If you select and pick carefully in the used market and avoid those marquee names that for whatever reason command used values far in excess of their relative worth (i.e. Nordost, Transparent) then you can do very well (btw not meaning to say that these aren’t great cables, just that their used values are much higher than equally good cables from other manufacturers, good if you are a seller, bad as a buyer)
My rule of thumb for used cables (assuming not current models) is as follows (recognizing that no one ever pays full list for a new cable as well)
- reasonable price range 30-40% of MSRP
- excellent value range 20-30% of MSRP
- a steal (or a fake, be careful) - less than 20% of MSRP
Avoid paying more than 35% of retail unless you really know you want that cable
Consider for example this "steal" that someone made yesterday
http://echohifi.com/details/12661/Shunyata_Stratos
My rule of thumb for used cables (assuming not current models) is as follows (recognizing that no one ever pays full list for a new cable as well)
- reasonable price range 30-40% of MSRP
- excellent value range 20-30% of MSRP
- a steal (or a fake, be careful) - less than 20% of MSRP
Avoid paying more than 35% of retail unless you really know you want that cable
Consider for example this "steal" that someone made yesterday
http://echohifi.com/details/12661/Shunyata_Stratos