New Second Hand & Ex-demo Hi-Fi search engine website.

Arfa

I've been tinkering away for the last few months on a brand new second hand and ex-demo hi-fi search engine. My plan was to provide a one stop solution to finding cheap hi-fi and home cinema gear across the whole web; classifieds sites, forums, ebay and dealer clearance pages. Please check it out here:-

http://www.hifihunter.com - Second Hand Hi-Fi Search Engine

It's still relatively new, there maybe a few rough edges, but it should be pretty usable. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with bug reports and suggestions.

Arfa

uglymusic

That looks cool, Arfa.

I take it you've still got to add some sources?

I'd find categorised RSS feeds really helpful, so I can just look out for speakers, say.

Arfa

Yep probably a few more sources to add. Not got Audiochews on there yet.   I've also been focusing just on UK sites for time being. What others can you think of?

I agree, categorising stuff would be really good. However due to the way I'm aggregating content from many, man sources, each with different ways of categorising content (and some not at all), it would be no mean feat. Can't even rely on a search for "Linn speakers", as someone may have a pair of "Linn Isobarik's" listing in the classifieds of PFM, without the word 'speaker' anywhere! :-\ 

uglymusic

I'll give UK sources a bit of thought.

The categorisation thing is a pain! Maybe I'll have a play with Yahoo Pipes as a rough and ready solution.

Arfa

Oh I'm using some pretty serious Yahoo Pipes already, I feel like some regex demigod at the moment...   The big issue is with the forums (WW, PFM etc) that just throw everything in a single forum/stream. Ebay is alright, plenty of break down with their categories. AVforums group stuff a little, but something like a CD player of FM Tuner could be anywhere on there... Gumtree only splits stuff into DJ Decks, cinema and Stereos... And as for the multitude of dealers with ex-dem/clearance sections; some are a single page, some are heavily broken down (e.g. Sevenoaks).

I think Audiojumble and AudioChews are the main ones I'm missing. Did start a pipe for it, but got bogged down with the YQL in the Pipe missing stuff that was there when running the YQL standalone...  

Don't suppose you know if the RSS feed here, can be filtered by forum, to just return the 'For Sale' folder? - Edit: scratch that, found it now!

Arfa

Right, Audiochews added to site. Now I've got espresso machines in the index! Are quite tempting to be fair, but I'll stick with my Rancilio. ;-)

uglymusic

Arfa. You are a serious coffee man!

I very nearly bought one of those, but ended up with a DeLonghi bean-to-cup. 

On the RSS feeds, I was really thinking of a rough solution that spat out, say, speakers for my use. If I mess up, then that's my call. If you mess up, then you get users moaning at you, of course.

And thanks for adding 'Chews.

Arfa

The Rancilio was a wedding anniversary present from my lovely wife. I'm sure, she only brought it, so I can make her lots of latte's... ;-) Got a good friend with a very nice DeLonghi bean-to-cup, very impressive, both on convenience and results.

No prob adding 'Chews, always figured the site would be a two way thing, aggregating content from else where, but also driving traffic back.

uglymusic

Now that's a cool anniversary present!

Alan

Great site Arfa, well done! (-Again)

Arfa

I've now created a Facebook page for the site:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hi-Fi-Hunter/242185402481322

If you're interested, become a fan and keep up to date with site news and any featured items I stumble upon in the second hand market! Every time a particular juicy piece of kits crops up, be it rare, super cheap or just very funky, I'll be featuring it on the site as a top buy. Any suggestions for stuff to feature, more than welcome, although perhaps best not suggest your stuff to feature! ;-)