How to dispose of your system?

@carlso63 ”The longer you hold out the less you will get for your”…..

Has anyone thought about the hardware you play on your gear?
The now true value of your many years of gathering the music you love?

As an experienced example, l believe that with the type of diverse music in my collectible CD and LP library, it has in real terms carried on depreciating in value each year. Those same like minded buyers/collectors out there are all dying off too. The value of music in the resale market is collapsing along with the audiophile base. Less suitable buyers equals diminishing returns.

Spot on carlso63

Well I submitted a list of my equipment to TMR.

They offered me $6500 for a system I paid about 35K for.  That includes coming to my home and removing all pieces.  I think that may be the best solution for the problem when it comes time to sell, even though they’ll be making quite a profit.

@mylogic  -

Yes, and that is a problem that many hobbyists in many genres are simply blind to.

Speaking for myself, I have always tried to keep the mentality that I am involved in a hobby for the interest I have and for the pleasure it brings me... and that any financial gain that MAY come about (flipping equipment, etc.) is to be looked at as temporary, individual transactions that turned out in my favor... and NOT as part of some "investment strategy"...

I just see many, many of us out there who think their stash of audio equipment (or that rusted out 1960s car under the tarp in their driveway, as another example) is the literal equivalent of bars of gold - and it is a given that their "gold" will always be in demand, and always appreciate in value. And, furthermore, anyone expressing ANY other opinion is simply someone who is "just trying to steal my precious..." (say that in your head in the voice of Gollum to get the full effect, LOL).  

While I acknowledge that TODAY your equipment definitely has at least some value... the notion that A) it will still have value tomorrow and B) that value will be greater than it is today... is nothing more than a gamble. To believe otherwise is just stubbornness; and (to an extent) greed.

And the expectation that any heirs you ahve are going to curry up the same level of interest or enthusiasm is simply ludicrous.

@rvpiano The other option you have with TMR which likely produces a better return is to consign the equipment for TMR to sell. They take a healthy commission-maybe 35%-but still quite a bit better than an outright sale to TMR. If the gear is in good shape and in reasonable demand, its likely to sell in a few weeks. TMR will test the equipment, put it on the website, and deal with buyers both before and after the sale. That's really important to me-I don't want my daughters burdened with dealing with an unhappy or unscrupulous buyer.

I have no rooting interest in TMR, but I think it offers a good service in turning surplus equipment into cash.

I spent a huge amount of effort building some giant corner horn cabinets. Must be about 6 years ago now that I finished them. I’ve lost track. It struck me as a looming huge waste of resources if they just ended up in landfill at some point after my demise. I don’t expect that any of my relatives will have any interest in owning them. Somebody else might. If not, it’s not a huge deal. I may  try to find an interested party to take ownership of them before it gets to a point where I’m out of the picture and a relative has to figure out how to deal with them.

Now that I’ve gotten a lot of use out of them I’m far less concerned about it. I intend to keep using them for the foreseeable future, which could be another 20 or 30 years if I’m lucky and take care of myself. In my opinion they’ve paid for themselves in terms of personal enjoyment, and are really nothing in terms of a resource sink compared to so many other things in life. None of this stuff is going to last forever anyway.