# Should I Keep My Old Equipment?



## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

I'm selling an older car of mine ('96 Impala SS) that has been sitting for many moons. Didn't have the greatest equipment, but I'd call it "decent". I'm torn between keeping the audio gear, or just unloading it with the car for a few bucks more. Hoping to get some feedback from the populace.

If I keep it, will I ever use it? Ideally, yes, but not in my current car ('15 SS). Too much integration and wrong sizes for everything. However, if I ended up with a beater truck from the '90s or '00s, it would be a given I'd install it. Realistically, this won't happen...

Preface: I very well could butcher the part numbers, but here goes with the list.

Alpine CDA-7998 head unit
Alpine CHA-1204 12 disc changer

MTX Thunder 6304 driving front and rear mids and highs
MTX Thunder 6500D driving subs

Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1 6.5" component set in front doors
Infinity Kappa 693.1i 3-way 6x9s in rear deck
(2) Infinity Kappa Perfect 12.1 12"svc in a prefab QLogic sealed box

All Streetwires/Esoteric Audio wiring
1/0awg power from battery, 1/0awg ground to frame, through fuse and distribution blocks
1F capacitor

Full disclosure: sub amp blew about 13 years ago on the way back from a car event in Vegas. Took me a while, but I replaced the bus caps and it powered back up using a bench top power supply, but I never put it back in the car. I'll just assume this is still broken (bus caps usually don't just blow on their own). Car hasn't ran since about 2010, been sitting in a non-climate controlled garage, so it's been exposed to temperature swings here in the MidWest. I'll try to throw a battery in the car to see if everything else powers up.

I just figure with the advancement in technology and materials that (for the most part) current audio is (should be?) tracking with the times. That being said, there is a soft spot for this (not necessarily *this exact*) old equipment, like the classic Orion XTR svc and dvc subs, my classic 10" Soundstream Reference sub, the old Art PPI amps, the early Xtant amps, classic Fosgate Punch subs, of course JL Audio and Phoenix Gold amps. 

Sidebar: so many fond memories of going to local and national competitions to see the ingenuity of installs before the advent of factory integration took over. Seeing Troy Trepanier's 1950 Buick Sedanette at a local Orion dealer back in the day, seeing Alma Gate's PPI Bronco with (64) 10" flat-piston drivers, Lightning Audio's AstroVan with (69) 6x9 midbass drivers, dbDrag racing at USAC.... the list goes on.

Equipment like the 32" Clarion Thunderdome sub, the spindle-assisted Cerwin Vega Stroker subs, 4-foot long US Amps rated at 50x2. Nevermind all the classic bass CD's (I still have over 150 different ones) that swarmed the market of the era, Bass 305, Nightmare on Bass Street, Dynamix II, Bass Outlaws, DJ Magic Mike, Bass Patrol, Techmaster P.E.B., Bass Mekanik, basically anything from DM Records, Newtown Records, Neurodisc Records, Innovative Bass Productions (IBP)... *le sigh

To close out this long-winded first post, thanks for your time and allowing me to reminisce for a bit of car audio times gone by.

Bob


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## PPI_GUY (Dec 20, 2007)

You might consider keeping some of the stuff that is harder to find nowadays. Like the Alpine and Infinity pieces. Those are somewhat harder to find in good, used condition. If you ultimately decided to go with all new gear you could probably do well by selling here or on eBay. Plus, those old school drivers and headunits will still work just fine with modern amps. You can buy new PPI amps that would sound great with the old school speakers for less than half of what you gave for the MTX amps back in the day. 

However, after sitting for some time, you may find that the surrounds on the speakers is starting to deteriorate or become dry. If that is the case then just let it all go with the car. And if you can't really see ever using it in a beater (as you mentioned) then you might make several people on this board happy if you were to offer it to them. There are also old school groups on Facebook where gear like yours gets sold and traded every day. 

Good luck with your decision.


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## truckerfte (Jul 30, 2010)

You prolly aren't going to add any value to the car with the equipment in it. Pull it, sell here or cl or eBay or something. Ive started a new hobby of flipping cars, and people don't seem to be willing to pay extra for it.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

truckerfte said:


> You prolly aren't going to add any value to the car with the equipment in it. Pull it, sell here or cl or eBay or something. Ive started a new hobby of flipping cars, and people don't seem to be willing to pay extra for it.


