i have. 3 times actually. funny story about one receiver i have in my stash i thought id share with you. its about a pioneer sx-450 that i just cant avoid!
1998. im 14 years old, riding around on my bike on trash night, and i see a grimey old receiver sitting ontop of a pile of garbage. i pick it up and take it home with me. its a pioneer sx-450, dusty dirty moldy and rotton to the core! i bring it into the house and set it on the kitchen counter, there was 5 dead roaches and a skeletonized lizard behind the dial glass. i plugged it in, and about 50 roaches came running out of it! my mom comes in the kitchen. -she screams! at that point in my life my gear was starting to fill up my bedroom, and other parts of the house, me and my parents were in constant fights about me bringing more junk home. they kept yelling at me, grounding me, taking away things from me, etc, but i just wouldnt stop, for anything or anyone. that receiver was the catalyst for all stereo equipment being banned from the house and exiled to the garage. the pioneer sx-450 was the first receiver i cleaned up and repaired in my new workshop. to this day, whenever i get a new *dumpster* fresh piece after i clean it up, someware inside the case, i put my initials, the date i restored it, and my phone number cause you just never know. during the restoration of the sx-450, i pulled the fake wallpaper veneer off the side panels, leaving just the smooth creme laminet over the presswood.
FFwd --- scene 1, summer 1999, i am 15, just reaching my inventory count of 500. (i used to keep meticulus records of every piece of gear i got, untill i lost count in 2002, with the last recorded number of 2,435.)
i had a small garage sale one day and sold the pioneer sx-450 to a guy in his mid 30s, for $15. and i went on about my life, collecting and aquiring more and more gear, stuff came and went. i got my learners permit and started driving. one day, wile i was out on the hunt, i walked into a flea market out in clarmont, about 20 miles from home at the time, and mixed in with a bunch of other receivers and other stereo equipment, was a sx-450, i had already had one and almost didnt give it a second look (back in those days in central florida, silver face stereo gear from the 1970s was about as common as dirt, and cheap as hell) in the pile i also noticed a fisher 440-t and was more intrested in that. but the guy was only asking $2 each for the receivers so i figured what the hell, and grabbed the sx-450 along with a few other receivers that i forget now what they were, and headed home to smoke some grass with my buddies. as i was driving home, i was all exited about the old fisher, but i noticed the woodgrain wallpaper was missing on the sx-450 i had just bought. "cant be" i thought. i get home with the load o shit, and started bringing them into the garage for analysis. first, of course, the fisher. it came on and played fine and i hooked it up as something to listen to wile i tested the other receivers, one of them started smoking and caught on fire as soon as i plugged it in! i think it was a allied if i remember right. another had a blown channel, -i think that one may have been a technics. and finally, the sx-450 #2 or so i thought! i placed it on the old console stereo that i had turned into a workbench, plugged it in, and it came right on. i popped the top, and i was in SHOCK! there in black sharpie, was R.G.B. 6-13-98 895-4573. i couldnt believe it! the damn thing had come back! still in disbelief, i told my friends, parents, and whoever else would listen to me back then, about my reunion with the receiver. and decided to keep it for awile.
FFwd------>scene #2 in 2003, i was 19, in a jam for cash needed for this and that, unemployed and wanted a new car, and money to spend on women, i sold the pioneer, along with some other gear to a flipper type, for $50, six months later, i was digging in a dumpster at a apartment complex and there along with some other stuff, was the receiver AGAIN! i called the guy who bought the stuff from me and asked him what he did with the sx-450.
he told me he sold it to a college kid, but didnt go into details. i guess the college kid went home or something and threw everything away he had before he left. this was getting rediculus! twice this receiver had come back to me!
FFwd --------> scene #3, by spring 2006, i was 21, living a life of nightmares, as a full blown heroin addict. i was living in a junky house in the hood, with some of my gear, the sx-450 was there with me. after overdosing and almost dying my family staged a intervention and sent me to treatment, they said if i didnt go, they would turn there back on be compleately. one condition was that i had to litrally walk away from everything i had at that house. and i did.
