Ridiculous resale price of vintage equiment


The price of used vintage is downright beyond ridiculous nowadays.

It seems like many hispters are buying crap based on the looks and many flippers are happily milking them.

As an audiophile and collector this really pisses me off... sure I could sell my collection for stratospheric numbers but then what would I do with my hobby?

When I see good looking stuff, like an ARC D70 MkII selling for as much as a crappy sounding, unrestored Marantz 2240.. well, I croak. Heck, I gave one of those away because they are not very good.

Today I was comparing my really recently rebuilt ( and I mean, really rebuilt, not just "recapped" ) Marantz 2325 and Sansui G-7500. The Marantz is dark but warm, the Sansui,which sounds a lot better than the Marantz, paints a nice musical landscape but has no real depth, etc... I gave them both the best chance, driving them from the pre-out of my CJ preamp so they are getting an outstanding source... and yet, well, they sound vintage.

Is the Marantz worth $2500? Is the Sansui worth $1500? From an audiophile point of view, nope. They look good, but my DIY Aleph 5 monos, my ARC D70 MkII, and a bunch of my other amps/preamps sound far better... and yet, they are not overpriced.

OK, except for the buffoon in eBay who was asking for $26K for his Pass Aleph 2 amps.

At least the poseurs have not found Quad yet.

What do you think? Are these prices interfering with your hobby?  

esporma

Anybody who think with basic can understand basic in acoustic and economy...Yes...

It is not number theory nor Quantum physics here...

 

But it is "difficult" to figure our small room acoustic at no cost for ourself... Try it...It takes me brain work...

And it is "difficult" to understand economy at the world level and in his relation to city level....What is simple matter is to understand the level of insanity now....Most people dont figure it out though because insanity is their normalcy...

And if economy cannot be figured out without politic, ecology, and many other related  fields, likewise audio cannot be understood completely only with acoustic we need also dealing with many different engineering fields from recording aspects to play back  engineering and electronics etc...

Things  appears  simple at one level and complex at other one.... Sorry....

Then understanding economics really is difficult, and understanding audio really is difficult....I will say the opposite of you sorry....

Because you are an humble dude, congratulation! Understanding both is over the head of most people indeed you are right here....

Myself being less humble than you, i go on ANYWAY with my ongoing study of both at my level of understanding for sure....But the key to understanding is studying...Nothing else...Irony cannot replace brain work nor sarcasm save  in audio thread ...

 

«If you understand toilet bowl mechanic or your bowel movements this does not means you are a city sewage engineer »-Anonymus Smith

 

Understanding economics isnt difficult, being an audiophile isnt difficult.... But being both must be.

If you want to accurately assess a market, you have to look at actual sale prices. Taken alone, asking prices mean nothing.

An item's market value is the price agreed upon by a willing seller and a willing buyer.

Value is a subjective/objective factor that cannot be erased or replaced by market price evaluation...

It is a personal motivated complex choice to buy a vintage piece....

My own choice is explained above about my Sansui decision...

But someone else could want to pay 2000 bucks for my Sansui for complete other reasons than mine and for his specific needs...

For example there exist on the contemporary market of new product no amplifier at any price with the possible flexibility choices associated with the Sansui AU 7700..

Then somebody with other needs than mine can claim that 2000 bucks is not a too much high price to afford a piece of gear so useful in flexibility of use....

Anyway no other contemporary amplifier at any price is comparable with the great number of his features and possibilities ... NONE...

Then value is not price market...

Value is a  more stable factor than price market which  fluctuate  around  offers and demands relation... 

Collectibles are a good example of great values with sometimes low resale possibilities...

Stop shopping. Stop obsessing. Put on a record, CD, the net or any other source. Turn it up.

Economics is what the super-rich tell the Government what it is ! NO JOKE ,

My first year at Uni I took both Econ 101 and Logic 101 .

I was going nuts as one totally made the other a lie .

Went up to Econ Prof and told him my thoughts .

 

He looked at me for about a minute and nicely said to me , ": Yes, Econ is a mess but one decided upon " .

 

P,S . at one time I sold Sansui in a huge audio store in Madison , WI .

We sold 15 % of all those amps in the world !

Why ? owner let us sell FAR cheaper than any in USA . I would rather have one , or 2, of the Sansui today than anything else , The tuners were unreal !

As were the 823 TT’s . Speakers sucked , but Rockers loved them.

As did AR, Altec , KLH, Polk 10 , , Advent and others.

 

Once sold 5 full Sansui systems to 5 players of Green Bay Football Team , went fast and ! made 700$ which was a lot 50 years ago .