A little more info on the transaction: when we were discussing the condition of the car and the mods done to it, the one stipulation I put on the sale was that I was taking all the audio equipment out of it and I wouldn't be replacing any of it with the OEM stuff. They were okay with those terms but did inquire into how much extra I'd charge if I left it all in there. Hence, the question.

They are already willing to pay more if I keep the system in the car as-is, but 1) I have to decide if I want to do that and 2) then I have to decide how much extra to charge if I do.

Bob


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## lasakro (May 21, 2017)

2 years ago I got back into car audio after 20 years and some competing. 2 of my 3 Orion SX series amps failed. Both were from old polarized electrolytic caps. One actually melted a hole trough the PCB before blowing the fuse. Just my 2 cents.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

lasakro said:


> 2 years ago I got back into car audio after 20 years and some competing. 2 of my 3 Orion SX series amps failed. Both were from old polarized electrolytic caps. One actually melted a hole trough the PCB before blowing the fuse. Just my 2 cents.


I didn't even think of the electronics side of things. I was purely focused on the surrounds and what state they'd be in. I figured they'd have probably butyl rubber surrounds and they should be okay, but you never know.

Unless something changes, I'm currently in the mindset to sell the stereo with the car (for a slight upcharge). I'm going to put a battery in the car just to test functionality. If it all works, I'll throw the guy a number. If he likes it, he gets the stereo system. If he doesn't, I rip it all out and start off-loading it all. Time to start fresh.

Now just gotta figure out what brands are good after being out of the scene all these years. Been looking into Audiofrog, Gladen, Helix, Arc, Mosconi, and some others. Are they any good? No idea, but I see builds with them so it's at least a place to start.

I stumbled across the build log portion of these forums and my jaw hit the floor. I look through these builds for ideas on design and components and am very impressed with the craftsmanship of these installs.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

lasakro said:


> 2 years ago I got back into car audio after 20 years and some competing. 2 of my 3 Orion SX series amps failed. Both were from old polarized electrolytic caps. One actually melted a hole trough the PCB before blowing the fuse. Just my 2 cents.


I put a battery in the car so I could check the function of the system. Head unit powers on and goes through the different sources and plays a disc. However, even though the amp light is on, I have no output from the speakers. I ran out of time to troubleshoot, so I'll look at it again tonight. Looks like my other amp has now died. Probably just as yours did - caps.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I think you could try listing it with the gear as is and a price that reflects it. Can't hurt to see if others are willing to pay for it. If you find they aren't then you can pull it and part it out.

That said, ideally you sell it as a package. Selling used stuff gets to be a chore when there's a lot of it. You have to deal with not only the process of pulling it and shipping it but the costs of shipping, eBay, PayPal, etc. Then there's the issue of getting a buyer who has no idea what he/she is doing and they blame you for a failure on their end.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

ErinH said:


> I think you could try listing it with the gear as is and a price that reflects it. Can't hurt to see if others are willing to pay for it. If you find they aren't then you can pull it and part it out.
> 
> That said, ideally you sell it as a package. Selling used stuff gets to be a chore when there's a lot of it. You have to deal with not only the process of pulling it and shipping it but the costs of shipping, eBay, PayPal, etc. Then there's the issue of getting a buyer who has no idea what he/she is doing and they blame you for a failure on their end.


This is the path I'm heading down. I'm trying to do a functional test so I can throw a reasonable price on it. If he doesn't bite, I rip it out and part it out here/eBay... which, like you say, brings about its own headaches.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Pull it and sell it, people are regularly looking for those Alpine 7998's, here is a guy just a couple days ago looking for one:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/car-audio-classifieds/342930-looking-alpine-cda-7998-7998r.html

Might be worth sending him a PM, he might even take the CD changer as well.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

I've been actively looking for a 7998 myself.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

naiku said:


> Pull it and sell it, people are regularly looking for those Alpine 7998's, here is a guy just a couple days ago looking for one:
> 
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/car-audio-classifieds/342930-looking-alpine-cda-7998-7998r.html
> 
> Might be worth sending him a PM, he might even take the CD changer as well.





Theslaking said:


> I've been actively looking for a 7998 myself.


@naiku - Thanks for the heads up!

@Theslaking - I'll finish trouble shooting my system to see where the issue is, and then figure out what I'm going to do. I don't want to back out on my word to the car buyer, so he still gets first dibs. However, if he doesn't want it, you will be the first to know.


