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Old Homeowners Offering TV Setup
y2jake215
certified Flat Birther theoristthe Last Good Boy onlineRegistered User regular
certified Flat Birther theoristthe Last Good Boy onlineRegistered User regular
I bought a new house and the homeowners just emailed offering to leave behind their media setup in the basement.
It consists of:
Samsung UN55D8000Y 1080P LED TV
Bose Lifestyle 38 surround sound system
They appear (and appeared, during the walkthrough) to be in good to very good condition, and the owner's have kept the house in mostly immaculate condition, so I'm not excessively worried about damage or anything.
They're asking $1000. For the cost and age of the system, is this worth it? It's convenient in that the TV is already mounted (factor in TV mounting bracket cost, etc) as well as the surround sound system. The TV appears to have been a fairly expensive TV (~$3500) at the time it was new, but its a 2011 model, I think. It's old enough that I don't think it's actively being sold anywhere, so I can't compare prices. The Bose system is selling for a variety of prices on eBay, from $275 to like $700.
I've never been knowledgable about electronics and how quickly the tech improves/the hardware itself wears out. Not sure what my money could get me right now (like if an equivalent TV is $300 now, or whatever). I anticipate the only real options here are to counter ($300 maybe?) or to refuse it and probably purchase an equivalent setup at the $1000 prince range. Any advice appreciated! Thanks
It consists of:
Samsung UN55D8000Y 1080P LED TV
Bose Lifestyle 38 surround sound system
They appear (and appeared, during the walkthrough) to be in good to very good condition, and the owner's have kept the house in mostly immaculate condition, so I'm not excessively worried about damage or anything.
They're asking $1000. For the cost and age of the system, is this worth it? It's convenient in that the TV is already mounted (factor in TV mounting bracket cost, etc) as well as the surround sound system. The TV appears to have been a fairly expensive TV (~$3500) at the time it was new, but its a 2011 model, I think. It's old enough that I don't think it's actively being sold anywhere, so I can't compare prices. The Bose system is selling for a variety of prices on eBay, from $275 to like $700.
I've never been knowledgable about electronics and how quickly the tech improves/the hardware itself wears out. Not sure what my money could get me right now (like if an equivalent TV is $300 now, or whatever). I anticipate the only real options here are to counter ($300 maybe?) or to refuse it and probably purchase an equivalent setup at the $1000 prince range. Any advice appreciated! Thanks
y2jake215 on
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And if you decide later on to upgrade tv's with a prime day or black friday sale, it's easy to change the brackets from one tv to another and put the new tv up. Just get the exact mount specs so you know how much weight it can hold up.
Fair price for that is about $300. Go $500 to make it "nice" looking on an offer sheet. I'd tell them to just go ahead and take it to be honest.
They probably don't want to patch or deal with unsightly huge holes for sound systems and wall mounted TV which is why they want you to buy it. Make sure you request a day when they're not there to check out the system to make sure it still functions.
This is without even really looking for a deal:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-65-class-7-series-4k-uhd-tv-smart-led-with-hdr/6401722.p?skuId=6401722
65" 4k LED tv - $500
Yamaha 725w surround system - $480
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/yamaha-725w-4k-ultra-hd-5-1-channel-home-theater-system-with-bluetooth-black/6352589.p?skuId=6352589
It looks like those bose systems are just stupidly expensive. The one "lifestyle" one at Best Buy is $1000 by itself.
I'd tell them they're welcome to leave it, but I wouldn't pay for it. As someone said, they likely don't want to deal with patching the wall. If you're going to mount your own TV there anyway that may be another negotiation point.
1) Are the various AV cables ran behind the drywall already? If the audio cables are ran to the surround sound system that's great, because it's super cheap to upgrade to better spakers. Bose sound...okay in my opinion, but are expensive for the brand name. If the video cables are behind the wall then you're bound to whatever tech was available at the time and upgrading to HDMI 2.2 HDCP or what have you could be a chore.
2) That TV weighs around 36 pounds and given the size, it would be nice to have a mount already in place.
Anyway, I agree with @zepherin that $1,000 is incredibly high. Guessing that mount is probably $150, and the Bose system (which isn't worth much in my opinion), maybe another $200 that gives you a $650 budget which gets you a 65 inch or so model from this year or the last (a few hundred bucks gets you a lot more size).
Now, one last thing - you already bought this house? Depending on how the sales agreement was written - and what counts as a 'fixture' - be wary of permitting the sellers back into your place to take stuff with them. Also, have you moved in? Because if you say no, let them in to take their stuff with them, they have ZERO reason to fix up the walls or any damage they cause.
So, anyway, that TV is pretty out of date, I think Bose systems are brand name expensive, and I am a little concerned about the AV cables in place.
