"Today their stuff still sounds great but the retail prices are getting out of control ie the 6 figure 888 flagship mono amps. Tech in the audio world (outside of digital) isn’t really advancing that quickly. You could even argue that we might be going backwards when you consider turntables and tube amps. Changes between model generations amount to tweaks rather then leaps which makes the price jumps hard to justify- ex. the W5 introduced in the late 90’s was $4800, its current equivalent the 860a retails for 14k. Adjusting for inflation the W5 would be about
$7,500 nearly half of it’s contemporary."
I would normally not post anything at all on these forums, as it is supposed to be a place for users to express their views. However when an error is made of a factual nature, I feel it important to point out for the sake of everyone having the correct information. Reading the post quoted above, I can certainly see how that conclusion can be arrived it, but it is nonetheless incorrect.
It is surprising to see that our prices are "out of control" because we have introduced one statement product, the 888, which is very expensive.
MOON gear starts at US $2600 for an integrated amplifier. Twenty years ago the entry integrated was $1600 (for the i-3). Power amps today start at $4300. Twenty years ago the W-3 was $3200. It is no different for preamps and phono stages.
In all cases the current models have superior sonic performance, from the perspective of sonic accuracy and in technical performance.
As for the W-5, its contemporary wasn’t the 860A at all. It never was, nor the W-7 either. The W-5 morphed into the W5.3, using the same circuit but a bit less power, however, additional sonic refinement. After that it was completely discontinued.
Costa Koulisakis
Simaudio Ltd.
