World's Largest Private Hardware Collection Purchased by Audio Dealer

Watch for these at ridiculously high prices !!!

Great retirement plan, that’s how long it will take to liquidate….

 

That's nuts! A million dollars worth of '70s receivers. Yikes!
When I saw the headline to the post, I thought, oh, guy must have scooped up some old Western Electric horns and amps or Klangfilm vintage stuff.
There was a store here that specialized in precisely this type of gear- the kind you'd commonly see in the '70s in homes. The younger buyers who were getting into hi-fi and/or vinyl went mad for this gear; I guess it has a cool factor that beats new gear, so vintage Marantz to them means the '70s, not the old tube stuff like the consolette, or 7 preamps or 8 or 9 amps or the 10b tuner.

 

There was some guys while maybe 5-8 years ago who had a similar haul of NIB gear he was selling piece by piece on eBay. The thing was it was all 80s mid-level stuff at best, lots of Black Plastic Crap. Think JVC receivers with slider volume and built in 5-band equalizers. I don't know how they ever did.

 

This is obviously a lot of gear with a huge market and market value, but am I odd in saying that I wouldn't really be interested in any of it?

 

If I spent a million on used gear it wouldn’t be multiples of average 70’s receivers and tape decks

I admire his love for the “vintage” but I get get anything there, restored, mint on eBay all day long

 

How many people are really looking for it all at once? Look at any eBay trends. This stuff often takes forever to sell. Same stuff , same seller week after week. A lot of that gear was the tail end of the good old days of Japanese receivers and gear. When quality wasn’t that great.

 

Yes there are plenty of things there I owned or wanted back then, but if I really wanted one it would be a nostalgia thing.

 

His “score” just lowered the value of everyone’s vintage gear. It’s like Coins…. Carson City dollars were rare , then they found hundreds of thousands that in one day devalued all but the rarest dates

 

It was actually $100,000 and by the looks of it, he should be able to turn a profit fairly quickly.

 

I can relate to the Carson City Morgan dollars

 

How can anyone say definitively that this is the worlds largest private hardware collection? Private being the operative word here.

 

True, could be larger private collections but this one was definitely impressive.

 

Yes , but unlike stereo components they are always worth spot at least…

 

I owned one of those S.E.A 35wpc receivers for a coupla years. Plasticky indeed, yet it sounded awesome!

 

Me too. It was my first Quartz tuner Rx. That did sound great. Presets.
Looking back I think it was the first unit without a turntable built in for me.

I would buy a mint one for nostalgia sake

 

Now after seeing that I’m sure that late night after I have a few Jack and Cokes one of those will show up at my door next week.

 

A friend of mine, who has been aspiring to the high-end for years, recently went the vintage route. He bought a refurbished, Pioneer SX-737 receiver and absolutely loves it. He bought it mainly for the look, but ended up using it as his daily driver. Since that purchase, he bought a companion turntable, and cassette deck even though he owns no records, or cassettes.

I owned an SX-535 back in the day, and loved it also. Now though, I have zero interest in vintage.

 

I think that's the key - perspective. If I had never heard how good modern day gear is, I'd probably be super satisfied with some vintage Marantz or similar.

 

The thing is though, I know he has good ears, he says he enjoys the fullness the receiver brings. Probably just a phase.

 

There is a guy North of Boston and another South of Boston that post some really nice gear on CL. I have purchased from the guy south before

I would buy from one of these guys as they service older gear and also avoid the hassle of shipping, PayPal etc….

 

When I went the same route, I bought my Pioneer and speakers first, and I spent the following 6 months with the built-in tuner as my sole source. A cassette deck followed, 2 years later a CDP (sold the cassette deck to fund it) The CDP was fed the one cd I was able to buy monthly for the first 2 years, when another TT ensued. Slooowly I was able to build up a small record collection, due to the format being looked down upon in the 90s and an lp cost a tenth of its CD counterpart.

So cut your friend some slack, or gift him some leftover media you might have lying around.

 

Beautiful collection. Great memories.

Glad it’s been preserved so well.

I don’t want any of it, but loved watching the video.

 

Great fun! Thanks for posting.

 

The number of people who want a home stereo has dwindled rapidly.
The number of people who want to spend more on it than a few bucks is small.
The number of people who want 70s gear is very small.
The number of people who want to spend more on 70s gear because it's in like-new condition is microscopic.

IMHO, that is a terrible purchase (even long-term) that will be lusted about only by very very few, mostly dudes in their 70s on Audio Karma who'll be nostalgic for stuff they either used to have or would've like to own when in their 20s.

Purely my perspective but this is as impressive, practical, and a good business decision as those dudes who sank their savings into beanie babies.