For those with the cojones...and chequebook to match!

[spiritofmusic]

Well Keith, AS2000 and AF0 are highly limited production runs, so value should be maintained.

I've just seen a s/h ad for one of the big brick Wadia cdps from the early 2000s. $15k new I believe, w $5k of mods. Yours for $3k.

 

[spiritofmusic]

How much does the Caliburn/Cobra fetch these days? $100k new I believe.
Rockport Sirius?

 

[Steve Williams]

High end anything is almost cult like. I find for me that when I spend money in audio to deliver for my ears the best sound reproduction I truly don't care what it looks like. Paramount for me is how it sounds. Everything else is second

When I care about how something is going to look I buy a piece of art and hang it on the wall or some sculpting sitting somewhere in the house.

As for the reality of how things depreciate, this can be said of anything we purchase and definitely the greatest depreciation IMO comes when reselling high end equipment of any sort. Beauty is in the eyes of the first beholder who will pay the cash to buy the gear whereas the second guy to buy the same equipment is more looking for a deal rather than looking for the beauty seen by the first ower

 

[Legolas]

agree with that Steve. I think the big deal is to try and buy gear, esp high priced items with the intension to be 'end game'. Problem is that is not always the case or possible, there is luck in it, and also choices. The only products I have settled on and been relaxed about are Aries Cerat products. I feel I am end game, and I also feel the performance matches or surpassed the price. I have found many audio products don't do that, which is both a shame and a pitfall for those that get stuck in that loop. Selling looses value, and if you then buy new a big loss occurs. Some moves I have made in the distant past have been sideways, not always upwards. I won't mention which make of products but those that know me will know.

 

[microstrip]

Well Keith, AS2000 and AF0 are highly limited production runs, so value should be maintained.

I've just seen a s/h ad for one of the big brick Wadia cdps from the early 2000s. $15k new I believe, w $5k of mods. Yours for $3k.

Nobody knows how value should be maintained until he tries to sell it.

IMHO limited production does not warrant anything in the high-end. Vinyl looks to be currently at a boom, who knows how long it will last? BTW, I was told that some Lego Star Wars models were a much better investment than high-end.

 

[the sound of Tao]

High end anything is almost cult like. I find for me that when I spend money in audio to deliver for my ears the best sound reproduction I truly don't care what it looks like. Paramount for me is how it sounds. Everything else is second

When I care about how something is going to look I buy a piece of art and hang it on the wall or some sculpting sitting somewhere in the house.

As for the reality of how things depreciate, this can be said of anything we purchase and definitely the greatest depreciation IMO comes when reselling high end equipment of any sort. Beauty is in the eyes of the first beholder who will pay the cash to buy the gear whereas the second guy to buy the same equipment is more looking for a deal rather than looking for the beauty seen by the first ower

Steve, you are 100% right about the driver for buying with the second owner for super hi end being much more likely to be looking for a deal to go with the dream. Although I also guess that buying second hand makes the dream more possible for many of us as well.

It does vary if you are going final destination rather than just a stopover. As a designer I am also caught up in process so I get how for some the chassis isn’t the end all or be all but it is a part of it for me.

I’ve been lucky that I have found both sonic and visual happiness in gear but obviously that attraction isn’t universal so many wouldn’t necessarily even see the beauty that I get drawn into but this isn’t really at all important as everyone has their own set of values and their own compass and are in it to find their own way through to a lasting happiness.

 

[NorthStar]

Nobody knows how value should be maintained until he tries to sell it.

For me the real value is not financial. When your music audio is stolen from you it's @ that point you know the real value. ...The journey it took you to get there.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Nobody knows how value should be maintained until he tries to sell it.

IMHO limited production does not warrant anything in the high-end. Vinyl looks to be currently at a boom, who knows how long it will last? BTW, I was told that some Lego Star Wars models were a much better investment than high-end.

Classic Records LZ 45rpm box sets are not bad either.

x10+ of original list price. and it's not vintage either......only a re-issue. and i don't see this one ever losing value.

 

[asiufy]

there aren't many "bland boxes" in the high end anymore and you don't have to spend $65k to get a nice one.

There are still some bland boxes, but yeah it's far easier to make an amp look good on the outside than to make it sound exceptionally good. So yeah, a lot of brands go for looks.

And I do agree you don't need $65k to get a nice amp, but I never said that's a minimum or a baseline. I just said that, for $65k, you might as well have a pleasant to look at and well-made case to go with the exceptional sound.

Most people like the ARC REF 160M's looks, because of the cool meters, but I'd say 100% of the buyers end up with it because of how they sound, not because of how they look. Yeah the look is "icing on the cake", as I said earlier, and boost the pride of ownership. But it's for nothing if it doesn't sound good.

 

[sefischer1]

There's always a level beyond everything. I remember when Levinson brought out his original preamp in the 70's, and the price was insane. Fast forward until today and it would seem like the deal of the century.

I sold Levinson in the early 80s. Then, an ML 7a preamp was $5500. It was built to mil standards but was single ended, using the beautiful CAMAC connectors. I beleive, based on Honda Accord price increases and others, that would be about $17K today. Make it balanced and we're pushing $20-25K. It was expensive then and would still be expensive. Now consider relatively reduced sales volumes ...

 

[tima]

From folks I know and however many posts I've read, the component whose looks influences people more than any other is the turntable.

There seems to be several different camps; there's: the exotic/pretty wood plinth, often heavily plasticized (eg artisan fidelity), the shiny bling camp with plenty of polished/chromed metal (eg transrotor, whatever is that below), the 'technical' look (eg kronos, tw akustik, techdas) , the clear acrylic/lucite group (eg basis, pro-ject,mcintosh, scheu), the classic look (eg sota, kuzma, vpi, linn), with combinations and variations of these, and others. Plinth size and leg towers may be other aesthetics.

 

[bonzo75]

Nobody knows how value should be maintained until he tries to sell it.

IMHO limited production does not warrant anything in the high-end. Vinyl looks to be currently at a boom, who knows how long it will last? BTW, I was told that some Lego Star Wars models were a much better investment than high-end.

Currently vinyl is a better and more reliable investment than London property

 

[bonzo75]

People can pay for what they choose. Sonics, build quality, looks, status, safety for kids, whatever they want. The problem is when they pay for without knowing what they paid for, and then vehemently defend their decision that it was all for sonics. Kind of like the guy who buys a sports car thinking chicks will fancy a ride, and then tells chicks this is actually to transport our future kids to school and to buy groceries. Then you have a break in intention and communication

 

[spiritofmusic]

Gosh Ked, you should be a relationship councillor, you have rare insight.

 

[tima]

Currently vinyl is a better and more reliable investment than London property

Was that true 30-50 years ago?

 

[bonzo75]

Was that true 30-50 years ago?

Actually that was my frustration on brexit. The variation in Theresa May's proposals is lesser even than that between Marc's system threads

 

[tima]

Actually that was my frustration on brexit. The variation in Theresa May's proposals is lesser even than that between each of Marc's system threads

Heh, that was funny.

 

[christoph]

Was that true 30-50 years ago?

And I even doubt this will hold true for more than 5 years into the future

 

[spiritofmusic]

Of course, at the current rate Brexit will get completed well before Ked gets a system.

 

[christoph]

Of course, at the current rate Brexit will get completed well before Ked gets a system.