What New Stuff Have You Bought? If You Care To Share Thead! :)

[William Lemmerhirt]

How about, ALMOST bought!

Saw these at an auction. JBL L100. Someone frankensteined them. Not sure what they did but there was a row of extra screws on the sides and some flat head screws holding the woofers in. The surrounds needed to be redone at minimum. Too bad...

 

[VonMagnum]

This came a couple of days ago (haven't opened it yet).

 

[VonMagnum]

My replacement "Raven Bar" headpiece medallion for the Staff of Ra from Raiders of the Lost Ark (as in it's the version seen in the bar in Nepal that Marion Ravenwood owns and in the map room while a different version with feather details was shown with the guy reading it in Egypt) came in today.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

Bought a TASCAM CD player / USB / Cassette deck and it came with free headphones ($99 value) , and also purchased an extra 64gb USB stick.

 

[Gryph]

Over the last couple months a new 2.0 setup has replaced my old Onkyo separates and Wharfdale speakers.

 

[3db]

I think I told you guys that I upgraded our travel trailer to a 20' Travel-Lite Falcon F20 in fire engine red in a previous post. This trailer came with a 19 inch LCD TV display. Now I need a source. I was planning on using a cheapy portable DVD player I had bought for the kids when they were young for long trips home to visit the grand parents. Well today, I thought I would visit a "Value Village", a used goods store. I found of all things, a Panasonic DM30 BluRay player without a remote for $20.. The store gave me 7 days to test and return it if it didnt work.. I wired it into my bedroom system and programmed it. It works perfectly playing CD, DVD, and BluRay without a hitch. Its physically bigger than the Sony BluRay player so the Sony gets commissioned to trailer duty.

 

[VonMagnum]

Well, I did buy a Carver amplifier on eBay awhile back and it died on the second time it was powered up (in less than 14 hours) and the seller refused to pay the return shipping and everyone (even the shipping guy) told me to return it as either defective or "SNAD" (as it was advertised as just inspected, in spec and in excellent condition and barely used and that was clearly NOT the case since it didn't last a full day while the one I already have is now 24 years old and still works perfectly fine) and the seller is responsible for return shipping. Well, I don't know what stage went wrong, but I could NOT bring eBay in to settle it (with a click anyway) until the end of the month.

Well, the seller went ahead and did that himself and they sided with him instantly, saying because I didn't return the amp within 20 days or whatever, I couldn't get a refund. Yeah...how do I "make" him pay the return shipping, then? If I pay it, I'm out $80 I'll never see again. The girl on the phone (I couldn't hardly understand as she was clerarly in a foreign country) said I should file with PayPal instead. Well...good old PayPal informed me since it was past 20 days, they won't do a damn thing. I did not know that either. Live and learn. The guy stopped returning messages when I mentioned I never had to return something before and he was making it miserable (I think he then assumed that knowing the time limits I did not know and the site did not make clear, he could just wait 20 days and then tell eBay to step in instead of me, which did not show ANY of our conversations about the return BEFORE I clicked the actual "Return" button. I explained all this to the girl on the phone, but based on her replies, I think she probably didn't understand half of what I was saying either.

EBay offers NO "email" (WRITTEN) way to object/protest whatever) at all anymore and talking to a foreigner on the phone is the ONLY option. I have concluded their "Buyer guarantee" is WORTHLESS MEANINGLESS DRIVEL. Everyone that gave me advice that eBay always sides with the buyer in these cases appear to be wrong (or I'm too stupid to take the correct steps). I SHOULD have filed with PayPal instead and clicked on contested shipping immediately at which point they would refund the shipping if they agreed with me, but even there you have to do that FIRST or you won't get the shipping back either. I honestly don't know why they're making this a miserable experience to deal with a clearly defective piece of merchandise. The repair estimate alone was $150-400 depending on what's wrong and when he asked me at one point what I thought a "fair" partial refund (that he suggested, not me) would be, I suggested $200 and he immediately accused me of DEMANDING a partial refund of "over 50%" (yeah, like one dollar over 50% not counting shipping)?

He didn't counter-suggest anything, but an offer of $100 popped up with some message about his final offer to resolve it amicably. I suggested $150 in the middle and he said I would not succeed in trying to "shake him down!" EBay should be able to see all these psychotic messages, but apparently either didn't look at them or don't read English very well. How the HELL this guy ever got a 100% rating since 1999 is BEYOND ME. He acted weird from the moment I said it failed on the second power up (I don't offer returns, no guarantees, etc. and then replied again that he would take a return if I sent it back to him, at which point the shipping guy told me the guy was trying to scam me out of the return shipping that he's responsible for...yeah great advice. That worked well...

My faith in humanity is very poor these days.... (sigh)

The most I can do now (other than try to find someone with slightly better English on the phone) is post a negative "feedback" which limits me to a whopping 80 characters to warn others of these devious tricks. Yeah, try and explain all that in 80 characters....

