The first luxury item you bought?

[gstrom99]

I bought a Jensen system for my TA.
Since then factory is sufficient.

Yeah, the last 4 new(ish) veh's I bought had great sound systems from the factory. The engineering in these things have come a long way.

 

[jyoutz]

I've mentioned this before....

When I bought a house with my fiancé and moved out the summer before our wedding, my dad bought the following:
- A Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 with a snow plow.
- A walk behind snow blower.
- A Simplicity lawn tractor with a mower, snow blade and snow blower.
- A trailer for the tractor.
- A leaf blower.

Of course, I asked him why it took him so long to ditch the hand tools, tarps and push mower that we'd used for decades and his answer was simple....

"We had you!"

I can relate. When my boys left home I started buying equipment to reduce the hand labor.

 

[ruffdog]

Nice tools.........with tools I made a living and repaired what I had.

 

[garry1p]

Around 1968 I bought a Fisher stereo receiver and 2 matching speakers .

I don't remember what it cost, but I do know we really couldn't afford it raising 2 young boys on a single income.
Fisher was top of the line at the time it certainly was a luxury item for us.

 

[gsganzer]

I guess I splurged when I bought some of my hunting gear. My thermal binoculars and thermal riflescope that I use for hunting pigs and coyotes were pricey, but I really enjoy using them. I bought them as a reward to myself after I had a record year at work, spending 265 nights in hotels in my travels. I used a combination of credit card reward points and cash.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Differences in perspective.

From my mother's Home Interior parties as a child, to the millions of dollars in paintings, sculptures, and statues held by my wife's employer, it's never done much for me.

If one purchases art for their own enjoyment, I respect and appreciate that, but the art world is full of inflated egos and the types of folks that own things to impress others. It's not unique in that regard, but it's particularly strong.

We have metal sculptures at our home. They didn't cost me a thing, overflow from someone else's collection, and for that price they can't be beat. When they're wanted again, he will make arrangements for them to be moved. I enjoy having them, I do, but never would I pay for them.

A co-worker brought in a painting he did of Alice Cooper back in the 70's, he's giving it to my 9-year-old. I'll put it in a frame to protect it, but that means more to me due to the sentimentality. He was kind enough to pass it along to my youngest, and I know that means a lot to him and my son.

Art is entirely subjective.

I only buy what I like, and only buy directly from the artist. Gallery fees are obscene.

..had to be my first car. Which was parked at my parents house for over two years as I traveled overseas. I ended up in a electronics marketplace one day and decided I needed a stereo update for it. So I bought a rack of Alpines that came home with me. I hand carried them through customs which promptly got me into the back room as they went through the screening. Somehow customs just did not believe I was an American citizen.

View attachment 4332121

I still have these components in a box, in the barn. I did manage to get them in my car for a few years when I returned stateside. I should make a cabinet for them and see if I can get real music in the barn. LOL.

Ah, the days when the dollar was king. I spent $5k on camera gear at 900 yen to the dollar and spent 3 months in Europe for $4k.

 

[Duds13]

I bought a Marantz receiver in 1975, and good speakers. All my buddies were still listening to cheap stereos. I had it reconditioned a few years ago (new capacitors, bulbs, etc...) and I put in new woofers for the speakers. I'm still enjoying the full/quality sound of that system today.

Need to see a photo of that Marantz please!

 

[Duds13]

I still have mine too. It's a Sansui, so it was a cheap system at the time, but still considered a "luxury item" so somone making $10,000/year.....

Need to see a photo of the Sansui too!

 

[ruffdog]

I had a Pioneer SX-1010 with 2 Utah speakers that had 15" woofers. Many feel the SX-1010 was the one that stated the watt wars in the 70s. I sold it a few years ago for way more money than I had bought it for.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

My first car. Walking to work would be rough

 

[Runner]

Need to see a photo of the Sansui too!

Had already switched out the turntable by this point:

 

[kenmbz]

I had a Pioneer SX-1010 with 2 Utah speakers that had 12" woofers. Many feel the SX-1010 was the one that stated the watt wars in the 70s. I sold it a few years ago for way more money than I had bought it for.

I had one of these, should never have given it away and just replaced the caps.

 

[Duds13]

I had a Pioneer SX-1010 with 2 Utah speakers that had 12" woofers. Many feel the SX-1010 was the one that stated the watt wars in the 70s. I sold it a few years ago for way more money than I had bought it for.

That's a beauty

 

[Duds13]

Had already switched out the turntable by this point:
View attachment 4343629

Love it!

 

[kenmbz]

My first car. Walking to work would be rough

I bicycled to my first 4 jobs, farthest was 8 miles each way. I didn't get my license until I was 18 as I could not afford a car or insurance.
Having a nice Fuji road bike was a real change up from the hand me downs I had previously.

 

[masseyrider]

Much of my stereo equipment over the years has been Yamaha.
My first major component was if I remember the model number CR-2020.
It was a monster in beautiful rosewood with a brushed aluminum front.
One of the things I miss from the beast is analog tuning.
The tuner was excellent and picked up stations that modern digital tuners want nothing to do with.
I liked listening to AM signals at night from pretty much every corner of North America.
One of the stations was for truckers. Guys would call in with what was going on, song requests etc. It was interesting to hear weather reports from Florida to Alaska and everywhere in between.
And I built my own speaker boxes with my electrical shop teacher.
He was big on Electro Voice speakers.
The ones we installed were 15" woofers, with horn mid range and tweeter which were all concert grade.
Looked kind of ridiculous in my bedroom being dresser size before I got my own place.
They still sound great.
The ex didn't like them because they took so much space and didn't match the furniture.

 

[dodge man]

I bicycled to my first 4 jobs, farthest was 8 miles each way. I didn't get my license until I was 18 as I could not afford a car or insurance.
Having a nice Fuji road bike was a real change up from the hand me downs I had previously.

Small world, my first good bike was a Fuji. I also rode it to work which I bet was a similar distance, about 8 miles.

 

[RSKY]

We had been married for a few months and bought a washer and dryer to put in our trailer. Wife and I stood and watched the first load cycle thru with the lid up. Then put the clothes in the dryer and waited until they were dry.

It was 1974!

RSKY

 

[paulsharvey]

So, ill give a couple "luxary" items we have/used to have/whatever, that arent really expensive, but beyond the most basic

1) black peper grinder. Not expensive, but sure beats the old plain dried powdered pepper in a can

2) real butter and a butter boat; so much better than "artifical butter inspired gel oil spread"

3) espresso maker; not even high end, they can be $500+, but for like $90, one of the pod ones, and discount pods

4) cold water and ice maker on fridge


Nothing big, but minor, things you use every single day

 

[paulsharvey]

I heard it referred to as "touch points" in vehicles/tractors. The things you touch, every day, are the things that make a difference. Not huge, but the little things that you interact with, dont have to be big upgrades, but a dozen tiny things you touch/use multiple times per day, are often a bigger thing than a single big item.

You're going to make coffee twice a day. every day, until you die; have a coffee maker and coffee you like

You're going to sleep in a bed 1/4 of your living hours, so make sure its comfortable

You will spend 1/12 of your life and 1/8th of you're waking hours in a vehicle, let it be something you like

Heck, yall dont want to hear or admit it; but your phone. Your going to use your phone dozens of times, between text, call, videos, emails, games.