FFwd -------> scene #4, -this time, its getting kinda creepy..
winter 2007, im 23 and have recently relocated from central florida and moved 250 miles south to palm beach county. now clean and sober, im living in a 1/2way house and back on the hunt, hitting GW after GW looking for gear. i stop in one of my usual spots, called faith farm thrift in boynton beach and my "guy on the inside" had a nice bin of electro-stereo-junk waiting for me. 15 receivers, 3 RTR decks, a power amp, and a turntable. i gave him $20 for everything and loaded it all into my car, -in that load, was another sx-450. (by now, over the years i had aquired about 10 other sx-450s along the way and thought nothing of it) i get it all back to the halfway house, going threw this and that, and reach the sx-450, it was missing 3 knobs, had a cracked dialglass, and looked like it was dragged threw the mud. but.. -no fake wood wallpaper on the side panels. i popped the top and HOLY F**KING SH*T!!!!! in faided sharpie marker was R.G.B. 6-13-98, 895-4573 (my old cell phone number from my old phone i had when i was a kid.) i stood there absolutly dumbfounded!! *eyepop* i was white as a goast, and got CHILLS! some things are just ment to be! no matter what! the SAME sx-450 managed to follow me 250 miles south!! what the hell??!! it had only been about a year and 1/2 but whoever got ahold of it obviouslly treated it like crap, and moved to south florida around the same time i did. this time though i decided fate had once again got this un-wanted sx-450 back to me. in the spring of 2008, me and the new mrs stereorob drove up to orlando for the "photo shoot" and the "meet the parents" weekend. i took the little sx-450 back with me, wile i was up there, i placed it ontop of a stack of gear in my childhood stereodungen garage where it was never supposed to leave.
to this day, its still there, in my forgotton garage of obscurity, untill i get a house down here and bring all my old stuff down here. the sx-450 is now a "permenent" item in my collection and will never leave me again. hell i wouldnt sell it for the world! and even if i did, somehow, someway, im pretty damn shure it would bounce back to be again like a boomerang just like it always has. -now, if only my mcintosh 1500 or marantz 10b i used to have would do that *grin* -why the lowly little sx-450, ill probubly never know.
1998. im 14 years old, riding around on my bike on trash night, and i see a grimey old receiver sitting ontop of a pile of garbage. i pick it up and take it home with me. its a pioneer sx-450, dusty dirty moldy and rotton to the core! i bring it into the house and set it on the kitchen counter, there was 5 dead roaches and a skeletonized lizard behind the dial glass. i plugged it in, and about 50 roaches came running out of it! my mom comes in the kitchen. -she screams! at that point in my life my gear was starting to fill up my bedroom, and other parts of the house, me and my parents were in constant fights about me bringing more junk home. they kept yelling at me, grounding me, taking away things from me, etc, but i just wouldnt stop, for anything or anyone. that receiver was the catalyst for all stereo equipment being banned from the house and exiled to the garage. the pioneer sx-450 was the first receiver i cleaned up and repaired in my new workshop. to this day, whenever i get a new *dumpster* fresh piece after i clean it up, someware inside the case, i put my initials, the date i restored it, and my phone number cause you just never know. during the restoration of the sx-450, i pulled the fake wallpaper veneer off the side panels, leaving just the smooth creme laminet over the presswood.
FFwd --- scene 1, summer 1999, i am 15, just reaching my inventory count of 500. (i used to keep meticulus records of every piece of gear i got, untill i lost count in 2002, with the last recorded number of 2,435.)