 

[KenM10759]

I'm sorry that happened, and baffled as to why you thought it would be OK to wait "until the end of the month" to seek a return and refund. When you clicked on winning the auction or the Buy It Now, what were the stated terms and conditions of the sale? Those stick, and a buyer and seller alike must adhere closely to them. I don't know if the sale terms were no implied warranty, but if so you certainly should have shipped it back on your dime immediately if he was willing to take it back.

 

[VonMagnum]

I'm sorry that happened, and baffled as to why you thought it would be OK to wait "until the end of the month" to seek a return and refund. When you clicked on winning the auction or the Buy It Now, what were the stated terms and conditions of the sale? Those stick, and a buyer and seller alike must adhere closely to them. I don't know if the sale terms were no implied warranty, but if so you certainly should have shipped it back on your dime immediately if he was willing to take it back.

There was no "waiting until the end of the month"; THAT was WHEN eBay told me they would step in if we couldn't come to an agreement! I didn't arbitrarily make a date up. First it said 3 days, but then it suddenly stretched to 30 when he made a partial offer. It didn't say what to do next other than let them step in after 30 days. There was no email to contact (turns out there is NONE at eBay *PERIOD* and a lot of sellers have left because of their poor customer service).

The guy at the shipping shop sells on eBay all the time. He made it clear SNAD cases the seller pays the return shipping. He advertised it as in excellent condition and checked out. It was clearly in defective/bad condition and failed almost immediately (made a really loud solenoid pop compared to my fully working one too). I asked my friend who works on Carver amps and he is also a seller on eBay and also told me the same thing. I looked up SNAD and the buyer's guarantee and EVERYTHING said the same thing. If the seller misrepresents what he's selling or sells a clearly defective unit he pays the return shipping and his advertised policies DON'T MEAN JACK. If he was "willing" to take it back? EBay rules REQUIRE he take a defective unit back that is advertised as being in excellent condition because he misrepresented its condition. If he had said, "as is" it would be a different story. He went out of his way to convince people in the ad that he had it inspected by qualified shop, adjusted to factory specs, new LED lights installed and in excellent condition with minimal use over the years. My identical model amp that I've had for 24 years has been used a LOT, never inspected and works 100% fine to this day so the odds that it magically died when it arrived aren't that great and even if it was an act of god himself, that doesn't make the seller not responsible for selling a defective unit when eBay policy requires items in "good" or better condition to work for 30 days from what I read. I told him about the issue in less than one day. He immediately tried to blame me for turning it on. And then for not telling him what kind of load it was pushing (He never asked such a thing and I then gave him exacting specs which he didn't expect and then ignored).

There were entire eBay forums of sellers whining that people were using that guarantee to return stuff they didn't like when they found out they'd have to pay the return shipping so they'd make crap up to return it as SNAD. Well, this wasn't made up and why should I have to eat $80 in shipping costs when it only costs him $55 with the eBay discount shipping? He didn't even offer to refund the difference when I pointed out how high the shipping was and that after dealing with him, I'd be out 1/5 the price of the item with nothing to show for it. He made no effort to meet me at a fair partial refund (when he didn't like my idea of fair he accused me of shaking him down for god's sake! Worst of all, he LIED and LIED and kept saying I demanded a partial refund when he brought it up himself and asked me what i thought was "fair" and then had a FIT when he thought I wanted too much when that's the quote I got to fix it) WTF would I ship it back on MY dime when he acted from Day One like he was terrified he was going to lose money on the deal and immediately started twisting EVERYTHING I said (I could show you the conversations; you wouldn't believe them). As far as I'm concerned SCREW HIM and screw eBay for protecting a conniving con artist.

Meanwhile, I bought that "Raven Bar" medallion (at a cost not terribly far from that amp as it's pewter coated in 24K gold with a real topaz crystal installed in it) from someone that also said "no returns" and when I showed him photos of a defect the first one had, he immediately apologized for not looking closer, offered to pay the return shipping (he actually sent me $5 more than the return shipping was after I showed him the receipt for my troubles) and sent a replacement out the moment he got that one back 3 days later. I didn't have to even ask about shipping. He immediately offered to take care of it. Now THAT is someone who cares about a good reputation by taking care of their customer!

 

[KenM10759]

Sometimes we just get screwed. I guess I'm too old to fight now because I just accept that there are jerks out there and they're not going to change just because I'm making noise.

I would hesitate to give negative feedback. NOT because the seller doesn't deserve it but because they give YOU negative feedback and it reflects upon your rating. I did have a go-around like this about 8 years ago with products I made in my machine shop and sold. No problems for a couple dozen sales, then one buyer says he got an empty box. There is no way in hell that happened. He got a second set for free, and I quit making the product (aluminum hub spacer rings for adapting certain wheels to other cars.)

I don't know what you paid versus what a good, working amp is worth, but ask would it be worth you getting it fixed? Could be something simple that came loose in shipping?

