God, I hate to ask this…


Recent conversations with the oncologist have been replete with phrases like ‘stage 4’,metastasis’ and unappealing statistics applied to survival rates. While my real and financial affairs are well settled I am most perplexed with how to approach this large pile of audio stuff e.g. 3 secondary systems in addition to the primary one, several thousand lp’s, a similar number of CD’s/SACD’s, a closet full of cable etc. I am utterly confident that I am not alone in this. While I am comfortable that my wife will love and care for my dog I am less confident that the Avantgardes will elicit such emotional investment. Although my immediate inclination is to cling desperately to these treasured objects it seems patently unfeeling to expect someone else to deal with all of this. My wife will have enough to do. I could just divest myself of much of it and depend on the collection of headphones that I began to amass during the first illness. I really don’t want to do this. I would also like to pre-bequeath much of it to friends assuming that they wanted it but all of them have been adamant in their refusal to discuss this with me and probably will remain so until the 11th hour. As childlike as it seems, I am emotionally invested in these fruits of a lifelong passion and want them to end up where they will be respected and loved . This seems to be a juncture that we will all come to. I would be grateful to hear the contemplations that all you have had in this, admittedly, sobering matter. 
To all of you, good cheer and good health.

 

williamjohnston

Showing 1 response by ejordan

I'm so sorry to hear this, my thoughts are with you.

I am on the other side of your situation, having lost a relative with a lot of high end equipment and a lot of media, and me trying to dispose of it in the best way possible. In fact, it's why I've joined here in the first place.

He was a music lover and had a high quality vinyl collection of over 10k albums that he planned to leave to my wife and I. We were able to persuade him a few years before he passed to sell that, as we had no place to keep it or the knowledge to sell it (you can see the story of it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Y1RGtG5I4&pp=ygUXdG9wcGVyIHZpbnlsIGNvbGxlY3Rpb24%3D and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Y1RGtG5I4&pp=ygUXdG9wcGVyIHZpbnlsIGNvbGxlY3Rpb24%3D)

When he did pass last year, I inherited a large amount of equipment that I have been selling over the past year on various platforms. It is time (and space) consuming. While I love and will keep some equipment, I do not consider myself an audiophile. Finding the value of much of this equipment is difficult for someone who is not a hobbyist/pro. I was fortunate enough to be able to sell off the entire Kaleidescape system to a single dealer who was a great help (more than a pallet of boxes). I'm still working on selling speakers, amps, and cables which are heavy and bulky to package/ship. While I've recently discovered TMR and would be willing to take a lower price, they aren't interested in the amps/processors as they are focused on 2 channel.

This experience is forcing me to look at all of my own "stuff", and part with much of what is more sentimental than actually used. As I don't actually want most of my parent's prized possessions, I'm sure my daughter will not want mine. I don't want to burden those left behind with the process that I am currently experiencing. I will at some point reach out to a local dealer and try to sell the whole package, but even getting to that point has taken time and effort. It's a difficult and emotional process.