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The ones that got away- your biggest regrets over items you should have bought.

TheDecameron

TheDecameron

Unicorns fart glitter.
Sometimes is the knock down price- a pair of big Tannoys for reasonable cash or an itch you’ve needed to scratch but then didn’t make your move before some else snapped it up.
Me? I keep thinking about the Ittok that appeared in the classifieds here a few years ago, with a full bearing and rewire job by J7. Now even knackered ones are appearing at double the price.
 
I remember seeing a Garrard 401 for about £50-100 & a leak valve amp for £25; I was about 15 at the time though. We can all remember when Nait2s were cheap also.
 
I dragged my heels over a Gyrodeck here… shortly afterwards binned about four times the amount into an LP12 which was the deck I ultimately wanted, but I’ve always wanted to live with a Gyrodeck, and that one was well priced. Took the conscious decision to let someone have it who wouldn’t use it and keep it for the long term, which was probably the right decision… but I’ll never know, could’ve been loving the Gyro and had a few grand sat in my bank account!
 
Being too slow (by 10 mins or so) answering a Freead paper advert for a pair of Tannoys at £50. They were Lancasters!

There is a far, far, far, far worse scenario though....maybe post later as I am late leaving for a meet.
 
Yeah, it can happen, sometimes I don't see the ad until the item is sold though most of the time it's down to the vendor not having kept the shipping cartons and manufacturers packaging or just a lack of willingness to ship or courier an item, which I don't really understand as the items will have been shipped/couriered from the factory to the distributor/ dealer, etc
No regrets though, what's for you will not go past you.
 
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Tannoy memory GRF, flagged up on here and I 'bought' them instantly. Lots of warnings it was a scam. Sure enough It was a scam as they never arrived.
I still don't know who was scammed because I didn't lose a penny.
Sad because now the house is sold and I am 'downsized' in many ways. So certainly 'one that got away'.
 
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Missed opportunities? Yes, I have a few….

- A Sony PS-8750 at an Audiojumble for £130.
- A round gimbal SME 3012 with Ortofon SPU at a car boot sale for £45
- A pair of B&O Beovox M100s plus stands in Cash Converters for £90
 
Pair of corner cabinet Tannoys on here a few years ago I regretted not jumping on, but I ended up with some nice Berkeleys that are actually a better fit.

If it’s for you it’ll not go by you as they say.
 
A pair of Trenner & Friedl Pharoahs for less than half price, nearly new, beautiful veneering, easy two hour drive to pick them up....Arrrggghhh.
 
Its the Garrard 301 I sold for £25 that pains me in retrospect, mind you, it was just in a pile of junk a customer gave me just to take it away.
 
I missed a cracking Pink Triangle Anniversary? on here, a few months back. I've lusted after one ever since I heard one 'back in the day'.

The missus was happy as it kept my TT count to three, but I was gutted.
 
Seling my Klipschorns after moving to current house, that has no useable corners.
Similarly, selling my Citroen CX Turbo-Auto car.....

You don't miss your water 'til your well runs dry (Byrds)
 
Lawrence audio Mandolin speakers an itch I wanted to scratch. Never seen a pair come up for sale second hand. These were Ex demo and super condition ( apparently). I didn’t take a punt as assumed they’d go for way over what I could afford at the time. Sold for several hundred less than the Max I was able to pay.
 
The several free Garrard 301's and 401's I turned down.... still wouldn't use them but oh have they gone up in value!

Various valve amps I could have had cheap but had no real use for so did't bother.

The Mission 774 arms for maybe £80 - 100 15 years back which still seemed on the pricey side but "could only go down as they became 'more second hand'" so I'll wait till they are £60...
 
Very few to be honest. I wish I’d kept a mint boxed Nait 1 or 2 as I flipped loads of them back in the late-90s early 00s. The stuff I really regret selling are analogue synths and guitars (EMS Synthi AKS, Fender Bronco being the main two, but there are others).

With hi-fi it isn’t really a regret, more a learning-curve. The feeling I bought into trends and marketing I’ve since seen through with real first-hand experience and hindsight, e.g. buying a bloody Xerxes new when people were practically giving away Garrards, 124s, EMTs etc, not realising just how good vintage valve amps, Tannoys, BBC monitors etc were and buying at the right time. By saying that learning, especially learning to think for oneself, is all part of life so I can’t really regret any of that!

PS One of my issues is I’ve moved around a lot for work etc and often didn’t have much space, plus I had some periods of real poverty back in the ‘80s where I had no real options but to sell stuff. I’m actually surprised just how much I have managed to retain (especially the record collection). It is only the past 20 years that I’d describe as ‘comfortable’ or ‘stable’ so really logic doesn’t apply.
 
No real regrets on HiFi as something better always comes along.

Guitars black US Strat for £500 and a Mexican roadworn sunburst 60's style Tele for £599 with brilliant pick ups.
 
Missed out on a as new SJS model 5 amp as new, gutted. Same with a Engstrom LARS and living voice re vamped art audio 300b amp. Never have the funds at right time.
 
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