 

[VonMagnum]

Let him give me negative feedback. I'm pretty much done with eBay after this nonsense. If I do even $150 in damage to his business in the long run from buyers avoiding him like the plague, it'll be worth it. He deserves far worse, IMO.

I have no idea if it's something simple. He made it quite clear if I "tampered" with the amp he wouldn't refund it, even though a simple peak under the hood might have worked out best for the both of us and I made it clear I know what I'm doing (I've built circuit boards from scratch using Cad software and acid etching before, grilled and soldered everything by hand and even made my own box with a sheet metal press (part of my degree program). I've repaired two satellite boxes hit by lightning in under 20 minutes (dealer wanted $100 each to look at them which was their total cost each to begin with (might as well buy a new one!). Yeah, $15 in parts from Radio Shack (back when they sold stuff) and that was it. $7.50 each to fix with 10 minutes of time and put fuse holders in while I was at it instead of soldered fuses. (All the lightning surge did was blow the varistors and fuses which did their job perfectly).

Anyway, I suppose I'm free to look at it now. I bought a Marantz SR7010 (so I could try wides out which aren't supported on the newer 70xx line) used last August and bought the Auro-3D upgrade which put me in almost $1000 and it kept giving me the "short" protection error after a couple of months. I wasn't feeling well at the time and bought a 7012 while it was on sale new for not much more than that. I finally got around to looking at the 7010 a few months ago. Boy do the pack the boards in there these days... I couldn't see anything obvious until I noticed the circuit boards were secured to the case itself and one swung/wobbled in place. It had loose screws. I straightened it and tightened it down. No more errors. I'm guessing there's a 50% chance it's something simple with the Carver given how shipping can shake things up like that. If he really did have it looked at, the technician may have forgotten to tighten something down (that would explain the loud relay magnetic field case "bang" compared to mine's simple less loud click.

I suppose I should have taken the $100 offer. If it was a simple fix if have come out ahead and if not it would at least lower the cost to fix it.

What I don't get is why this guy would risk his 100% reputation over $55 on the return shipping or meet me halfway at $150 to keep it when he'd have to get the amp fixed to resell it at any price and unless he could fix it himself, he'd be looking at $150 minimum there anyway. I even pointed that out to him. He accused me of trying to shake him down instead...ridiculous. I've never seen such paranoid behavior outside of television. I have a 100% reputation myself on there as a buyer and until this past month, never had to return anything. If I were trying to shake people down, what, I decided to start with him after all these years??? Give me a break....

 

[killdozzer]

I also got this. Curious to see why audiophiles love this player (not my pic but the same model):

XA5ES

 

[John Parks]

I also got this. Curious to see why audiophiles love this player (not my pic but the same model):
View attachment 29391
XA5ES

I had the XA2ES for several years and thought it was an excellent piece of kit (I could never afford the 5 at that time). I do not know how its DAC would compare to modern ones, but I thought it was pretty darn good (along with everything following the DAC, which people tend to forget). It is the build quality, though, that really made it stand apart (and the fun ritual of putting the puck on the disc). I am sure the XA5ES is only better in every way. Are you disappointed with yours?

 

[killdozzer]

I had the XA2ES for several years and thought it was an excellent piece of kit (I could never afford the 5 at that time). I do not know how its DAC would compare to modern ones, but I thought it was pretty darn good (along with everything following the DAC, which people tend to forget). It is the build quality, though, that really made it stand apart (and the fun ritual of putting the puck on the disc). I am sure the XA5ES is only better in every way. Are you disappointed with yours?

No, no! Not at all. This is just the first time I have it for some testing. I totally agree on the build quality, I still have to explore the DAC, but honestly, I don't think it will leave me wanting in any way. I'm playing my CDs on a Yamaha DVD player (Natural Sound s-796) I'll try to compare just for the laughs. I must say I like the looks although I'm really not a Sony-Fan Boy.

 

[VonMagnum]

Fifth Element Stones have arrived as Tea Candle Holders! Now to get some scented tea candles to put in them for the half bathroom in matching element colors....

 

[3db]

Pics of my new BluRay player in the bedroom.

 

[3db]

I purchased these 6 CDs for a grand totak of $7.00 including taxes.

 

[davidscott]

For my non smart non 4K 39 bedroom tv Amazon Firestick with a discount for Prime members.

 

[j_garcia]

Affects only the 2.5L turbos and not all of them. Subaru extended all owner's factory warranties over this issue to 8yrs. Mine unfortunately may fall outside that window, but I also bought an extended warranty on top of that so it is still covered.

Well, it was the bad news, not the good news. He says it passes leakdown, but is clearly something wrong. Turbo is dry and no play so it is fine. Which means is something inside the motor that is just starting to fail. If it ends up not being covered, will be in the neighborhood of $6K rebuild.

 

[panteragstk]

For my non smart non 4K 39 bedroom tv Amazon Firestick with a discount for Prime members.
View attachment 29411

For what it is, those things are pretty great. They won't pass through HD audio which is a major down side for me. Interface could be better too.