Last week I experienced my WORST day, in terms of boombox-hunting, EVER. Today was, by contrast, one of my better days, ever. In between, I was "numb" for a while. Here's what happened:

FIRST, THE BAD DAY:

Some of you may remember I posted about how a guy was holding a "super good" GF-7474 for me, which it seems is an ultra-rare box. I had told him I'd go look at it the next day. I couldn't make it that day, but did happen to see his partner, and told that guy I'd need one more day to make it there, and he said "fine". Well, when I went that next day to look, the first guy told me "I just sold it! You said you'd come yesterday!" His partner had neglected to tell him I'd still come a day later, so when another guy wanted it, he sold it. Technically, within his rights, but it shouldn't have happened. I have since learned that the box really was near-mint, super-shiny, etc... I still have one I got last year, but that one definitely is not remotely as new as this one was. I should be happy to have one at all, but I really want to upgrade the quality of my collection to "mint only" boxes, as much as possible, so this really bummed me out.

Dusting off my disappointed (and slightly angry) feelings, I thought I'd go pick up and bring home another box I'd already bought. A JVC M90 (my third, and I was really happy to have it). I had bought it on the street market, and had put it in a friend's place, with a receiver I had bought from him, about 2-3 weeks before. I'd gone back at least three times to pick it up, but each time he'd/they'd (he runs the place with his little brother) been really busy with customers, so I hadn't bothered to interrupt and get it. I had to interrupt instead of just getting it myself, because it was upstairs in a "private" storage area (some people sleep there) and I've to clump through the middle of their meeting to get there, anyway. I was really looking forward to bringing it home, though, so this day I thought I'd get it, even if I had to interrupt.

Well, it turned out to have disappeared! No one knows what happened to it, but I suspect the younger brother may have forgotten it was mine and sold it, or some customer might conceivably have smuggled it out with a load of DVDs (?-not likely) that were picked up that week, or whatever.

I hadn't paid "full market value" for it, so I wasn't out-of-pocket a lot of money, but I would have eventually sold it (I don't need three!), so in that sense I lost a lot of money, money that could have bought a lot more boomboxes! I had planned to clean it up and auction it, to help fund my collection. Now I have to cut back my planned purchases/boombox budget by about a thousand dollars, which at the prices I pay, means a lot of boxes! Needless to say, I was REALLY bummed (and a bit angry) at this.

At that point, within an hour I had "lost" one of the rarest boxes there is (GF-7474) and perhaps the most valuable rare box there is (M90). Nothing like this has ever happened to me in the market here: my reputation is good enough that no one 'loses' or messes with my stuff, and I trust people there at their word. Trust like that is an important part of how the whole market works. I do believe that in neither case was there any deliberate cheating or anything; it was honest mis-communication or honest mistakes, but still, happening twice back-to-back, and with the very boxes I was MOST happy and excited about, because they were just about the rarest (7474) and the most sought-after (M90, which I really like, anyway!) ones, I just felt really, really bummed out.

THE NUMB INTERIM:

At that point, I had such a bad feeling about the whole thing, almost the whole hobby, the market, etc... that I wondered whether I should throw in the towel and quit collecting altogether. I toyed briefly with the idea of selling off most of my boxes en masse and just going back to the pre-boombox-collecting days. Just a day or two before, there had been the long, interesting exchange in a thread here about "hoarding", which had got me thinking already about what I'm doing, and why... this just seemed to be two nails in the coffin, two exclamation points on that thread.

As a result, I didn't hunt much for about a week. One evening, I was cutting through the market and saw a BIG, probably top-of-the-line, shiny and complete-looking classic Hitachi. Shows how mixed up I felt, I didn't even bother to check the model number. On any other day, I would have been all over it, but I walked on by, and I also passed up a couple more like that that I'd normally grab, just because of that sick feeling of loss and pointlessness. I got two calls this week from "bird-doggers" about boxes, and passed on both.

It didn't help that I ate something bad in a restaurant, then caught the cold/flu bug that's going around Hong Kong, and felt physically bad for several days. In fact, that may have been as responsible for my lack of enthusiasm as the loss of the boxes, but whatever it was, I just didn't feel like bringing home more boxes.

