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How far would you go?

wainwj

pfm Member
I have recently travelled to the other end of this island. Just to pick up a pair of speakers from a true gent of a user of this very forum.
A round trip of 1200 miles that involved 21 hours stuck behind the wheel.
Just wondering what lengths others have travelled in pursuit of hi-fi bliss?
 
Not me but when I was living in Thailand and my parents were coming over to see me I asked them to bring my system over. Don't declare it in advance I said, just rock up at the airport with it.

They did, the airline scoffed a bit but took it on and it came to me. It was a 3 hour bus ride from the airport, then a taxi, a boat to the island I was on, another taxi, and finally some lugging it down the beach road.

That was for a Marantz CD63SE, an Arcam Delta 60 and a pair of KEF Q35 floorstanders. A brilliant wheeze I thought at the time, but a few years later when the airlines had become a bit less accommodating it was a non-starter to bring them home, so they remain now in my sister-in-law's flat in Bangkok.
 
A round trip of 1200 miles that involved 21 hours stuck behind the wheel.

Wow. I thought that driving from Stevenage to Manchester and back one evening for a set of NVA amplifiers was showing dedication to the cause.
 
I bought a BeoSystem 4500 (minus turntable) with matching BeoVox RL2000s from a guy in the bay area while I was in Seattle. It was a 1300km drive one way. Fortunately my girlfriend was attending university in the same area so there was another excuse for the trip. The seller was selling the system to help fund his transition from network engineer to freelance photographer.

The fun thing was when I went back down for a trip to visit my girlfriend a year later, we somehow reconnected with the seller and he invited us to dinner at his house with his wife. They were really interesting people to meet -- both were ultra trail runners (more than 26 mile runs on trails). And his photography career was going well.

I still have the system 20 years later. And I'm married to the girlfriend.
 
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Sheffield to Swansea and back for a pair of original demonstration IAS Beaulieus. And then out on the razz that night ;) Seems small beer compared to some of you!
 
Nothing special in comparison to others but I drove from the northwest to the south coast (almost) which is technically a round trip of 560 miles, but I combined another pick-up and must have driven about 650 miles in the end, about 13hrs + breaks. It was one of the hottest days of this summer and the heaters in my van were stuck on hot. No electric windows so I just rolled them down and off I went. That was also to buy from an upstanding member of the PinkFish forum and certainly worth it given the quality of the speakers. Also it's nice to meet people from the forum.

...a doddle really.


A round trip of 1200 miles that involved 21 hours stuck behind the wheel.

I love road trips in the UK if you dodge the traffic. Did you get to see the sun setting anywhere nice?
 
I have recently travelled to the other end of this island. Just to pick up a pair of speakers from a true gent of a user of this very forum.
A round trip of 1200 miles that involved 21 hours stuck behind the wheel.
Just wondering what lengths others have travelled in pursuit of hi-fi bliss?

well done. Given C19, right now, my answer is, nowhere.
 
“Did you get to see the sun setting anywhere nice?“
Didn’t see the sun once unfortunately.
It was last weekend, so rained every moment and mile of the journey.
A real shame as it took me through the Highlands and I would have loved to see them in their autumn colours on a clear day.
 
I flew from Perth (Oz) to UK and back to pick up a Nait XS.





...OK, might have had a few other reasons as well... but the VAT refund made it well worthwhile.. ;-)
 
No way was I trusting a courier with my DMT's... The diesel was probably cheaper. And I got to see the sunsetting over....Wolverhampton, I think...

I think the sun set over Wolverhampton a long time ago! (Ducks quickly - the wife came from there and some of her family are still there!)
 
Not a long journey.but foolish!.., Norwich to stowmarket but there was a foot of snow and I was in an old Alfa so I was lucky to get there n back with a pair of Michell allectos and orca pre
 
Round trip driving about 650 miles is the longest I've done. Did it in a single day, it was for a Loricraft record cleaning machine the seller didn't want to ship since he didn't have the original packaging.
 
20 years ago I drove from Kilmarnock to Sevenoaks, over 900 mile round trip, to collect an Audiolab 8000C/P I'd bought on ebay that was collection only. Got home and it was the worst amp I've every heard, even my old NAD3020A sounded better. Sold it the following week.
 
I have recently travelled to the other end of this island. Just to pick up a pair of speakers from a true gent of a user of this very forum.
A round trip of 1200 miles that involved 21 hours stuck behind the wheel.
Just wondering what lengths others have travelled in pursuit of hi-fi bliss?
incredible ... that must be a record !!!!
 
When I lived in Spain (1980's) and worked in London I'd bring a new bit of gear out with me most times, and an old bit back. Naim amps all looked the same back then..
I got stopped one time with a James Audio mains power conditioner which had caused some concern. I was made to open up my case while the security guards hid behind the baggage trolley full of suitcases then had to take it inside and plug it in to see if it went bang. Inside to a fairly rural Almeria airport, but there were still maybe 70 people inside watching me as security remained hidden behind the suitcases.
It didn't.
However, I became known to the security guys as a result, and as long as I bought the brandy's there was never any further problems, despite me lugging huge numbers of kilo's of gear back and forth.
 
I've driven 700km round trip to pick up a pair of Yamaha NS-1000Ms. There is no way I'd get a courier to deliver them without their original - now long gone - shipping cartons.

Longest distance purchase that I personally carried home was a VPI-16.5 RCM. I was visiting Las Vegas (for a business conference, honest) and timed my order to have the RCM delivered to my hotel. It travelled home with me over 12,000km on three connecting flights.
 


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