What Have You Done With Your Obsolete/Outdated AV Receivers & Preamps? 😳


If you’ve been in this hobby for a while you have likely had to replace an AV receiver and/or preamp to keep up with connectivity changes and/or updates in sound field decoding.

On the video connectivity side we’ve gone from 75 ohm connectors > RCA connectors > S-Video > HDMI (beginning with 1.0 up to the current 2.1 standard).

While on the sound field side we’ve gone from mono > stereo > 3 channel (stereo plus a center channel, championed by Paul Klipsch, for example) > Hafler (and others) Matrix > 4 channel (SQ/QS/etc. decoding) > Dolby > Dolby Surround > Dolby Pro Logic > Dolby Pro Logic II > Dolby Digital 5.1  >  Dolby Digital EX 7.1 > Dolby ATMOS.

And upgrading to the next video and/or sound field standard generally required the purchase of a new AV receiver or AV preamp. Hardware upgrades were not available for video connectivity upgrades and likewise for sound field upgrades.

So, if you upgraded your system to accommodate these new standards, my question is:

What did you do with your obsolete AV equipment? 😎
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What did you do with your obsolete AV equipment?
Dispose those huge rear projection TV is PITA!!!
My Exwife threw my Denon 3808i in the woods, as far as receivers go it served me well Lol
I recently posted for free on Craigslist some old stuff I inherited, Bose acoustimass 5 set, Panasonic dvd-a120 , Panasonic vcr and Yamaha 740 receiver from 2002. I literally had 20 hits on it in an hour. Keep it out of the landfill if it works! Can still bring joy to many.  
Side note- Craigslist has a Free section, I have found it a very efficient way to move things to give them a second life.  It may surprise you what people are looking for and will take off your hands!
Still using a 2004 Krell Showcase HT Processor for movies. Built like a tank. Maybe because there's no HDMI along w/all the other stuff they stick in todays AVR's and processors is why it still works. Got my money's worth w/this processor.
Put it in my basement workshop as a background music source, but I am temped to replace it with almost anything else due to the poor sound quality even in that environment! 
Dumped it via a local ad sale just before I had it ear-marked and relegated as a boat anchor.
I never owned an AV Receiver as I watch very little TV and never got into surround sound
Even my older gear has some value so if a friend or family member needs some gear if I have it ,I will give it to them and get it running for them. Lately , I have also been giving gear to the only local brick and mortar that is trying to survive in these trying times. 
I just dropped off a couple of nonfunctioning CD players at Best Buy.
They accept items like this for recycling.
Not sure what they really do with the stuff.
The AVR is not suitable for recycling and must be disposed of at special sites that accept hazardous materials such as 8-track tape decks, multi-channel receivers, and Steve Guttenberg movies.
I take mine to the County Recycling center if it is not something we can sell. 
Some try and use them as door stops. But then you have to step over them. The bigger AVRs can be used as car ramps or boat anchors. Their best use will of course be to re-enact the famous Office Space printer scene.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8
You should sell them (anything) asap while they still have more interested buyers, and thus some value. Delay, age, new technology advance, 

I always try to find someone to give them to, usually successful.

This last one, a nice Onkyo TX-NR626 (retired when I got a unified Sony TV/AVR/BLU (for simplified remote) is still on the shelf. 

I wanted to use it for the garage speakers AND shop speakers after my Tandberg 2080 fell apart, but, it does not drive 2 sets of speakers normally (tandberg could drive 3 sets of speakers), and this 'zone 2' setup is a nightmare, so I bought a bargain priced 2 channel Insignia with real two sets of speakers capability.

Onkyo supposed to go to my son's basement system, but he seems in no hurry to get it going. I should sell it, it's:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_%26_In_the_Way
My one and only receiver is a Marantz Model 18 bought in the mid-60s with a month of post-doc stipend.  It sits on display in a rack and will continue to do so.  I moved on to a series of separates: Proceed PAV & Amp 2, Parasound JC-1, -2, & -3, and now Ayre 5/20 series with a Bryston SP3 processor.
I think most people give them to Goodwill. Go there, you'll see stacks of them.
Left on curb with scribbled "FREE" sign. Still there. Even recycler won't take AVR.  

Kidding. Obviously. 30 years ago when I was about to buy an AVR I went and listened to a few. The rest is history.