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## lasakro (May 21, 2017)

No ConeSS said:


> I put a battery in the car so I could check the function of the system. Head unit powers on and goes through the different sources and plays a disc. However, even though the amp light is on, I have no output from the speakers. I ran out of time to troubleshoot, so I'll look at it again tonight. Looks like my other amp has now died. Probably just as yours did - caps.


Could be. Well anyway good luck.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

lasakro said:


> Could be. Well anyway good luck.


Appears I have a second dead MTX amp. Luckily I had a spare 6304 that was never used. I swapped amps and mids and highs all work. My re-repair of the 6500D doesn't appear to have took. Powers up, but no output... just like the previous 2 times. Le sigh.

I grabbed some average dollar amounts from the "sold" listings of all my equipment on eBay, so I have a foundation to make an offer to the guy. If he bails, it all comes out and hits the FS section.


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## 1styearsi (Aug 13, 2012)

No ConeSS said:


> Appears I have a second dead MTX amp. Luckily I had a spare 6304 that was never used. I swapped amps and mids and highs all work. My re-repair of the 6500D doesn't appear to have took. Powers up, but no output... just like the previous 2 times. Le sigh.
> 
> I grabbed some average dollar amounts from the "sold" listings of all my equipment on eBay, so I have a foundation to make an offer to the guy. If he bails, it all comes out and hits the FS section.


i was reading thru and thinking the mtx's would not work.and what do ya know you ended up having problems.
i was all about mtx back in 96.....after leaving 4 perfectly good working amps(thunder 280,2160,2160,2300) in my closet for 2 years in the original packaging,when i hooked them up only 1 worked.


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## JPOSEY (Nov 9, 2011)

I always suggest removing the stuff if possible to get the most bang for you buck. You can sell the aftermarket stuff online. If it will help sell the car then I would leave it in. Just like now, I have a 15 year old truck that I've had a system in and it is Ford Fx4 that I modified the dash to fit a flat screen HU. The subs are under the back seat and would require me to remove the seat in order to remove the subs. I modified the doors to accommodate speakers. So, I have some major obstacles to overcome in order to replace and go back stock. I elected to keep HU, speakers and subs in the vehicle, but pulled the amps and replaced them with less expensive units. I left everything in because it will be marketed to a teenage driver. It's kinda a decision of whether you want the equipment and whether it has much value.


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## Allencurry (Jun 7, 2017)

lasakro said:


> 2 years ago I got back into car audio after 20 years and some competing. 2 of my 3 Orion SX series amps failed. Both were from old polarized electrolytic caps. One actually melted a hole trough the PCB before blowing the fuse. Just my 2 cents.


recently I tested my old car audio I bought like 8 years ago, still working, amazing stuff.


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## No ConeSS (Aug 26, 2015)

JPOSEY said:


> I always suggest removing the stuff if possible to get the most bang for you buck. You can sell the aftermarket stuff online. If it will help sell the car then I would leave it in. Just like now, I have a 15 year old truck that I've had a system in and it is Ford Fx4 that I modified the dash to fit a flat screen HU. The subs are under the back seat and would require me to remove the seat in order to remove the subs. I modified the doors to accommodate speakers. So, I have some major obstacles to overcome in order to replace and go back stock. I elected to keep HU, speakers and subs in the vehicle, but pulled the amps and replaced them with less expensive units. I left everything in because it will be marketed to a teenage driver. It's kinda a decision of whether you want the equipment and whether it has much value.


That's what I was going back and forth with: do I take it out and sell it piecemeal, or just let it go with the car? I could probably get some more money for the components outside the car, but then the hassle of trying to find buyers for all of it (who wants questionable MTX amps from almost 20 years ago?), potentially selling only some of it and sitting on the rest that may or may not be used in my current car, the list goes on. I decided I'd try to sell with the car. If buyer balks, I'll rip it out and deal with it later.

Ended up selling the system with the car. I went on eBay to find past listings that have sold and averaged their sell prices together. I added these up and determined a dollar amount I was happy with and the buyer was happy with. I threw the price out to the guy and they agreed. They picked up the car this past Saturday.


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## Buickmike (Aug 10, 2012)

I think the consensus here is to get it all out of the car. I totally regret a car I sold with all the audio gear. It was a '87 CRX Si with a really nice Sony headunit that had the little joystick remote, an Alesis MEQ-230, a Coustic XM-5e, an ADS PQ10, an Orion Cobalt 260, a set of Infinity RS 5.25's with some MB Quart 4"s and tweets, and a JL 12w1. I was so stupid to let it all go just to make sure it sweetened the deal to sell the car fast.


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