Is Component "Upgradability" Important ?

Your response seems to general.Manufacturers look at it differently.Some of the real expensive stuff is costly to upgrade. I remember reading of a Levinson piece, where the upgrade is 4k.Dunlavy sure devaluated the IV,when they came out with the IVa.Res.Ref;same when they went from 50 to 55.However there are lots of pieces where a 500 or less upgrade makes a lot of dif.The biggest upgrade to me was the $300; 24/96 mod to my Theta5a.So,I guess I'm saying/sometimes yes/and others, no. Some are just happy with what they bought....Just not me.

I believe that it was more important to be able to upgrade in the near past. But now, there is much more liquidity in the marketplace with A-Gon, ram, audioshopper, etc. I would think, unless one is totaly enamoured with a piece or manufacturer, it is easier to sell existing gear and replace it with either new or used gear. Now keep in mind this opinion comes from a guy who just got the ulimate system dialed in (based around a set of Audio Physic Virgo's) and is ready to chuck it all for the next upgrade (the Audio Physic Avanti III's, Herron amp/pre, Immedia RPM TT, Immedia Sound here I come!)

i think it depends on what you're buying and how much you're spending. for example, i'm replacing my accuphase dc-330 pre/dac with a boulder 1012 pre/dac. both of these components are in the $15k+ msrp class. both are also upgradable. the accuphase can already be fitted with an option board that allows playback of sacd via the dp-100 transport. the boulder is also designed to make upgrades easy through the replacement of ic's. if these products and others at or above their pricepoint weren't upgradable, i wouldn't even consider purchasing them. it simply wouldn't make economic sense. at least that's my opinion, FWIW. -kelly

bear in mind there are improvement upgrades to existing models, like HDCD capability or a phono board, which are well and good. then there are replacement upgrades which make the former current model obsolete overnight. i'm not sure what the general feeling is, but in the case of obsolesence, i'd prefer to have an original iteration of any product then to have one 'that sounds just like the new but is really an old' version of anything. in general i'm a bit wary of anything that's been modified from original factory spec. modified goods wear a red flag in the form of a long winded explanation for the mod and may be harder to sell down the road. so all in all, upgradability is important if you can decide from day one that you're going to stay loyal to a certain model. but i doubt this need be necessary when there's so much else out there worth trying and listening.

Hi Mcdh1; it seems to me that upgradeability is most important with components that have rapidly changing (improving) technology, and to me this means digital "stuff", especially DACs, CD players etc. I recently purchased an ML 360S DAC that had been upgraded from a 36S-- the 360S had been owned and upgraded by a high level Madrigal employee, and the unit was in perfect condition. This 360S DAC is now fully software upgradable, and I intend to keep it for years. I am not nearly as concerned about amp, pre-amp, or speaker upgradeability-- but digital technology changes so fast that upgradability is important, IMO. Cheers. Craig