Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

Resale prices over the long run are most likely the only reliable metric to bank on when it comes to determining value.

Mapman,
I understand your point but I look at it differently.  I guess it depends if you are going to keep stuff or resell stuff but if you plan to keep things for awhile, another measure of value could be considered the enjoyment something brings to the buyer/user.

I just finished auditioning two very good monoblock amplifiers in my system with the intent to keep one pair or the other.  One was designed and manufactured by a highly-regarded designer whose products command universally high resale prices.  The other was designed and manufactured by another well-regarded designer that mostly flies below the mainstream radar and whose products do not command anywhere near the resale prices (as a percentage of the new price) as the first designer.   I liked the "below the radar" amplifier better in my system and will keep that amplifier and sell the other.  In this case, the amplifier I enjoyed the most and kept provides the higher value to me.


Geoff,

The only opinion that matters is the person's who is selling the thing.

Replace the word "selling" with "buying"

"You apparently don’t seem to know that going to audio stores is no way to audition cables or anything else for that matter. For one thing they keep changing their equipment so much the system never gets a chance to break in. "

Geoff, you're so precious.  Again you talk like you know something when you really don't.  All cables I audition are in my own setup or in my friends setup that I know well.  It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

"Drac, If you can’t respect others at least get a little self respect."

Watts, perhaps you should look in the mirror.

"Nobody pays retail. Not in this market. Strawman alert. Example: a dealer pays what, 50-60% of retail. And sells them for whatever he can get, let's say 80-90% of retail. So, no one is paying retail. Gee, do you think the manufacturer knows that everyone wants a deal."

No geoff,  try more like 10-20% of retail for dealers for expensive wires.  Nordost dealers will offer close to 50% off retail and still make a huge profit.  Even at 50% off, they're not worth the price to most audiophiles, like those $10k Nordost jumper cables let alone their $50k speaker cables. Reasonable cable manufactures who sell cables in the range up to around $2k have their dealers pay 50% of retail. 

Nordost has been around a long time.  Someone must be buying their cables. Any idea how many of their top of the line stuff they sell? How many $40,000 pairs of speaker cables are sold in a year? Transparent Audio makes some great low and mid price cables...never tried Nordost