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

Again, nothing hifi, but many many years ago I saw a lovely jacket in a shop in Exeter, where I then lived. This was pre-credit card times, so I legged it back to my flat, got enough money together, ran back to the shop - and the jacket was gone. No more in stock, and no more stock expected.

All I can now remember about it is that it was blue. It probably wouldn't have fitted me anyway.
 
Years ago, a friend of mine who lives in Ipswich bought a MKII Escort from a local old gent. It had lived in a garage its entire life, done about 5K miles and looked like a brand new car! He'd only had it a few weeks when some young guy ran into the back of it at a junction in his bosses Senator and wrote it off. My friend was gutted. The car had survived in perfect condition all those years only to be sent to the scrap heap.
 
Mr Pig said:
Years ago, a friend of mine who lives in Ipswich bought a MKII Escort from a local old gent. It had lived in a garage its entire life, done about 5K miles and looked like a brand new car! He'd only had it a few weeks when some young guy ran into the back of it at a junction in his bosses Senator and wrote it off. My friend was gutted. The car had survived in perfect condition all those years only to be sent to the scrap heap.
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If it's any consolation, a friend acquired a car with a similar history which turned out to be a total dog. The oil had turned into a sort of paste, and pockets of terminal rust started breaking out everywhere. So it might not have been the gem it first appeared, anyway!
 
In the early 90's a flat mate was the owner of Brighton hifi shop called The Powerplant and one Christmas he brought a Musical Fidelity A 100 intergrated home for a week or 2.
Had a Roksan Xerxes and RB300 and Roksan Chorus Black and the speakers where some small Mordaunt Short 2 way.Set up in a 15 foot by 10 foot bedroom.
Anyway the A100 was just so listenable and enjoyable.It had a really smooth rich sound and imaged superbly.
Wished I had brought it but after Christmas a bit skint and for whatever reason never did.
I still have rose tinted ears thinking about that amp even now.
Well happy with my present amp so will never scratch that itch.
 
Came across a fresh-looking older pair of Klipsch Cornwalls in a local thrift shop for $200. I spent the better part of an hour looking at them and kicking around ways to completely change the layout of my house to accommodate them, but decided they were just too big.
 
Sold my Nait 1 $100.00 CDN moons ago. Realized later on I should have waited a decade or two before selling it !
Also declined some Mordaunt Short Pageant speakers for spare change when I was an ignorant student. My buddy bought them, fed them with a NAD 3020 and a Rega Planar 3 turntable and it was a pure delight for our ears.
 
By chance I was in at the start of the Nait price thing as I wanted a Nait 2 for myself so stuck an add in Loot. I got offered loads of them and once I saw where the price was going I just kept on buying any I was offered to flip. Buy at £100 or so, flip at £150-250 or whatever they made on eBay. Must have flipped eight or ten of them, a couple of Nait 1s too. I did the same with LP12s, again with an initial Loot ad just to find a really nice one for myself. I got offered loads of them, so just kept on buying them to flip, keeping whichever was the current best myself. Not really possible to do that these days as eBay has established a pretty rigid value now. I never haggled, just asked the seller what they wanted for it and bought if there was a significant margin, walked away if not.
 
ATC SCM 50a with a free ATC service before shipping for £2.5K + a boat from and back to Ireland. That was about 13 years ago though when ATC was cheap. That would have saved a lot of

Oh and a 15w EL84 integrated. It couldn't be my only amp though so had to let it go.

Not a lot since, just those really.

Quite a few records though, damn Discogs.

sonddek said:
Presumably it's not OK to talk about women on this thread.
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I think its okay providing you didn't actually consider 'buying' them ;-)
 
My biggest 'one that got away'
My company was next door to Rogers who went bust around 1998. Andy Whittle and myself agreed to move their whole stock of LS3/5a cabinets, grilles, crossovers, packing etc into my place. They had no drivers but a provisional deal was done with KEF so we could restart production.

The receivers agent turned up quicker than expected so we had to deal with him too. No problem he says but please wait a few days for me to get organised and then you can have the lot. Promised to give us first pickings on everything in the factory.

Not long after, I see out of my office, loads of L3s/5a stuff being loaded into a vehicle. I went to see the agent for an explanation. 'Oh, he kept ringing and pestering me so I let him come over....didn't realise that was what you wanted' That guy was Doug Sterling and the rest is history!

To add insult to injury, there was a pair of very large speakers under covers, painted metallic blue. I didn't know what they were but looked great. Another deal done, £100. A week later I saw them loaded in the back of an Escort cabriolet (roof down of course) Aaargh!! Rang Andy who said that they were 'money no object hi end prototypes' with Dynaudio professional drivers and special power amps etc! He said they were amazing. Only been used for a staff party after production of them was abandoned for financial reasons.
 
TimF said:
A pair of Trenner & Friedl Pharoahs for less than half price, nearly new, beautiful veneering, easy two hour drive to pick them up....Arrrggghhh.
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Yeah that would piss me off. I love the look of Tenner & Friedl speakers. Unfortunately, my pockets aren’t deep enough.
 
In 1977 I should have bought either a Harmon Kardon 430 or an Onkyo A5.

In 1978 I worked for a Tandberg dealer and could have bought a Tandberg receiver for cost. Still kicking myself over that one.
 
I bought a boxed pair of mint Arcs for £400 about fifteen years ago locally. They were such a bargain I ignored the other pair of speakers at the same price which had some boring capitals with a number after it I didn’t recognise. Given the guy was just selling stuff to go sailing around the world for a few years and this was wealthy Falmouth, I suspect they were also an absolute bargain. Unlike the Arcs I could have let go of them ( for a pretty penny I imagine. )
 
To make it a bit more painful........
An half audiophile neighbor bought a McIntosh MC 7270 in perfect working and aesthetic condition for $200.00 CDN in a garage sale while its value back then was 10 times this price.
I learned the bad news about the deal I missed when he knocked at my door to help him get it in his house as this was way to heavy to be handled by a single person.
 
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