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

Yes…an AR sp10 from a very good friend an a Fisher 100 integrated amp from my dad…

My father-in-law worked for a company that used McIntosh tubes as instrumentation amps. They went solid state and were throwing macs in the dumpster. he saved quite a few and gave me two sequential MC 30s. The older ones that still had the 5U4 rectifier tubes.

No one has given me gear.  I have given away a lot of stuff or lent stuff that was never returned.  This includes the following:

VPI HW 14 Mark IV turntable with Graham 1.5t tonearm and Lyra Helikon cartridge.

Mark Levinson No. 32 preamp

Audio Note Kageki monobloc amplifiers

Martin Logan Quest speaker

Deja Vu pushpull 45 amplifier

Magnum Dynalab Etude Tuner

Lyra Titan Cartridge

Yes, my dad offered me his Garrard 301 with SME arm and Shure cartridge when I was on a round-the-world business trip, just after my stereo has been stolen, and just after CDs came out.  I bought Quad electrostatic speakers on that trip and had lots of spare weight on the freight bill!  The amp and pre-amp were hand baggage.

Shocked at how much old Garrards are now worth, I have recently spent a lot of time ’fettling’ the Garrard (new bearings, idler, plinth internals, etc.) and it has got me back into vinyl.

He also gave me a Technics tuner, on the proviso that I never told mum how much it cost.  I had the change the mains plugs on everything to suit Australia, and stuffed up the Technics. In the end, it had to be sent back to Japan and came back six months later with a small plastic bag of burnt components plus a bill for A$30.  That’s good service.  I still have it, and it still works

Audio Gear: Gifts and/or Inheritances, I have been a lucky dog and I know it.

1. Wedding Gift Money used for 1^st system in college: Fisher 200T SS Receiver; AR-2ax speakers; BSR TT.

 

2. Inheritance: Fisher President II Console. (current speakers use it’s 1958 drivers)

 

Actually, sadly my Uncle Johnny died young without a will, so I didn’t inherit it, I helped my Grandmother clear out his NYC apartment, and she gave it to me along with his 2 Track Stereo Tapes and LPs.

 

3. Inheritance: Surprise money when my father died (hadn’t seen him since I was 8 yrs old). I bought a New Onkyo Integra System.

 

4. Gift: Thorens TD124 TT with SME 3009 II Tonearm and Fisher 500C Receiver

 

I helped an elderly co-worker replace his system and he gave me those 3 pieces, I made all the needed repairs, good as new.

 

5. Gift: Pioneer Stackable/Programmable TT

 

6. Gift: 50 Jazz LPs (my 1^st involvement with Jazz)

 

A friend was split from his wife. She wouldn’t even talk to him. He told me “if you can get her to give them to you, you can have them”. She said, sure, but they were in a flood. What a mess, but I had zero money, was paying school loans for 8 years, so I took them, washed them with dish detergent, dried them in the dishwasher rack, and learned what I liked/didn’t, enough to know what to buy when CD’s pushed LPs out of the stores.

 

7. Found: Fisher Console which had a Fisher 800C Receiver in it. (500C + AM) (just needed a few tubes)

Later, traded it with a member here for his unfinished project: Make a working Mitsubishi Vertical TT LT-5V out of 2 non-working ones. Awesome, playing in my office now.

8. Gifts: McIntosh MA2250 SS Amp and C28 SS Preamp.

Pre-arranged with Harvey’s McIntosh Lab Day, picked up the gifts, taxi to Harveys, lab said, you have an unusual specimen, it’s accurate to 305 wpc, all it needs is an LED, I’ll mail it to you.

9. Gift I gave myself. Turned out to be much bigger than I thought.

I quit smoking age 40. (37 yrs ago). I decided to give myself a reward to help me really quit this time. So, I decided to spend all my tobacco money on music or music equipment. A carton a week cost $700/year back then, so that was my budget. Next, I decided to give myself a rise in pay, as inflation rose, whatever a carton a week cost, that’s my budget. Now, multiply those increases with over 20 years, that’s a whole lotta dough, all music or equipment. Hot damn, never smoked again. I stopped that when I retired age 62.

10. Gifts: LPs, many friends gave me their LPs when they went ‘all CDs’.

 

11. Inherited 4,000 LPs, mostly Jazz, most played twice at most.

I talked to my good friend a few days before he died, he didn’t give me a hint, I thought he was going to give them to Tulane University (he lived many years in New Orleans). He was a full fledged hoarder, I had to make a path to get them. Later I helped his sister, also my good friend, clean the place out and get it ready for sale.

 

12. Gift: Columbia 8 Track Player.

I designed a lot of office space for CBS and it’s subsidiaries. I helped move Columbia Records division out of Black Rock and each and every employee, secretaries included had music systems on their desks or in their offices, dining rooms, conference rooms. It seemed like all they did was office betting pools and listen to music. Anyway, someone hands me a box with a music club branded 8 track player, it still works in my Garage/Shop system.

13. Gift of a sort: Early notice of items for sale at Harveys.

My friend Wayne at Harveys would call me and let me know:   …. is coming out of repair to the used shelf today. I worked 1 block away, and bought many great pieces, even if I didn’t need it, gave most of them away to friends. I visit one friends listening room, he has an active system, and a small museum, half the stuff I gave him.

 

14. DAT Recorder. I would never use it, so I asked my friend for permission to give it to my recording engineer friend as a spare to his identical unit.

    15. Used Tubes, many friends pulled tubes out of stuff and         gave them to me. Mitch, the super at my office building in NYC stopped wherever he was driving and gave me bags of tubes over many years.

 

     16. Oh yeah, my beloved Tube Tester, a birthday gift from my late wife Nancy.