My neighbor who lived a couple of doors down passed away from melanoma a few months ago. He was a wonderful person, Swedish gentleman in his late 70s. I was always impressed by how vibrant he was - hiking, biking, always doing projects. We used to chat about various things, audio equipment, bicycles.
After he died, I ran into his family at outside the house. Talked to his daughter about the interests he and I had shared. He had told me repeatedly about his stereo equipment and how it was all boxed up. She offered to let me take a look. Some interesting stuff - Dual turntable, Akai reel to reel, Hales speakers and an amp and preamp whose names I'd never heard of. Told her I'd be happy to liquidate it for the estate when the time came.
Fast forward to yesterday... I'm heading out around noon and see they're having a garage sale. My heart sank. I was really hoping they didn't give away his stuff at garage sale prices! I didn't see any sign of it and had to ask. The daughter says she had been wanting to talk to me about his stereo equipment. She said she felt like he would have wanted someone to take it who would appreciate it. I was welcome to take any or all of it.
We went in and looked at everything. I told her the amp, preamp, and speakers were the only things I'd use, but I could sell everything else for her. She said that would be great. I went back this morning. She said she and her boyfriend had decided to keep the speakers, which was actually a relief for me as I already have some awesome floor speakers and wouldn't have room for them.
I brought most of it down to my house and started researching everything. I was caught of guard to find out that the pre-amp is a tube model (Audible Illusions Modulus 3a) which sells for $1200 or so on Ebay. The amp (Bryston 4B ST) sells for $1000-$1500 on EBay. I'm feeling really uncomfortable about how much this equipment is worth. A couple of hundred? Sure. A couple of thousand? Doesn't seem right. I'm sure I'll see her at the house over the next few days. I think they're getting it ready to sell. I have to admit when hooked up to my Athena speakers this set-up does sound incredible!
How would you handle if in my shoes?
