Growing up, I was quite embarrassed of my father. He collected used stereo and TV equipment. When I was young I thought maybe this was normal for everyone, but upon visiting friends houses I realized that one generally only has one TV and stereo system per room, not five or ten. I avoided bringing friends to my house because they thought it was weird. One girl who came to my house was very confused when we started to watch TV because she couldn’t figure out which one was associated with the audio, as all 7 of them were turned on at the time.
As for me, it was the latter. I was an electrical engineer at a local airport. Responsible for fixing much of the tv and audio equipment, I was kept very busy most of the time. One day a friend of mine who worked security at the airport brought me his receiver and asked me if I could fix it. I opened it up and discovered that it was very similar to the equipment I worked on, so there was no problem fixing it.
The best place to find used stereo equipment is at garage sales. It’s really amazing how cheap you can find equipment from people who are moving or upgrading to something newer. And if you know how to fix broken equipment, like my dad, you can make quite a nice profit. As people realize that older stereo equipment and tvs are much better made and last longer than the newer, cheaper versions they are willing to pay decently to find these items.
Often we’d find equipment at the side of the road, pick it up and take it home to find out that it worked perfectly. An hour or so of cleaning and testing and it was ready to resell. No matter what my dad got for it, it was all profit. There aren’t many businesses that can boast that. Over the years my dad has branched out to other electronic items, but used stereo equipment and tvs remains his bread and butter.
When I am looking at used stereo equipment, it’s usually easy to see if it’s going to be a wise purchase. First check for cracks or dents on the outside casing to make sure it hasn’t been dropped. Then as long as it turns on when you plug it in you are good to go. These systems are much more durable then new ones and last for many years.
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