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What Have You Done With Your Obsolete/Outdated AV Receivers & Preamps?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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elliottbnewcombjr
5,248 posts
 
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
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
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
earlflynn's avatar
earlflynn
461 posts
 
I take mine to the County Recycling center if it is not something we can sell. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
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.
flatblackround's avatar
flatblackround
279 posts
 
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.
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