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Do you ‘upgrade’ or ‘accumulate’?

Do you sell gear or hoard it??

  • Total voters
    52
Upgrade and sell... my house is cluttered enough with kids stuff and clothes without gathering hifi boxes as well.
 
I try to sell the component I'm replacing, but I'm successful about 50% of the time, even if I'm selling at 30% retail. If I cannot sell the replaced component, it goes into the 2nd system, replacing a previous component I couldn't sell. The replaced component from the 2nd system goes into storage, until someone on the internet is looking for it, then I sell it cheap. If this sound sad, it's really not. I'm the worst salesman in the world, and I hate doing it, so I don't try very hard. The money I lose not selling gear may add up to a vacation over a lifetime, so no big loss.
 
I sometimes sell stuff on, then usually regret it, but this thread reminds me I really must do a proper stocktake and shift some stuff on before I die. I have cupboards and an attic full of valves, QUAD amps, several pairs of LS3/5as and carrier bags full of cable which seemed a good idea at the time but which I really don't need any more, assuming I ever did! The proceds might help pay for my new rug!
 
Hoarder here, as far as Hifi goes, but I only buy stuff every 20 years so it doesn't accumulate too badly.
 
If it’s a piece of kit I’m not using on a regular basis, it’s sold and out the door; let someone else enjoy it. And the funds raised are usually put towards buying the next ‘flavour of the month’.
 
I chose the hoarding option, simply because I can't be bothered with the hassle of selling. It was easier when I lived in a city. I live in a small town now and probably everything I'd like to sell would need a shipping option. Packing, courier, lower pricing to compete with pickups = CBF.
 
MikeMA said:
I sometimes sell stuff on, then usually regret it, but this thread reminds me I really must do a proper stocktake and shift some stuff on before I die. I have cupboards and an attic full of valves, QUAD amps, several pairs of LS3/5as and carrier bags full of cable which seemed a good idea at the time but which I really don't need any more, assuming I ever did! The proceds might help pay for my new rug!
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Sell the cables first. Y can post them during lockdown, you'll be surprised how much they will fetch and you will sell them faster than the actual components. Seriously. This is a weird hobby.

I sell stuff in general. There is usually a collection but I try to move most of it on. I have stuff advertised constantly.
 
I don't hoard or sell. I buy things and use them until they break (and then try to fix them) and then get something new when things cannot be economically repaired. I have one system, most of which is 20 yrs old or more. I think about upgrading, but then I decide it would not make a sufficient improvement to my life to make it worth the expense and trouble.
Rega planar 3 (with motor update)/Goldring 1042, Marantz CD67SE - Monarchy 22A DAC, Cyrus II, Rel Strata III, Green Mountain Audio Europa speakers. Not great, but good enough.
 
I only run one 'system' - but this thread has made me realise, then take more detailed notes; and on review ... amongst other things I have rather more than my bodyweight alone in 'spare transformers identified for potential current & future projects'

o_O

(if contrition is demanded - well, I still keep & use & emjoy my old Nait2 )
 
sean99 said:
I have one system, most of which is 20 yrs old or more. I think about upgrading, but then I decide it would not make a sufficient improvement to my life to make it worth the expense and trouble.
Rega planar 3 (with motor update)/Goldring 1042, Marantz CD67SE - Monarchy 22A DAC, Cyrus II, Rel Strata III, Green Mountain Audio Europa speakers. Not great, but good enough.
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Good enough is good enough for me, too.

I have an 80s Rega 3 with updates, AT100e, laptop streaming, A&R A60, Wharfedale Diamond II (mainly). Recently I had a serious thought to buy some new speakers just because and bought an old Rotel amplifier to drive them. But after returning the A60 to the mix I thought, this is such a satisfying system - why change what already works really well?
 
Durmbo said:
Good enough is good enough for me, too.

I have an 80s Rega 3 with updates, AT100e, laptop streaming, A&R A60, Wharfedale Diamond II (mainly). Recently I had a serious thought to buy some new speakers just because and bought an old Rotel amplifier to drive them. But after returning the A60 to the mix I thought, this is such a satisfying system - why change what already works really well?
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The A60 is not only satisfying, it’s also rather foot tapping provocative IMO.
 
I fluctuate between hoarding and selling. Just recently had 5 pairs of speakers, three of which were Naim's finest. Sold the SL2s and the SBLs now, but still have Allaes, Neats and Kudos. Have several amps and CD players all of which are in use in one place or another, but at least one of those systems rarely gets listened to at the moment so I might move it on.
 
Those people with multiple systems - how do you keep track of CDs? (And LPs come to that.)

It would drive me nuts, frequently, not being able to find something, I am sure. Or is everyone religious in returning stuff to one rack, or do they only play certain CDs on certain systems, so need never move them?
 
Thorn said:
Usually I trade in, but if i think it's got little value it goes into the loft.
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This is me. Especially AV kit, which depreciates very quickly. The current main rig was funded by recycling out the previous main rig.
 
Only have room for one system so I’m a seller/trade in type and use the money towards the upgrade. I don’t see the point in keeping kit I’m not using. Let someone else enjoy it.
 
Vinny said:
Those people with multiple systems - how do you keep track of CDs? (And LPs come to that.)

It would drive me nuts, frequently, not being able to find something, I am sure. Or is everyone religious in returning stuff to one rack, or do they only play certain CDs on certain systems, so need never move them?
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I have two bases over 100 miles apart but being obsessive over the CD collection and it consisting of 12,000 CDs I am uber organised. It's stored in the main home alphabetically organised and I have about 400 CDs in the second home at any one time that are 'loaned out' of the main collection with placeholders (empty CD cases) left in the right place for when they are returned to base. I have once or twice thought of ripping the whole collection, but then did the maths on how long it would take and thought sod that! I could rip those I want to take with me, but I never really know what I'm taking until I browse through so it works for me as it is now.
 
Another point for me is I do like to have some degree of redundancy, so if something fails at any time and needs servicing I can easily swap something else in. I have a spare of every component class at the moment without having to take any system out of action (I have three in use, main, nearfield and TV-room). That takes a lot of pressure off. At present the spare amp is just a little T-Amp (Amptastic), but it can stand-in in any system for a while, it is actually very good as long as you don’t push it too hard. I’m semi-deliberately stockpiling CD & SACD players as I never want to get to the point I can’t play my CD collection. That does worry me as I can see a time where transports are no longer made. I even have a spare record deck, a MkI Technics SL-120/3009 I found at the local auction for £35, so even if something catastrophic happened to the TD-124’s motor I’m still in the vinyl game whilst I fix it, I can still play those Tone Poets that are arriving at an absurd rate!
 
Two live systems and usually a third one in the storage room that's often the gear I have last replaced and that's about to leave.
Once I've mourned it enough I sell it, raise my head, give a straight look and try and go on with life.
 
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