Author Topic: Craig's List Story  (Read 5537 times)

Offline Reverend

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Craig's List Story
« on: April 01, 2010, 09:18:42 AM »
I thought I'd share this story as it has to be one of the oddest moment I've had dealing with buying things off of CL.

I found a pair of speakers I really wanted and setup a time to go pick them up.  I arrived at the sellers house and he was standing in the driveway talking to his son (6-8 years old) and a scruffy looking guy ( I assumed is buddy) sitting on a fisher price plastic kids table playing with his son.  We went down to his basement to checkout his speakers, his son following us down asking what my name was, why was I hear, etc...his buddy didn't come down.

We listened to the speakers, bullshitted a little, I handed him the cash and helped him unhook the cables.  His buddy came down at that time, plopped on the couch and loudly asked why he was selling the speakers.  Since he was previously sitting at a kids table I didn't realize the guy was around 6'5", wearing an army shirt and had a dayglo orange hat with a kids sheriff badge on the front.  I thought this was odd but figured he was playing with the sellers son.  Like I said the guy was really scruffy looking, unkempt, but I didn't think anything of it.  Looked like Tom before he cleaned up.   :P  

As we were about to carry the speakers upstairs his buddy asked what he was selling them for.  I could tell the seller didn't want to answer this question and said $1000 (this wasn't the price).  His buddy knew that wasn't right, and asked again.  After some hesitation the seller confessed the price to him.  Right away his buddy got agitated and said, "Shit...I'll pay $xxx for those, why don't you sell them to me?".  I thought he was joking until we were walking through the garage to my car and I hear loud crash behind me.  I turn around to see that he had kicked the fisher price table which had previously contained several dozen plastic Easter eggs and glasses of water.  They went flying and his buddy started getting unhinged.  He picked up one of the unbroken glasses and threw it as hard as he could at the sellers truck.

At this point I have a 80# speaker in my hand and I'm thinking I'm going to have to drop it quick because I might just have to defend myself.  The guy continued to curse up a storm, m effing the seller but he wasn't looking at me so I assumed I wasn't going to have to kick this guys head in.  He continued to scream and curse and walked over to his truck, rev'd it well past the redline, threw it in reverse and tore out of the driveway.  My next thought was that my car was at the end of the driveway to the side he was heading towards.  He missed my car, slammed it into drive and went like a bat out of hell down the road.

The seller I could tell felt terrible.  He apologized up and down and then informed me that what I thought was his buddy was his brother in law.  Oh, well...I guess you can't choose your family can you...
« Last Edit: April 01, 2010, 01:48:41 PM by RevAmish »

Offline thuffman03

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2010, 09:34:26 AM »
You can pick your friends but you cannot pick your family.  Good story.
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bmwr75

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2010, 09:52:39 AM »
Guys like this are a good reason to have a concealed carry permit.  Glad it turned out OK for you Rev.

What kind of speakers did you get?

Offline Reverend

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2010, 10:09:37 AM »
I bought a pair of NEAR 50m's.  Here's a pic I found online, mine are black.


bmwr75

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2010, 02:29:19 PM »
I saw those and emailed the owner about them.  He sent me a picture.  I'm speaker poor though and decided another pair is not what I need right now.  Would be interested to hear what you think about the NEARs.  You don't see those every day.

Offline Reverend

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #5 on: April 01, 2010, 03:01:39 PM »
The only reason I knew about NEAR is being a Bozak owner and coming across the name in forums and articles.  I guess the story is that NEAR started out by buying Bozak's surplus drivers and started making older replica models.  They also bought the rights to the spun aluminum cone technology so they had one of their designers revamp the drivers and create a new modern speaker line.  The 50m was the first result.  He also designed the 15m and 10m which are bookshelf speakers.  I reached out to the designer Lewis Athanas and he was kind enough to e-mail me back with info, setup suggestions, etc.  

I haven't had them long enough to form a solid opinion.  I heard them in the sellers basement and they were incredible with a handmade tube pre-amp and a HK amp.  I stopped at Tom's and hooked them up to his tubes, great mids/highs but no bass.  They are supposed to be against the wall and not in the middle of the room so placement makes a huge difference.  I then took them home, moved them around a little from the wall/corners, the bass was back but it lacked the mids/highs as in the shop and at the sellers house.  Right at that time Lewis e-mailed me back again and pointed out not to use the grills as this made a huge difference.  Grills weren't on at the sellers house or in the shop.  Sure enough, as soon as I removed them the mids/highs were back.  They'll get a workout tomorrow (holiday) and this weekend.

Offline OCCD

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #6 on: April 01, 2010, 04:03:23 PM »
Great score!!! ;D
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Offline BrianT

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #7 on: April 01, 2010, 06:25:55 PM »

Ryan.

Nice set of speakers, would like to know what you think after the weekend.
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Offline Falcon

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #8 on: April 01, 2010, 07:07:24 PM »
Nice speakers, and a GREAT story  ??? ??? ???

Offline confused

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2010, 08:30:27 PM »
At least you got them.  I went to Butler for some equipment after several phone calls, the last of which was I am on my way.

When I arrived, someone else was carrying the equipment out the door!  Several harsh words later I left empty handed, out gas and tolls.
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Offline mikey813

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Re: Craig's List Story
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2010, 03:43:49 PM »
Great story Rev and awesome speakers.
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