THE REVIVAL: TODAY'S CATCHES:

Well, I guess I snapped out of it, today. I just found THREE boxes I did NOT want to pass up on, and so I bought 'em:

Marantz PMS-7000
Sharp GF-767
Sharp GF-9000z

So I still don't have M90 triplets... but now I have PMS-7000 triplets (if you count the one with broken circuit boards inside and some missing knobs) AND GF-9000 triplets, and twin GF-767s. That ain't so bad. Almost makes up for the two lost boxes, IMO. {Although I would have been fun to have had these triplets AND three M90s, too! Imagine the "wall shot" that would make! Oh, well... )

The Marantz PMS-7000 is the most expensive one of that model that I've bought to date, costing me fifty bucks. Still, these are rare enough I was willing to pay up. I'm sure it's worth more than that internationally/at retail, and it's worth that much and more to me personally, just for what it is. The guy's original asking price was $75, and he said he'd already turned down two offers at fifty bucks. He said it was the first of its type he'd had in his shop. Don't know if he was telling the truth, but maybe. At one point he joked about them being so rare because I'd already bought all the ones from the market. I laughed and said I HAD bought every single one I'd SEEN in the market, but no doubt I'd seen no more than half (and probably not half) of the ones that went through there. Everyone there laughed at that, because it was true. It took me a while (ten minutes, at least) to get him to agree to let it go for fifty, so it's probably as low as he would have gone. I'm happy with the price, anyway.

This box has a film of slightly sticky/oily gunk on it, not brown like cigarette tar, but more like kitchen/cooking fumes got to it. Doesn't seem to have harmed the finish at all; in fact, it may have protected it from more serious oxidation(?), and the oily film cleans off pretty easily. Overall, it's in great shape. The radio works, both channels, but I haven't tried the tape deck yet.

The GF-767 is shiny and just generally beautiful. Just a routine cleaning should have it gleaming near-new. Maybe a few tiny marks or scratches, but hardly anything. Just gorgeous. Since the other one I have was a real clean-up job that will never look as good as this one does before doing anything, the new one is the "keeper". Funny, looking at this one with the deep metallic blue speaker grills and the vivid blue dial and chrome labels, etc... I thought it looked even nicer than my shiny GF-777 (with the black grills) at home. I've had the models side-by-side before, but that was a much duller example of the 767. This thing really looks NICE! There isn't even the faintest hint of that blotchy oxidation that plagues the faceplates of most of the 777s I see around here. This one is my "keeper" 767, for sure.

The GF-9000 is the worst one of the bunch; the "beater" unit, but it was also priced accordingly. There is some light scratching on the paint on top, a flake missing in the chrome finish of the woofer bar on at least one side, and generally some dirt and oxidation. It will need a pretty thorough clean-up/restoration before it will shine again. On the good side, all the original slider controls are there (many boxes are missing some; my best example was missing a volume slider when I got it), so it's a good prospect for a fixer-upper and possibly an original parts source for some parts-swapping.

I feel pretty good about these latest finds, so I guess I've survived the "bummed out" period caused by the loss of the two boxes, and am going to keep collecting, after all. The worst day has passed. Today was a good day; any day you get three fairly rare "grail" boxes in one day --including some of your favorites-- can't be too bad!

Still, something has changed: I'm definitely going to keep thinking through what I'm getting and why, and I'll be scaling back by selling more, and better organizing this whole addictive hobby-thing!

The guy who sold the GF-7474 "out from under me" and his partner are now pushing me to buy a near-mint Sanyo M9927 ... the one with the mini-woofers set in front of bigger woofer spaces, to appear as if they were much bigger woofers! It looks "flashy" and is in fantastic shape, but it's fundamentally cheap, so I've been resisting/stalling. I'm telling them to get back the GF-7474 and I'll buy both, but I know whom they sold it to, so I think it is GONE for good. It's basically my way of telling them NEXT TIME to hang on that extra day, until I can get there (in the past, they always would have... or at least it seemed so!). Oh, well...

Boombox life goes on after all, I guess. And the three new playtoys make it all the sweeter!

nice story time
when you said 'auction' i thought where? not in the USA huh ?
drat!
me i wish I had time away from here ....

& a place to walk through on a daily basis and be able to see all the good and bad and questional boombox's that you see...

then there's the up's an down's of making deal's with the people you have done business in the past ... me All I have is ebay Grrr Sometime's ...

quote:

Originally posted by Arkay:
Just a day or two before, there had been the long, interesting exchange in a thread here about "hoarding", which had got me thinking already about what I'm doing, and why... this just seemed to be two nails in the coffin,two exclamation points on that thread.

