"Lowballers" or legit buyers willing to pay today's market price? Which is drastically lower than wishful thinking and the enticing prism of nostalgia suggest?
Who said anything about nostalgia?
How to dispose of your system?
A lot of us are getting to the age where we may start thinking about what will happen to our precious systems when we’re gone? Will they be sold in pieces, breaking up the synergy we’ve worked so hard to establish? That seems to me to be criminal.
What about trying to sell the whole system, kit and kaboodle, maybe to a member of this forum? Would anyone, perhaps a novice, be willing to pay for a very finely tuned instrument?
If the system cost say, $35K to put together, what would a fair price be?
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I really think this is a good discussion, especially if you're older And how elaborate your system is. I am at drop Dead anytime age 😆 61 And I have a very elaborate system And as one member mentioned most people don't know how to turn on the system cuz it's so complex these days, I have a separate subpanel with four individual breakers for four outlets for my stereo components I have a 12-year-old son That I have been saying to him I'm leaving the system to you You need to know some things number one it shouldn't be moved because of the electrical requirements on this system I explain the subpanel to him he knows how to turn it off and on I told him exactly what the system would cost if it was new And it wouldn't make sense to sell it This is something you keep for the rest of your life I think 10k systems or less wouldn't be such a big deal to pass on To a family member but for some of the higher end systems Need to be discussed with family members because they're more complex and if you're older you should be having this conversation with your loved ones because there are a lot of systems in this group that are a few hundred k And above those are the systems that need to be discussed and With loved ones That old saying says here today gone tomorrow is definitely reality.
Dan |
I consider myself a realist (some would say a pessimist, I'm sure)... Assuming that those of us thinking about this issue / asking the question still have another 20 -25 years of life in them, and are not contemplating selling out in the very near future... There's a 75% probability (IMO, and just a figure off the top of my head) that it's all going to either go to the landfill or be sold as a lot for pennies on the dollar. Why? Because TODAY the pool of hobbyists / interested buyers & sellers of high end audio equipment is already half of what it was 20 years ago... 20 - 25 years from now, it will be 10% of what it is TODAY. The market will simply dwindle down to almost nothing, like it or not. Next factor, the overwhelming majority of people left in 20+ years with any interest at all will be in 3 categories: 1) the remaining old fogeys like us who grew up with this equipment but who, for the most part, will be too old / too poor to be in a position to spend exorbitant sums of money on purchasing your estate equipment. They will be too busy clinging to their own hoard, all the while proclaiming "I don't care what anyone says - I won't selling for less than I paid for it - and if I can't get my price, I ain't selling!; 2) Wealthy individuals of any age who - if they have any interest at all - will be much more likely to simply purchase new, and have little to no interest in what will be seen as antiquated equipment by then; 3) A very small slice of younger people who might have interest in 'vintage audio' the way some of us do today. A further negative will be that the pool of people with the ability or qualifications and equipment needed to REPAIR / RESTORE electronics will be even smaller than it is today... again, probably by a factor of 5 - 10. My personal opinion / advice for those who got into this at least in part as an "investment / for retirement"... Start planning for a sale within the next few years, max. The longer you hold out the less you will get for your gear; and the greater a chance that it may literally just be thrown away. The silver lining? You will be dead - and will not know, or care, by then... |
@carlso63 ”The longer you hold out the less you will get for your”….. Has anyone thought about the hardware you play on your gear? As an experienced example, l believe that with the type of diverse music in my collectible CD and LP library, it has in real terms carried on depreciating in value each year. Those same like minded buyers/collectors out there are all dying off too. The value of music in the resale market is collapsing along with the audiophile base. Less suitable buyers equals diminishing returns. Spot on carlso63 |
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