection, but its like a foreign language to me. I dread the day I have to have the gigantic train sale and know I'll be the one doing the equivalent of leaving off all the motor covers for the Empires or not putting the right tubes in the right amps
What distresses and rather baffles me is not that the person collected a lot of audio gear, but that he bought the same things, over and over. I understand perfectly wanting to have a number of turntables or amplifiers or whatever, but a dozen of the same, none apparently in use? How many Mac tuners can one person possibly even fantasize using? Honestly. It just all adds up to rather sad neglect. Having said that, there are a very few items I might be tempted to bid on if the prices coming down to the end aren't getting silly.
Two very close friends and authors have world class collections of antique "phonographs" and ephemera; their solution to the eventual dispersement of their lifetime's worth of collecting rare and valuable items, is leaving very detailed instructions for each item. Yes - a large body of work in its own rite, but essentially just an extension of the love and respect they hold for their hobby.Well, the person who knew about all that stuff is no longer of this world, and who's to say the people left with it want any more burden from it? They probably aren't hi-fi fans, maybe they just want this out of their lives with as little pain as possible to get whatever they can get back from it.
My father, an avid model train collector, had to help the widow of a friend of his who died, leaving behind a gigantic and extremely valuable collection of model trains. She didn't know anything about it all and I sense that the entire thing had been a burden to her even before her husband's death. My dad did what he could in the amount of spare time he could devote to it, as they didn't live next door. Enough to make sure she didn't get ripped off. But the entire thing was probably a huge burden to her. My dad has been trying to teach me what is what in his collection, but its like a foreign language to me. I dread the day I have to have the gigantic train sale and know I'll be the one doing the equivalent of leaving off all the motor covers for the Empires or not putting the right tubes in the right amps
And history.
It depresses me, but my father has been trying to educate me on which of his model trains are the most valuable, as some of them command quite a high price on the collectors market. It really puts my own hobby into perspective, and reminds me that nobody is really that impressed by this stuff except me. To everybody else, were I to go, it would be just one more thing they have to worry about. I think of the EMM Labs CDSA Cd-player I got at a thrift store (for FAR more than regular thrift store prices, but still, somebody donated it). Now, the thrift store knew what they had but I bet whoever donated it just thought it was a CD player and worth very little. The thing, new, cost $11,500. I can only imagine that it belonged to some audiophile who passed on. The other option was that it was donated out of spite in the dissolution of a marriage. Which is worse?
I’d hate to be either. In fact I “tactfully” tell the wife what something might be worth and that it’s an “investment”. If I pass she can always sell it. However, fear of becoming a hoarder has pushed me to sell over half of my collection and the C11 & mc240 are on the chopping block. I only want to have one main setup, an at work small office setup and maybe a component to swap in/out during winter and summer (solid state;summer/tube winter).
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Going the "minimalist" route?
Whan I pass, my Bride knows who to call to dispose of each area of my various fanaticisms.
Anyone else have vague notions of bidding on something in this mess? I'm looking at the Alphason arms and the Mac tuners. I guess we'll just see what happens when it gets closer to the day, but looking at a nice MR-80 without even a $10 minimum bid on it.... nah, they'll all go.