The Music Room

I've bought and done trade-ins over the past few years and been very pleased with the outcome.

But, I dont think I'll be doing business with them again. I purchased a pair of Purist IC's and asked them to inspect and test the RCA connectors. The transaction went well, but after a few weeks a connector broke, then a connector broke on the second cable. Purist's price for installing new RCA's is very high. Now I'm stuck with these expensive cables.

The other reason is due to an insulting offer on a preamp I had for sale. I sent pics and received an offer so low that i laughed. I emailed back showing the prices on the used market and they wouldn't up their offer. I eventually sold the preamp on Audiogon for 3X the amount. I went to TMR first assuming I could make a fast sale at a fair price.

The problem with buying some items from them is the unknown provenance; eg, amount of owners unknown, age of item unknown.

Am I missing something, or do people not realize they are buying your old gear for the sole purpose of selling it? 

Of course they're only going to pay a fraction of what "it's worth".  They need to make a profit to cover their costs of doing business.  Selling gear can be a hassle sometimes and what you're doing is basically paying them to deal with that for the convenience of an instant sale and fast cash. 

The actual cost of almost any physical good sold by a company is a fraction of what they sell it for.  They have fixed costs they have to cover with that margin, - facility costs, payroll, insurance, power, phones, internet, marketing, sales, etc. etc. etc. not to mention making sure they make a small profit and stay in business.

I am the guy that started this thread. I did purchase from them and was satisfied with the transaction.

They have a 45 day return policy and pay return shipping for defective items. So something does not ring true about lowrider57’s claim. That also makes me wonder if the 3x claim isn’t a bit exaggerated.

Big_Greg's comment does ring true.  One thing he does not mention is that their 45 day return policy means they assume that risk as well.
TMR’s return policy (from their web site:
Every purchase made at www.tmraudio.com carries a full 45 day return policy**. If you purchased your product from us elsewhere, a standard 30 day term applies. If you’re not happy with your purchase for any reason or if you’ve simply changed your mind... no problem. Simply ship it back for a full refund or exchange (minus S&H costs). If you have received an item that is defective in some way, we will make it right. Let us know - we will pay for return shipping and repair the item or refund 100% of your original purchase price. New items that have been opened will generally incur a 15% re-stocking fee.
** Items purchased on tmraudio.com using “Bread” financing are subject to a strict 30-day return window which begins from date of purchase.

Ok, so dont believe me. I’ve been on this forum a lot longer than you. If you were familiar with my threads and comments you would see that I dont troll, exaggerate, or make negative comments.
This is an old thread and last year I made positive comments about TMR. Had good transactions with them.

First point; Purist makes very fine cables and at that time I had Aqueous Luminist cables. So I wanted to add another Purist and because the age of the cable and ownership was unknown, I wanted the connectors fully checked out. After only good experiences with TMR, provenance was not an issue in this case. These were possibly abused cables or the connectors were stressed by a previous owner and should have been more thoroughly inspected by the techs when traded in. What are the odds of connectors on both ICs breaking off.
I only just read about the 45 day warranty, I thought it was 30 days. So, my bad for not returning them.

Next item was an Atma-sphere UV-1 preamp with phono, highly modified by Ralph. My cost new was $2700 and I owned it for 2 years, still had a warranty (which was attractive to the eventual buyer). The offer from TMR was $300. I dont want to hear that they need to recoup operating costs and make a profit in this case.
Put it up for sale here and at US Audiomart, had offers and took about a month to sell. Also included lots of NOS tubes and sold the unit for $1350.
So there’s my story which may sound like fantasy or BS to you.

Hi lowrider57 I hear you on the cables and thinking you missed the return deadline. It is still surprising that you did not contact them, being so close to the perceived deadline. By your own account you considered them to be a reputable firm, and so at least some accommodation might have been expected.

I have to take you at your word on the UV-1 figures, so I apologize for the negative remark. Perhaps TMR have not had good experience reselling Atma-sphere equipment. I notice that Dick Olsher panned the phono stage in both Ablosute Sound and HiFi+. Enjoy The Music had no such reservations, however.

Even given that electronics tend to be undervalued when traded in, what amounts to a better than 75% discount seems a little steep. It worked out well for someone, though: The person who scored your 2 year old UV-1 for $1350.
I wonder what you replaced it with.