I used to own a small audio consignment shop.
One day a guy walks in and asks if would be interested in
buying a preamp.I told him "sure. bring it in". All the while Im thinking "great. Another friggin Onkyo."
The guy brings in a pretty clean Mac c-11! I'm thinking that it's going to cost me dearly. I ask him how it works, he said it doesnt.all the tubes light up but no sound.
About this time my woodie is starting to deflate and I ask
him what he wants for it in it's non-working state.
he said,"would a hunded dollars be too much?"
We make the deal and he leaves the store,and I stare at this potential boat anchor that I just bought.
After mucking about with it for a while,I notice one of the
chrome end caps were loose.I pull it off and notice a small
flat disc-like control that was labelled level! Same under the other side,and they were both all the way down! I cranked them both up,plugged it in, and the thing just sang.
Full woodie! closed the store early,took it home where it still resides and listened to it the rest of the day.
Feel kind of like I cheated the poor guy,but I never saw him again.I honestly didnt know about the really tiny level
controls, and obviously neither did he.