How many people here generally buy used?

doodle6

"Still have tons of stuff that I never bothered to sell when I “moved up”."

That struck a chord with me. I had to think a bit and recollect some of the gear I've stashed away up in the attic or stuff that I'm not using anymore.

At the very least there's a pair of decent Tannoy floorstanders, a pair of Rega bookshelves, 1 Denon tapedeck, 1 analogue tuner, 1 Panasonic VCR, one Dell PC monitor, tons of cables / interconnects, a couple of midi systems and small speakers. Oh, and a dozen headphones on top of all that.

To be honest if it wasn't for marriage and the kids, I'd have probably have accumulated a lot more. On the plus side, lacking the time or energy to stick them on eBay, I have tried to give stuff away for free to close friends or family.

Surprisingly, I found that people are generally very reluctant to accept audio gear (headphones excepted), even for free. It must just be us audiophiles who care for this stuff. 

The last resort for me nowadays is usually the charity shop. It's a nice feeling to get rid of something you definitely don't want to somebody who does want it. 

I might try to sell on eBay again, but it's difficult to justify all the time and effort for the money you will get back. My Rega speakers cost £450 new, but if I sold then now, what with a few marks and grille damage I'd be struggling to get £100 back.

Then there's that feeling, familiar to all hoarders, of not knowing when I might want to use them again. Even after years and years..

Thankfully my wife is less emotional and far more practical in these matters than me. I have seen sympathetic cases of people who have ended up almost buried under stuff they will never be able to move.

Just occurred to me that one of the great unsung qualities of digital storage must be the sheer amount of storage space it can save.

For me it's a case of the greater the number of moving parts the greater the need to buy new when it comes to audio. 

With speakers there's always the concern with surround rot and invisible damage to drivers (esp tweeters) and voice coils. I think piano at reasonably high volume is a good test for coil damage. You'll definitely know it when you hear it. A tremendously non musical screechy sound.

With amps there might be issues with calibration and imminent dry joints etc. My Creek Destiny amp I bought used soon developed issues with the pre/out bypass switch. Luckily I was able to bypass it with the use of jumper cables.

With the rest there's also the risk of various tweakery applied beforehand too. Frankly I'd rather buy a product as it was designed - not as a failed tweak job.

Having said that there was no other way of buying my current 1970s speakers than buying used. Thankfully the previous owner seemed to pay great respect in keeping it in original spec.

In any case it would always be good ethical practice to declare all mod history when selling. I had to when I sold my LP12.

Despite that the buyer couldn't seem to get it off my hands fast enough.