Most people here should realize that you are actually saving boxes from almost certain destruction.Every one you buy is one that doesn't have to survive a container ship voyage to some poor country.When they arrive you related they are either sold and put into heavy use by non collectors or are parted out.Please understand too that it's not that I don't care about poor people in far away countries.In fact,In an earlier post you had said most of these people appreciated newer boxes with cd not from the classic era.I'm sure there's plenty of these on those container ships so let them have their eggs!

Everyone should also understand that many of the boxes you save will eventually make their way into the collector market as you tire of them,accumulate too many,or pass away (let's hope by the grace of God that last event doesn't happen for a very loooong time!)The more you save gives more people a chance when you eventually pass them along.In fact it upsets me you are actually missing boxes that need saving!Those will certainly never fall into the hands of any of us collectors.Many of the ones you acquire most probably will.For these reasons,please don't stop what your doing.In fact get rid of everything else you have and buy MORE boxes!Also buy every extremely rare model you find to help recreate the lost history!

In truth the ones who have a problem with your stockpiling are just jealous of your current situation.As much as I am fascinated by boomers I just don't understand this.All the boomboxes in the world will not bring a person happiness.It would be nice if at least some of those people could relocate to Hong Kong and help to save each and every classic.I'm sure most would have already started selling their duplicates.I really do hope you eventually make a lot of money off these though I think it would perhaps be a nice gesture to offer some to your friends here outside of the auction environment.Whatever you decide to do please move into a larger house with more room,continue your quest,and provide us with more great stories from Hong Kong!

nice pickup!! I still need to get some pms stuff LOL

sorry to hear about the loss of the m90 that is frustrating. are they going to compinsate you?

Hey arkay i am picking up some new speakers next week carver amazing. I guess I will need a new amp then!!! LOL seems like they want to be kicked with around 500 watts per!! OUCH!!



I will post pics when i grab them on the 29th!!

quote:

Originally posted by erniejade:
nice pickup!! I still need to get some pms stuff LOL

sorry to hear about the loss of the m90 that is frustrating. are they going to compinsate you?

Hey arkay i am picking up some new speakers next week carver amazing. I guess I will need a new amp then!!! LOL seems like they want to be kicked with around 500 watts per!! OUCH!!

I will post pics when i grab them on the 29th!!

Congratulations! Carver Amazings are truly AMAZING speakers! I've never been lucky enough to own them, but I have heard them before. Very nice, indeed -- you should love them. You are right about their appreciating power, though: they need "real macho amps" to make them shine. Get them sounding right, though, and you'll probably be spoiled for life. Only a few speakers ever made (at least in my experience) can out-perform them.

As for your getting PMS stuff, at some point I'll end up selling off some duplicates. Maybe you can get one of them, then. They aren't at the top of my to-be-sold list, though, as I'm a pretty hard-core Marantz fan.

There is a remote possibility that my M90 could still show up (but I have about zero belief that it will), so there hasn't been talk of compensation yet. I doubt there will be any compensation, as much as I would like to at least get my outlay back. These things can get very complicated, to put it gently.


JOVIE: Thanks for your encouraging comments. I am aware that I am shifting boxes from probable demise in some 3rd-world desert or jungle, to the world of collectors/fans, even if they are stopping off in my stacks for a while along the way. I would like to do more, at least with photo-taking of more of the boxes I see, but there is no way --unless I were to quit life and devote myself wholly to the task-- that I can practically do much more than I'm already doing. It just isn't practical/feasible for me. Still, each one box saved is a box saved -- better than one more lost. The used-audio market here is shrinking gradually (quite dramatic decline from, say, two years ago) so I don't know how much longer the hunting will be do-able at all. But for now, at least, I manage to get SOME of the boxes, and there is some satisfaction in that.

UPDATE: Today I cleaned off and tested the GF-767 and the GF-9000:

The 767 looks NEW, except for a few very small scratches/dings along the top front edge. Everything on it works, too. The sound quality isn't up to the 777 level, but it isn't all that bad. I find it interesting that the grill covers look very vividly BLUE in some lighting, and fairly BlACK under other lighting. It's a beautiful box, IMO. Seems almost prettier than the 777s.

