The Music Room is Slipping

I did a complete system change-out this past year a complete with trading in my system cables and streamer for new.  They gave me a fair trade-in price and worked with me on getting the best bang for the buck. And when you figure in the cost of their picking up the shipping both ways, that's an additional savings of probably $150-$200 if I had to pay for it.  Malek and Ryan were a pleasure to work with and I can't say anything bad about the service I received from them.  My upgrading days are probably through as I have reached the age of retirement and now just want to enjoy my system and not worry about upgrade-itis any more!  I say that now, but relapse is always a possibility!

About two years ago, I had three amps I wanted to sell as I had too many amps and needed to downsize.  I've never used TMR but decided to call them and ask about what they'd offer for my amps.  They gave me an assessment for each amp which I felt was a relative low-ball, however I did understand that they are in business and they have overhead and need to make a profit.  I decided to sell the amps myself and I'm glad I did.  While it was certainly more of a hassle, I made notably more for them than TMR was offering.  If you have patience, have good clean equipment generally in demand, and don't over-price them, you should have no problem selling the things yourself.  If you don't like dealing with questions, several of those would-be buyers and haggling with them, then TMR may be a good choice for you.  They remove that part of selling your equipment for you, and that costs their time and energy.  

I've purchased 5 items from TMR with two of them having issues but TMR's customer service followed through both times. The first was for a pair of speakers that arrived with more aesthetic issues than described. TMR asked for details and photos and provided me with a very nice store credit I used on a future purchase.

The second issue was a bit more concerning and since this one I have not used TMR. I'm very familiar with Rega turntables and purchased a used P10 from TMR.

The P10 arrived without the cardboard wedge that lifts the sub-platter from the bearing. For those that know, without this cardboard wedge in place, the sub-platter can bounce up and down within the bearing hole during transit leading to potential permanent bearing damage. There's a reason Rega ships their tables with this wedge in place. TMR scrutinized my return a bit more but eventually came through.

My specific issue here was TMR is an authorized Rega dealer and should know the specifics of handling and packing their turntables, especially a $7k table, but should apply no matter the price. 

If one wants to reside in the "3 Ring Circus" of buying or even selling used audio components lower your standards. In general the seller wants an easy buck, the buyer wants something for nothing. Both parties deserve each other's hustling type of mindset. 

I agree years ago they offered a fair price for your gear and I had a lot of transactions with them. The gear was always as described or better and well packed. On my last attempt they offered me less than 20% of the value of an item that was presstine and about a year old 3 weeks later the manufacturer was sold to Bose and everything new and used went up 20%

Like one guy said nobody forces you to buy or sell but why wreck a good thing