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One year down, two to go. What's the longest you have saved for one component?

I've just reached my first anniversary. One year of my payment plan down, two to go.
What's the longest you have saved for an individual component? 

My beloved Boulder 2060 has had a troubled existence. A previous owner's partner had spilt (poured?) a drink over it, leading to some recurring issues and two visits to Boulder UK. But i found i could leave it powered up and it ran just fine. On the second visit Boulder had rebuilt it with many components from 2160, including the main board, which gave a significant increase in quality ; it was as if my room had been treated,  with all the hard surfaces softened and such wonderful texture. I was in bliss

So my cat had adopted it as a warm perch, despite my best efforts including adding spike strips designed to keep birds off buildings,  Samira found a way to conform to the gaps i had left above the vents. Then one day i fed the cats, then set out hillwalking with my dogs. Returned to find my amp in shutdown mode, a funny smell, and blown sub bass drive unit on one of my Stella Utopia.....and a trail of dried cat vomit on top of my amp, across the air vents

So one dead amp. Pit of depression.
Then Boulder took pity on me. My amp had been such a problem child they felt badly toward me, and it was now beyond repair. Then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a new 2160.
I did still procrastinate for a couple of months, it was still a huge sum of money. Then after considering my other options to be unpalatable, i committed to the purchase; half my income after housing costs, every month for three years

So, one year down, two to go
What's the longest you've ever saved, and what was the component? 
128x128gavman
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
1,989 posts
 
Debt does not necessarily mean interest! For example music direct often runs a promo with synchrony card, 36 months interest free/equal payments. My citi card linked to amazon offers 24 months/equal payments, no interest. Pay pal credit, the same, equal payments 24 months @zero interest. This is exactly how I have what I do have today. I wait until whatever it is is paid off, then I repeat....I am pretty much done now, I think.....
Also, if you can rid yourself of gear envy...you can assemble a fantastic system for not a lot of money. There are many budget components that perform as well as gear three times the cost. You must do your research and carefully match the choices to make it all work. 
winnardt
169 posts
 
millercarbon and douglas_schroeder are correct, you never save to buy something (especially a luxury item), you save whatever you can and invest it or at least put it into an interest bearing account to make more money. Anybody who is playing the paycheck to paycheck or buying luxury items they can't really afford is playing a losing game. One catastrophe, like a health problem, a house or car repair, and they're in real trouble. I recognize not everybody has a high enough income to save a lot, but what you can save when you're young compounds over time to become real money. It's called the time value of money. Speaking of frivolous purchases, I once bought a repossessed pop-up camper at a tremendous discount from a bank. Who in their right mind buys a frivolous item like a pop-up camper that they really can't afford?
bigwave1's avatar
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bigwave1
222 posts
 
I’m humbled, OP has tanks and major artillery and we are playing with BB guns. No doubt, without health and especially faith, all else is frivolous. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,178 posts
 
Been saving all my life and spending it faster. I paid off my 2014 911 Turbo S over 5 years. 

Gavman, if you go to my system page and pull down the speaker picture look on the floor right in front of the speakers. You will see thin clear plastic mats that go wall to wall. You might also be able to see wires attached to the mats. There is a power supply that runs on 9V batteries. It charges up the matts to 2000 or so volts enough to give the animal a polite shock. They learn fast that going in that direction is not a good idea. If our cat got behind the speakers he would get a lot more than a polite shock. You might want to try a similar approach because if the cat does it again you will probably strangle it.
gavman's avatar
gavman OP
133 posts
 
To skip and cd

I agree, Ivor seems to have perfected the true reverse- hp. Once you have the product you're obliged to keep spending to cover the upgrades.

Savvy, but certainly causes plenty of grumbling among Linn owners
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