Hi Everyone!
So some of you may have noticed the thread I made in the Ebay forum regarding the F1000 furniture. I've always loved the older B&O furniture like the Attyca and F1000, but they're pretty rare and you don't often come across them in the US. When you do they're typically pretty expensive, too big to be shipped, and too far away to pick up (the US is pretty big). I stumbled across this F1000 set on ebay though, which was located about a 2.5 hour drive from me. I won it at my max bid of $355US, meaning I was just a couple dollars away from losing it!
I commissioned the help of my friend who had a minivan in which to pick up the stand with me. So yesterday morning we began our trip from just outside Philadelphia down to the Washington D.C. area. We arrived at the consignment seller's location, and followed him to the lady's house to collect the furniture. We walked up the steps of her townhouse into what looked like an art gallery. In the main room there was a giant wood table (I believe oak) that was uncut, and looked as if it had been sliced directly off the tree - knots, holes, everything still in it. I hadn't seen anything like it before. There was a white sofa in the center and a strange looking modern art metal coffee table. A beolab 8000 was standing in each of the rear corners, and there was a beosound 3200 on a shelf playing. The F1000 was at the top of the stairs as seen in the picture. There were some random items on top of it and a bunch of electronic/computer accessories in the cabinets, such as usb cords and digital camera accessories. Apparently it had been serving as junk storage. I asked whether she needed some help removing the items and she gives a quick "yes" in a tone as if I shouldn't have had to ask. As we're taking the stuff out she says "I don't even know what all this is." She holds up a USB cable and says "this doesn't go with it, right?" The consignment seller went to put some of the stuff on the giant wood table - "no not on there" she says. My friend then goes to put some of it on the sofa - "no not there either," as she directs us where to put the stuff. She had the F1000 setup backwards as you can see in the picture. She opened the aluminum cable runner tray along the edge and said "it even has this thing for storing things."
I normally don't fault someone for being technically oblivious, but there was a snobby way about her that bothered me. She reminded me of a line by Frisch in his book Homo Faber - "He was one of those people who thinks they are profound because they don't understand how electricity works." At the same time though she sounded like one of those strangely interesting people that I wouldn't have minded talking to for a little while.
Anyway, we arrived home with the F1000 later that afternoon. I cleaned it off to inspect it. When you look at it carefully you could see some signs of use such as some small scratches, but from standing 3 or 4 feet away...oh...ahem...I mean about a meter away it looks like new. I'll use some paint to touch up the couple of little marks on the top cobalt shelf. I used some ultra-fine 2000-grit sandpaper to refresh the brushed aluminum cabinet doors. For now my family will just be using it as a table for the old gateway plasma in the master bedroom, but when I someday move out (only 22 now) I'll take it with me and put a beosystem on it, probably either the 4500 or the white 6500 I'm starting to piece together.
Here are the pictures. The first one is from the auction page, taken in her home. The second one is in my parent's master bedroom. If you don't like the wallpaper, take it up with them 
. I'm also posting a shot from the 1991 catalogue that I've lusted over for some time now, where you can see the stand off to the left.