The GF-9000 was the big surprise to me. I thought the top was all scratched up, and this box would be a "beater" type forever, at best. I was WRONG! The top has not one single scratch on it. I think maybe some graphic artist used this and practiced checking if their colored pens would write on it or something: all those thin line marks that I thought were scratches filled with colored gunk turned out to be just lines inked onto the top of the plastic: with about 1/2 hour of elbow grease using several cleaners, they cleaned off 100 percent, to reveal a shiny, smooth, as-original top. There are a few spots where the chrome is missing from the left woofer bars, but I can patch those with burnished aluminum leaf so they'll barely be visible. The box is cleaning up MUCH better than I expected, and will be a very good one, after all. The only thing that will be a pain is that the tuning knob on the end needs re-chroming. Not sure how the aluminum leaf will work on such an irregularly-shaped piece, but I'll try it.

I haven't brought the PMS home yet, as I just took these with a trolley on the subway (not enough stockpiled to rent a van this week). As I was bringing them home, one 30-ish girl asked me about them, what I would do with them, etc... She seemed to be quite surprised/intrigued (in a positive sense) that people still liked boomboxes! The attendant in the subway restroom was extremely interested in them, too ... but I think he was a few filaments short of a light bulb, maybe a participant in aome "hire the handicapped" program, so I'm not sure if his reactions "count"! LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Jovie:
Most people here should realize that you are actually saving boxes from almost certain destruction. Every one you buy is one that doesn't have to survive a container ship voyage to some poor country. When they arrive you related they are either sold and put into heavy use by non collectors or are parted out.

Everyone should also understand that many of the boxes you save will eventually make their way into the collector market as you tire of them,accumulate too many,or pass away (let's hope by the grace of God that last event doesn't happen for a very loooong time!)The more you save gives more people a chance when you eventually pass them along. In fact it upsets me you are actually missing boxes that need saving!Those will certainly never fall into the hands of any of us collectors. Many of the ones you acquire most probably will. For these reasons, please don't stop what your doing. In fact get rid of everything else you have and buy MORE boxes! Also buy every extremely rare model you find to help recreate the lost history!

Great post Jovie!

Arkay,
great scores on the Sharps, the 767 is a gorgeous model, nicer looking than the 777 IMO with it's cool blue bits and stripes.
Keep up the good work saving these babes!

That story covers the Good the Bad and the Ugly, nice one Arkay. Your worst days are pretty much more exciting than my best days. Doesn't this wear you out? I couldn't imagine living what your living, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night and my house would have little walkways in between the hundreds of boomboxes I would have.

quote:

Originally posted by MasterBlaster84:
That story covers the Good the Bad and the Ugly, nice one Arkay. Your worst days are pretty much more exciting than my best days. Doesn't this wear you out?

Sometimes, a little bit. That's why/when a day like that one I described can get me down a little. I definitely see the supply drying up, though, shrinking almost day-to-day before my eyes. That's one thing that keeps me going: I know that later on, even if I want to keep getting boxes, the well will have run dry. If I want to grab the good ones while I can, I have to do it NOW, not wait for next year when it may be too late. In a way, I'm in a position like you could imagine being in if you could turn the clock back ten years. Problem is, even when you can turn it back (by being where I am), the clock keeps ticking... I don't see anywhere near a fraction of the "grail" boxes I was seeing a year or two ago, and I think they will be few and far between by this time next year. So I'm trying to get what I can, while I still can. Now I see in two weeks what I used to see in two days. I think next year I'll see in two months what I see now in two weeks... if enough of the places are even still in business (some have closed up already). At some point it won't be worth the time I'll be spending hunting, for the few occasional 'scraps' that will show up.

quote:

I couldn't imagine living what your living, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night and my house would have little walkways in between the hundreds of boomboxes I would have.

I did have little walkways between the stacks of dozens (not hundreds...yet...gulp! )in my storage spaces. Now the little walkways are getting filled up with boxes, too. Not good! But it is still fun, at least most of the time.

Today I was offered Sharp GF-8989, GF-9292, GF-9494, Hitachi TRK-8155W, and someone wants me to look at a "big JCV" since yesterday... and I didn't look in half the potential places where there may have been a few more boxes, as I'm not planning on getting any more for at least a week (except maybe the ones I just mentioned).

