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"High end" store snobbery

Our county lies in a fairly remote part of the country.Our major city of 100,000 has one "high end" shop so to speak.

I visited them yesterday.The store has limited selection of decent  stuff-a few McIntosh amps.Marantz.Paradigm ,Focal,Sonus faber etc.No Wilsons or Bel Canto category.

I asked then if they take trade ins-I want to upgrade my one year old Yamaha RX4 AVR,worth $500 retail.

They said they only take high end components for trade i.e.McIntosh etc.

After that conversation, the 3 store employees pretty will ignored my presence and I continued browsing their meagre inventory.

 

Lo and behold!

In a corner I spotted about 30 items-old Pioneer,Yamaha amps and even an equalizer from the 1970s.Prices ranged from $75 to $500.

 

I asked :"what are these"

response from employee:"oh, those are items we are familiar with as they were swapped out for upgraded gear by our customers."

 

Thanks for tolerating my rant...

 

Gabe

 

 

gabor2525
ross6860's avatar
ross6860
103 posts
 

Something worth $500 retail?  At best, they may offer $200 on a trade.

Hardly worth the effort.  Maybe they didn't want to insult you with their offer?  Their cables probably go for more.

Just give the unit to your niece, nephew, or use it as a shop or garage unit.

We don't have a lot of choice in stores locally here either, so I feel your pain.

p05129
541 posts
 

If you live in the northwest, go to definitive in Seattle, very good if not 1 of the best in the nation. If you want to deal with a store with new and used gear, check out echohifi.com in Portland. Have done quite a bit of business with them over 20+ years. 

jafant's avatar
jafant
21,611 posts
 

gabor2525

 

Thank You for the follow up. Never act in fear about "calling out" an Audio shop.

Now, take a trek into Seattle. Very good Audio shops there.

 

Happy Listening!

mesch
3,530 posts
 

@hifihandyman  Just to be clear are you refering  to the store in Billingham?

 

mitsound
30 posts
 

I have changed from buying new to pretty much happy with my system now, and it was built with components I wasn't willing to prioritize at new prices.

The few times I did try trading in, salesmen explained they could take the trade, but as they are in business, they need to take it at an amount they can profit on, since it'll be in stock for some time.

They advised me to sell it myself- I'd be getting more for it than they would pay.

It worked out fine.

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