Meeting people is easy...

In my recent audio gear hunting adventures, I have come across some interesting characters, and genuinely nice people.

People listing on eBay, Facebook marketplace, and Mercari.

Overall I’ve had good experiences in all three sites and have found some really great deals!

The majority of my most frugal finds being on Facebook Marketplace.

One such experience was with a wonderful and kind lady, who had a pair of Pioneer DSS-E6 speakers, that had been in her family since new. She shared with me the story of her being a teenager going to the audio store with her father when he had originally purchased the speakers.

She also beamed when talking about the endless hours of listening to music through them with her family.

She seemed sad to see them go, but happy at the same time that someone else would bring them back to life and enjoy listening to them again.

They needed re-foaming, so we struck a deal.

Well, now they are alive again, and bringing the same kind of enjoyment she had experienced with them for years, and hopefully making new memories for future generations.

Love this kind of stuff!

Other times, it’s just cash and done.

Some deals are just a quick exchange...

“Hi, Here it is...” Cash handed over, gear in hand. “Thanks so much!”

I much prefer “people encounters” to the quick and done deal.

I mean, these pieces of gear have stories, history! The people and the stories behind the gear, makes the purchase all the more fun and interesting for me.

Then there are the “too good to be true” finds, with somewhat shady characters...

Looking at speakers on eBay I came across a listening “Magnapan Speakers” $50 starting bid, $150 but it now. I found out the listing was local and thought “those might be cool.... the price is way cheap though?!” but after watching a restoration videos on YouTube, I decided not to check them out.

A week or so later, the listing is gone from eBay and now up on Facebook, locally.

I decide to reach out to the guy. (Mind you, his listings had lengthy stories surrounding these speakers) I do love a good gear story!

So, I asked him “when the last time they had sound running though them?” Hoping for for him to shed some light on if they may need to have the wires redone. (If you know how Magnapans work, it’s quite a process to restore them.)

He responds back with “sold” I think to myself “No biggie...”

Later out and about town, I get another message from him... “I’ve sold these things three time and no one wants to pay” (Should have been a red flag.)

So I reluctantly agree to take a look at them, asking if I could put sound through them. Then I once more asked... “ When’s the last time they had sound running through them?” With no answer to either question, just where to meet up...

I head over to the meeting point... A storage unit not to far from my home.

As I roll up, a tall but wiry fellow, steps out of his SUV. I greet him and he nervously opens up the door to the unit, “anxiously mumbling” he moves some miscellaneous junks around and says... “there they are!”

( These are the smaller size Maggie’s. Just a bit smaller than your standard 3.0 door.)

I look them over and see the have no bases (which he did mention in his listing) he had unscrewed the fuse and connection plate from the back, rather haphazardly, to “send pictures to a potential buyer” but now the screws were missing.

Not being able to test them... I offered the $140 he had asked for them (knowing that after building new bases and possibly having to buy a rebuild kit from Magnapan... I would be in them for maybe $300-$500? I was guessing of course.)

He then quickly responded with “oh no! That’s the price per piece!” (Now none of his listings communicated this, by the way.) “Knew it was to good to be true” $300 was still ok but I’m kind of a stickler for upfront communication and honestly...

I then calmly said “I think I know why you may be having a hard time selling them, don’t think I can do that, untested.” I then thought to myself “if he just communicated better, I bet they would be sold already” plus it felt a bit scammy, like they may have not been working, as he wouldn’t let me test them...

So I left without the Maggie’s.

When the lights go down...

Which brings me to today.

It’s my daughter’s 12th birthday, so l get up early to get ready. I picked up my phone briefly, to see if something interesting popped up for sale.

I come across a listing for a ton of audio gear. speakers, receivers, CD player, EQ and a turntable. Looking at the details, He’s asking $1000 for everything but there is only one thing catching my eye... A Technics SL-2000 turntable.

I message the guy and ask “how much for just the turntable?”

He quickly responded with “More than you are willing to spend”

I kinda shake my head at this point thinking “what’s up with people? Maybe he really doesn’t want to sell it or something?”

So I kinda went back and forth for a minute or two about responding, because at that point I felt a little put off, but decided to respond back with a bit of the same snark I had received (which is not typical of me) and said “bet you were thinking like $300, but that’s cool... with an eye roll emoji...

He messaged back. “Hey, sorry people have been weird on Facebook lately and just ghosting me after I give them a price.”

“I’m in it for $250 if you are still interested?”

I thought for about thirty minutes “waffling” about whether or not to give it a go. After the Magnapan experience... I was kind of leery, but decided to reach out and give the guy a chance (since I know how buying and selling can get sometimes..)

I let him know that if it was in working order I would be willing to pay what he was asking. He agrees to sell it and we worked out a meet up time.

After some much needed fun and games with my daughter at a local mini golf and laser tag place, he texts me and asks “can you meet up now?...” (which worked out great, because we had just finished up.)

So my daughter and I make the brief journey and pull up to his stately home in a more upper crust area of the town I live. He greets me at the door. He’s has a thin build, but looks like he works with his hands, has long grayish white hair and is wearing a shirt with his name on it (like the old auto shop workers would wear)

You could tell right away he had a very personable but gruff demeanor. Seemed like an old friend right from the get go, a real straight shooter.

He was definitely a rocker maybe late 50’s early 60’s in age.

He walked me through the maze of his large home, up the stairs to a big room with things stored all over.

He then shows me the turntable, with a record already on the platter.

Dropping the tone arm, as it slowly floated the needed down to the vinyl, I hear the sounds of Journey “🎵when the lights go down in the city🎶” (Steve Perry sings in his outstanding tenor voice.)

We stuck up conversation about bands we’ve seen and our audio gear journey’s. He then gives me a tour of his audio gear and pinball machine collection. Really nice guy! I then invited him to my bands next gig and we finished the deal.

I really learned a lot from this last one.

Give people a chance, you don’t always know what they have experienced already in trying to sell something. Ended up making a fair deal and possibly another gear head friend!

Punkfloyd4eyes