Do you have any gear that was outright given to you?


I was fortunate enough to have been gifted a McIntosh PS112 subwoofer. They are quite old now, but it continues to perform. It needed some repairs when it was given to me- a total of not quite $300 put it back into good working order. 
 

zavato

My uncle gave me a Heathkit AR15, a pair of AR 3a’s and a Miracord 50H with a Shure V15 ll. The receiver required $60 dollars of repairs (about $200 in current dollars), two tweezers and a midrange were blown on the speakers which would have cost over $200 to repair in 1972 dollars so were traded for a pair of large advents. The TT worked fine. I had the Heathkit and the Miracord throughout undergrad and eventually gave them to my sister.

Because nobody was taking care of our apartment landscaping. I started to give it a try. Over the years I would also work on the next door tattoo business space as well. This was all voluntary on my part. One day he tells me that he is retiring and for all the work I have done, he bought me a new Rel HT/1003. Funny thing I don’t have any tattoos. 

I’ve definitely given some gear away to new audiophile friends in an excuse to replace with nicer. Also gifted friends with speaker builds. I’ve received a few small basic items but was also gifted some very nice crossover parts for my speakers when I was building them. Forever thankful for that.