My $99.00 System


This is probably only my second thread in 5 years. I
did not have an audio system after my lovely divorce. The usual, "she gets the house and I get the cats" experience. The EX has ALL the good stuff....Avalons, Spectral, what a waste....... After I got re-married last year, my new wife had a pair of Infinite Slope 2A speakers. I had a left over Rega Planet. And proceeded to purchase a Sherwood 100 Integrated ( do not remember the model) with some old Monster 8 gauge cables that were with the speakers. Total cost $99.00 for the Sherwood. In a couple of words, not as bad as you would think. It is musical to a certain extent. Of course, I have a great room that is 20' x 30' which helps with set-up using the rule of 1/3, with about 7 feet from the back wall. A little bright and a little beamy for the highs, a loss of pitch definition at the lows, but the all important mids....not bad at all. So does anyone else have a sort of $99.00 system to get by with? BTW, I had a great divorce lawyer, she had an even better one.
shubertmaniac
So if I got this right, you were free and clear although broke) and jumped right back into another marriage... If you married for the reason of getting a new 20' x 30' listening room, that would make sense. I hope this one works for you and the music keeps playing. Congrats!

Garage sale Harman Kardon 830? receiver with small Infinity speaks for about that. Later added Toshiba discman.
My buddy Joe has you beat, he is a garage sale junkie. Has a NAD CDP for $5.00, SS power amp 200 wpc for $10, speakers with sub for $10 and an old Sherwood receiver with preamp out for $2.00. Best $27 ever spent!
well I have a Yamaha 420 receiver - $35; Realistic Minimus 7's - $20; Sony Playstation 1 - $20; Alpha Core MicroPurl IC's $20; 12 gauge "lamp cord" speaker cable - $5

I am JUST over at $100 but all in all a nice office system

Jeff
Two years ago I lucked up upon a Marantz 2285 reciever and Thorens TD160 for $50 dollars for both. Last year I found a pair Totem Acoustic Mites for $35. A total of $85 well spent.
;^)
Here's how divorce works if you have assets to speak of:

1. Give everything to her, get out quick, don't owe both lawyers too much.

2. Try to get to keep something, take a long time to get out, give her everything, still owe both lawyers a bunch of money.

Take home message: you made the correct choice. Have fun!
It is not the system, stupid. It is who got all the media. Systems, listening rooms come and go, but what you listen to is where the music is. I hope you got a pre-nuptial on the second round. So, let this be a lesson to all you gon'ers, get your possession established of all audio equipment and media established from the get go.
Only because the poster here decided to throw this info on a public forum...

-First NEVER let a wife know how much any of this crap is worth most don't have a clue, as a matter a fact the only way they might think its worth something is if it has the name bose, sony, or Ipod on it!

-Second why in the world would this women care about "Avalons, Spectral"? Unless she bought it or gave money to buy as a gift not knowing any better for some obscene amount of money?

I mean I guess if she thought it was worth something she could force to sell it in a settlement, but hell most women I know would be happy to see that stuff go! I can see why a 50" Plasma might have a fight because she still has to watch her food network and family guy somewhere!

I wish I found a women into this stuff as much as some seem to somehow find on this site, but maybe I re-think that with this kinda story.

I know if it went down this way for me first thing in my car is the system, or a truck down the street! She would not take a second look at it in my case and be happy I took this stuff from the house :-)

Anyway the sad part is anybody seeing this a mile away would come in and offer 100 bucks to a women in most cases, not to sound old fashoned but some of this stuff is more than most used cars and they don't have a clue nor do they care, maybe I am just too young to have experienced what the baby boomers have. I have friends, and a wife in the 18 to 29 range, they laugh that anybody cleans records, or puts cables that don't come in the box with a new HDTV on components.

They do think this hobby is a serious Joke and a passing amusement. Did she take the Golf Clubs too just to make you feel more pain, but could honestly care less about them? This just don't add up, really bad lawyers in something like that! By the way if some women even knew the time and money dedicated to hobby like this that would have been the "Grounds" for the divorce in the first place! Most would even accept the Harley easier than knowing about this kinda thing.

Anyway good luck, and always make it work with the system you have. Sometimes less is more for sure.
Waitaminute! YOU get WIPED OUT and you still think you had a "great" divorce lawyer!?
How much is Tiger Woods going to pay $$$$$? He should not have gotten married. This thread got off track real quick
Tiger Woods had an exceptional pre-nup. If you recall Elin (sp?) went and hired THE most expensive divorce attorney and a week or so later said they would stay together even if just as friends.....

Tough to walk away from a billion dollar industry!

Chazro..... You are forgetting WHY divorce costs so much.... 'cause it's worth it!

Trust me as a man who just paid the fees to exit a marriage!

It's funny, when you think about it, we men get screwed on both sides. We buy the ring (not cheap!) then when it goes south, pay to leave.....

I am just glad we didn't have any children or it would have cost WAY more, oh, and one good thing about a down economy? Divorce is cheaper!
Hopefully I'm not getting too personal here...

I'd be very willing to bet the system was taken out of spite. I'm sure she couldn't care less how much it was worth; the only thing that mattered was what it meant to him.

I'm happily married and have never been divorced, but I've seen it too many times. Be it stereos, cameras, bikes, classic cars, and so on.

I'm not saying guys are any better;just different.
Correct. But better to let her think you're sad than give more than you have to the lawyers and get nothing anyway.
I have a friend that does this as a hobby.He seems to keep the price under $200 for a full system.He comes up with some good results.He does have a bad habit(in my opinion)of
trading or selling the better pieces.Evey month to three month,1/2 half to the whole system will be different. Friends and myself try to convince him to keep the good stuff,and sell the not so good stuff.If he kept the best stuff,he'd have a great sub $200 system.
Shubertmaniac

I love it. Please Please post your system on the Virtual Systems. Make yourself proud and make the rest of us feel like crap.