Even though the supply is drying up, it's still enough --for one person with limited money and space-- to become a problem, at least until I figure out an efficient way to sell them for enough money to be at least halfway worth the time/hassle, or I just stop cold-turkey or something. But I'll keep getting them as long as I enjoy it, even if there are a few periods (like I talked about in the post at the top of this thread) when I lose the enthusiasm a little and "take a breather".

This year I want to concentrate more on doing the detailed restorations, improving my storage and display capabilities, and weeding out/selling the duplicates. Basically restore more "balance" to the hobby, instead of just acquiring more and more, like some demented hoarder. LOL

Arkay check your PM


thanks

Arkay, your right about the supply. It doesn't help that demand has also increased at the same time as more collectors join in the fun.

Just a thought but if you offered just one or two boxes a week to us underprivelaged souls in other parts of the world you could pay for the rest of your finds.

well its sad to say that as days and month goes by some it see the garbage disposal very sad if i knew when someone was going to dump them it would be a great thing to get them and bring them back to life because what has been said is the good mayority are still in good shape so the collection of these fine bbx is worth the time and every penny spent...

Dear member

I lived in a country that's in 3rd world, in South America.
Many 3rd world country like where I live however has lots of resources, tecnology and factories.
I work in an entreprise who manufactures electronic modules for automotive. ALL the things starting with R&D, the housing, PCB design, firmware develop, component placement, soldering, quality control and automated testing tools ARE MADE at work. Also proces control is feedbacked to machines to imporve reliability.
Our products meets international specifications for automotive design, and many of those come from VW and FORD. Then they are tested .. even in worst conditions the most work.
This little speech is to show that, altough we are third world we work like the first one. Then a third world contry don't have to be poor.

Here happens the same that ins the rest of the world talking about BBX. I know several collector with great boxes. Of course I'm a collector. Some people use classics as amplfiers and give they a heavy use. But of course in the first world this happens too. Do you remeber the thread about the crapy M90 ?.
All over the wolrd exists collector as well as people who don't know the jewell they have.

I saved many boxes from the trash, and I repaired then with great care of each detail keeping the quality of fixes as high as the quality of the components I could found.
Lack of belts tires and other makes near imposible getting a BBX repaired. But all of my BBX are fully functional. No dead decks in all of then.

Dont worry about BBX's fall in the jungle.
Here are many people who loves they as much as you. Price are expensive for classics. That's enough to prevent common people reach them.

quote:

Originally posted by Arkay:

quote:

Originally posted by erniejade:
nice pickup!! I still need to get some pms stuff LOL

sorry to hear about the loss of the m90 that is frustrating. are they going to compinsate you?

Hey arkay i am picking up some new speakers next week carver amazing. I guess I will need a new amp then!!! LOL seems like they want to be kicked with around 500 watts per!! OUCH!!

I will post pics when i grab them on the 29th!!

Congratulations! Carver Amazings are truly AMAZING speakers! I've never been lucky enough to own them, but I have heard them before. Very nice, indeed -- you should love them. You are right about their appreciating power, though: they need "real macho amps" to make them shine. Get them sounding right, though, and you'll probably be spoiled for life. Only a few speakers ever made (at least in my experience) can out-perform them.

As for your getting PMS stuff, at some point I'll end up selling off some duplicates. Maybe you can get one of them, then. They aren't at the top of my to-be-sold list, though, as I'm a pretty hard-core Marantz fan.

There is a remote possibility that my M90 could still show up (but I have about zero belief that it will), so there hasn't been talk of compensation yet. I doubt there will be any compensation, as much as I would like to at least get my outlay back. These things can get very complicated, to put it gently.


JOVIE: Thanks for your encouraging comments. I am aware that I am shifting boxes from probable demise in some 3rd-world desert or jungle, to the world of collectors/fans, even if they are stopping off in my stacks for a while along the way. I would like to do more, at least with photo-taking of more of the boxes I see, but there is no way --unless I were to quit life and devote myself wholly to the task-- that I can practically do much more than I'm already doing. It just isn't practical/feasible for me. Still, each one box saved is a box saved -- better than one more lost. The used-audio market here is shrinking gradually (quite dramatic decline from, say, two years ago) so I don't know how much longer the hunting will be do-able at all. But for now, at least, I manage to get SOME of the boxes, and there is some satisfaction in that.