The dumbest stereo experience ever!


Hello all. I went through a divorce 20 years ago. I really needed to convert some equipment into cash. I sold amongst other things my prized Sony TC 880-2 open reel recorder. I had a lengthy conversation with the buyer typical of us lovers of gear. I told him my situation and he said he would sell it back to me when I got back on my feet down the road. OK, fair enough. I lost track of him as this was pre Audiogon. I managed to locate him five years later. Someone informed me that he had 125 open reel decks and his wife wouldn't let him buy any more. (terrible woman!) I got him on the phone and after another lengthy chat I asked him if I could buy it back. He didn't want to sell it back as he said he didn't even have time to play with it yet. OK, I thought; I'm a horse trader. SURELY I have some bargaining power. I have many studio open reel tapes. I could trade him some of them plus cash in exchange for the Sony back. I asked him what kind of music he listened to. Here is what he said "Oh, I don't listen to music. I just like to watch the reels go around". I was dumbfounded. I told him to have a nice day and I hung up the phone. Can anyone top this one? Joe
jnovak

Showing 1 response by bwaslo

About 40-some years ago, I was a service tech at a TV/Stereo repair shop, and they took a contract as factory service for several very cheap brands of console stereos.  I went out on a service call at an older lady's house (she was probably younger than I am now, it just occurred to me!).  Her complaint was that the little red "Stereo" light would light on and off out when she was tuning through different FM stations.  Had a hard time convincing her that the light wasn't broken.

Another -- Not a stereo story, but we were also service reps for a brand of built-in burglar alarm systems.  They weren't designed with any consideration for RFI, and there was one installed in a house near to an FM radio station tower.  Every morning when the station came on-air, it would set off the alarm.  The manufacturer had us try this and that (capacitors across varying things) but of course we couldn't tell if we had fixed it till the next morning. Trial fixes went on for a few days. But one night, problem solved -- burglars broke in and stole, among other things, the main unit of the burglar alarm system.