i had a small garage sale one day and sold the pioneer sx-450 to a guy in his mid 30s, for $15. and i went on about my life, collecting and aquiring more and more gear, stuff came and went. i got my learners permit and started driving. one day, wile i was out on the hunt, i walked into a flea market out in clarmont, about 20 miles from home at the time, and mixed in with a bunch of other receivers and other stereo equipment, was a sx-450, i had already had one and almost didnt give it a second look (back in those days in central florida, silver face stereo gear from the 1970s was about as common as dirt, and cheap as hell) in the pile i also noticed a fisher 440-t and was more intrested in that. but the guy was only asking $2 each for the receivers so i figured what the hell, and grabbed the sx-450 along with a few other receivers that i forget now what they were, and headed home to smoke some grass with my buddies. as i was driving home, i was all exited about the old fisher, but i noticed the woodgrain wallpaper was missing on the sx-450 i had just bought. "cant be" i thought. i get home with the load o shit, and started bringing them into the garage for analysis. first, of course, the fisher. it came on and played fine and i hooked it up as something to listen to wile i tested the other receivers, one of them started smoking and caught on fire as soon as i plugged it in! i think it was a allied if i remember right. another had a blown channel, -i think that one may have been a technics. and finally, the sx-450 #2 or so i thought! i placed it on the old console stereo that i had turned into a workbench, plugged it in, and it came right on. i popped the top, and i was in SHOCK! there in black sharpie, was R.G.B. 6-13-98 895-4573. i couldnt believe it! the damn thing had come back! still in disbelief, i told my friends, parents, and whoever else would listen to me back then, about my reunion with the receiver. and decided to keep it for awile.
FFwd------>scene #2 in 2003, i was 19, in a jam for cash needed for this and that, unemployed and wanted a new car, and money to spend on women, i sold the pioneer, along with some other gear to a flipper type, for $50, six months later, i was digging in a dumpster at a apartment complex and there along with some other stuff, was the receiver AGAIN! i called the guy who bought the stuff from me and asked him what he did with the sx-450.
he told me he sold it to a college kid, but didnt go into details. i guess the college kid went home or something and threw everything away he had before he left. this was getting rediculus! twice this receiver had come back to me!
FFwd --------> scene #3, by spring 2006, i was 21, living a life of nightmares, as a full blown heroin addict. i was living in a junky house in the hood, with some of my gear, the sx-450 was there with me. after overdosing and almost dying my family staged a intervention and sent me to treatment, they said if i didnt go, they would turn there back on be compleately. one condition was that i had to litrally walk away from everything i had at that house. and i did.
FFwd -------> scene #4, -this time, its getting kinda creepy..
winter 2007, im 23 and have recently relocated from central florida and moved 250 miles south to palm beach county. now clean and sober, im living in a 1/2way house and back on the hunt, hitting GW after GW looking for gear. i stop in one of my usual spots, called faith farm thrift in boynton beach and my "guy on the inside" had a nice bin of electro-stereo-junk waiting for me. 15 receivers, 3 RTR decks, a power amp, and a turntable. i gave him $20 for everything and loaded it all into my car, -in that load, was another sx-450. (by now, over the years i had aquired about 10 other sx-450s along the way and thought nothing of it) i get it all back to the halfway house, going threw this and that, and reach the sx-450, it was missing 3 knobs, had a cracked dialglass, and looked like it was dragged threw the mud. but.. -no fake wood wallpaper on the side panels. i popped the top and HOLY F**KING SH*T!!!!! in faided sharpie marker was R.G.B. 6-13-98, 895-4573 (my old cell phone number from my old phone i had when i was a kid.) i stood there absolutly dumbfounded!! *eyepop* i was white as a goast, and got CHILLS! some things are just ment to be! no matter what! the SAME sx-450 managed to follow me 250 miles south!! what the hell??!! it had only been about a year and 1/2 but whoever got ahold of it obviouslly treated it like crap, and moved to south florida around the same time i did. this time though i decided fate had once again got this un-wanted sx-450 back to me. in the spring of 2008, me and the new mrs stereorob drove up to orlando for the "photo shoot" and the "meet the parents" weekend. i took the little sx-450 back with me, wile i was up there, i placed it ontop of a stack of gear in my childhood stereodungen garage where it was never supposed to leave.
to this day, its still there, in my forgotton garage of obscurity, untill i get a house down here and bring all my old stuff down here. the sx-450 is now a "permenent" item in my collection and will never leave me again. hell i wouldnt sell it for the world! and even if i did, somehow, someway, im pretty damn shure it would bounce back to be again like a boomerang just like it always has. -now, if only my mcintosh 1500 or marantz 10b i used to have would do that *grin* -why the lowly little sx-450, ill probubly never know.