The audio are definitely behind the wall, run around the room. Based off of this photo, I think the video cables are too:
I have already bought the house, but closing is next month. They still live there, I have not moved in. I assume that yeah, this is because they do not want to have to bother with taking everything down, fixing the walls, etc., which is why I'm fine lowballing. I doubt they'd just leave it, but if I offer even a token amount, they might accept for the convenience.
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
If it was actually worth that kind of money they could pay someone $100 to move it and sell it for half of what they want you to pay, and still make out with $400 profit. I know plenty of people who could really use that kind of money right now.
The TV is too old to be asking any kind of real money for ($50? Maybe a hundo?) And Bose stuff performs fine, it's generally about equivalent in quality and sound to Korean brands like LG (not supermarket stuff, the mid-range gear you can get at Best Buy or whatever), but they price it like it's Marantz or Harmon Kardon. So let them take the bits they paid too much for, and replace it with your own brand new gear that will significantly outperform it.
We went back forth a little about not needing the 70" tv and came to a figure we were happy with for what they would leave, especially when we took into account our general lack of motivation at installing new systems and getting everything wired up that well. It reached a point where both sides were happy to not have to do extra work and just make a deal.
I install this stuff for a living working as a differently-branded "agent" that may or may not work for the above mentioned website. I wouldn't touch that Yamaha system with a fifty foot wire pull rod. It's not that Yamaha is bad, it's not! But home-theater-in-a-box kits are almost universally garbage. Except for Bose, which are strictly okish but overpriced.
That TV and sound system they want to leave? I've done work with those Lifestyle 38 units before, people using them with newer TVs and needed a bit of help getting them configured. They work fine, still do the job, but nah. They can leave it if they want, but I wouldn't pay a dime for it. If they want to take it with them, you'll have the wires in the wall that you can use for anything you want that will be better.
You can use the wall mount, though! Make sure they leave all the parts, but the mount should be usable for a newer TV in the same dimensions. Depending on the brand you'll probably need different bolts to attach to the TV (most TVs in the 55" range use an M6x12 or M6x35 bolt, Samsung are assholes and need M8x45-50 depending on the set), but the bracket will still work. VESA standards came about before 2011, you're good there. So maybe offer them the option of leaving the TV behind, and then recycle it when you're ready to upgrade. Paying the $20 to recycle the TV is cheaper than the $100+ for a good mount.
Check the wiring though! Like MegaMan001 said, a lot of that wiring is likely to be older RCA and lower speed HDMI cables. And this should have been caught on a home inspection, but if there's no outlet behind the TV make sure they didn't run the power cable through the wall. It's a big fire code violation that a lot of people do anyway because "eh fuck it" but your insurance company won't cover you in case of a fire if they find out.
However however, it turns out they didn’t leave the amplifier (“media center” in all the Bose Lifestyle 38 documentation). I said uh this is not what we agreed on, but I don’t think they’re going to budge (they’re contending they gave only the speakers to cover the holes), and it’s past closing, so I’m likely not going to get it.
So my follow up question is, short of buying a replacement media center off eBay (they’re kind of ugly, around $150, and include a DVD player which I don’t care about, so I’d prefer not to) what are my options to replace it? I know next to nothing about surround sound or audio systems in general. The subwoofer, which is the main input from the media center, has almost an Ethernet-looking audio input port. I don’t know if this is common or unique to the Bose or what. I have an AV receiver from my record player - could it function as an amp? Would I suffer a decrease in sound quality? What cord would I need, if anyone recognizes the input (pics below, of the input and the amp)
If I can’t use that, does anyone have any recommendations for an amplifier/media center that would work with Bose Lifestyle 38 speakers/subwoofer?
Thanks!
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Fuck those previous owners though.
You shouldn't need to pull new wires, just snip the proprietary ends off the wires that are there and use whatever speakers you want.
Yeah but when given the opportunity to run higher quality cabling that whatever the previous owners had installed, why not jump on that opportunity? Get a reel of really nice in-wall rated speaker twin core, fit Nakamichi gold-plated banana plug ends, and still only spend a couple of hundred bucks maximum for cabling that will never need replacing.
Depends. Did the wiring get done while the walls were open and end up stapled to the studs?
And yeah, you can do that. It's a question of if you'll notice the difference, though. A lot of people won't.
Uh, that's illegal?
It's against fire code, yeah. Putting a power cord through a wall is against code because it's not rated to go in the wall. Without any sort of rating on the wire, it's not legit. This is true of a lot of cheap cabling as well.
Now, is it going to cause a fire? Probably not. But if there is a fire, your insurance will have ground to not cover losses. Something like this will put the outlet where you need it while being legit.