Different dealers make decisions all the time about what they can sell to their markets. What sells well in one market may not in another and much of this has to do with the kind of dealer it is. I dealt mainly with Soundhounds in Victoria BC - the owner Terry Crabbe was successful for 40+ years until his passing while many other boutique dealers went belly up. One reason was that his store had tens of thousands of records and LPs and he had orders for more coming in every week because he actually listened to music. He carried a lot of brands but also brought in everyone else's gear to try out. He or members of his team attended every CES on the lookout to improve.
He carried lines to sell (McIntosh/B&W) and carried lines he liked personally that he knew would not sell as well. And he would be honest if people would ask him how he felt about the lines he carried. Mcinstosh = "soulless corporation" but it keeps the lights on - none of the people working there owned any of it - this is carried to sell and to stay in business.
He noted that 90% of the people who walk through the door were presold by looks and reviews - that's why all the dealers in BC had magazines on the tables with pages open to the reviews of the stuff they carried. Hi-Fi Center in downtown Vancouver even had the B&W award plaques for Speaker of the year or Eidtor's choice. When I asked the guy there if they heard of Line Magnetic - the first line out of his mouth was "what's the margin?" and the second line was "are they well known?" - Sound quality? not interested. Value for money? Not interested. They need to make X dollars and need to sell X number per week.
I get it - Vancouver is a darn expensive city - the massive big-box chains nearby both went out of business unable to sell enough Denon/Marantz/Yamaha/Pioneer so the boutique guy has it tough. Soundhounds in Victoria had it easier since they were there forever and had a more locked-in lease agreement. And since they carried so much gear there was no sales pressure to push any product on people. And again 90% of people already know what they want before ever listening.
Here in Hong Kong I spoke to a dealer who sells Kharma and showed me three shops on the same floor that he owns - including Kondo. We chatted for a bit and he was telling me about the rich Chinese customers (from Mainland China not Hong Kong) who buy the massive Kharma speakers and Kondo gear along with Burmeister/Goldmund/Orpheus and dozens of others. He noted that most of them just buy this stuff to show off their wealth - they don't actually listen to any of it. "What's the most expensive speaker that is famous?" - They buy it. He then has to get a crane to lift in through the outside windows because some of the speakers won't fit in the lift. He showed me pictures of the set-ups and they buy these million-dollar speakers and expensive amps - put them in a terrible position in a massive room - walk their guests through and say "Look at my $ 2 million stereo - then they walk to the next acoustically awful room and say "look at my second $2 million dollar stereo.
To be fair - the dealer noted that these stereos pale in comparison to how much these guys spend on a watch or their dozens of cars. Still, it is funny when they buy a Clearaudio Statement II turntable without actually owning any records. The point is it's really expensive and it looks really pretty.
Human hearing is a depreciating ability - with time the ears get worse. However, generally speaking, we have more money the older we get. Buying expensive audio seems to me to be more about trying to capture our youth so that if we spend enough money that will magically make our ears better/younger making us better younger. Or it's a dick-waving exercise (usually from the guys with an inferiority complex) that is rampant in Asia where those who die with the most toys win. Perhaps a midlife (if midlife is 50s/60s) crisis purchase for people afraid to ride a Harley and who already own their show-off car. Asia is a bit different because it is more public transport oriented so to show off it must be stuff inside the home and on your wrist.
Getting back to Kondo what I was a bit surprised to see was all the discontinued items and now a complete lack of choice offered by them.
They have 4 power amps - The Ongaku they list as a power amp but it is an integrated amp first. two of them are 211s and one is Parallel 300B monoblocks and one is push-pull EL34.
No 2a3 or 45 or DHT 300B
They only offer one integrated amp in their integrate amp section and it is an EL34. So they don't even offer an integrated SE amp offering?
They have discontinued
- EGON
- NEIRO
- NEIRO V1
- NEIRO V2
- KASSAI
- KASSAI SILVER
- BARANSU
- SHINRI
- KAGEKI
- KYOUEN
- GINREI
- KEGON-m
- KSL-6V6
- X-60
- KSL-NEIRO
- KSL-NEIRO/LINE
- GAKUON
- SHINDEN
- KSL-KEGON
- GAKUON-II
- Kagura
- SOUGA
The fact is people have strong preferences for tube types and designs - they love their 2a3 more than 211 or 300B - many folks who own Horn speakers especially love the 45 output tube.
I was surprised to see all these discontinued amplifiers. I mean I get that when you can't sell them you have to put them out to pasture but still their discontinued list is huge. And what they sell doesn't seem to offer much choice.
The resale argument is kind of odd because anyone who can afford a premium priced product isn't going to want to buy a discontinued model - when a product is discontinued it is generally viewed as "broken" in some manner as it needed to be fixed. I don't think people shopping at the Luxury end of the market give a shit about resale value.
Consider Mercedes, Audi, BMW - all three have absolutely crappy resale value because everyone knows the cars fall apart once the warranty is up - their abject money pits to repair - they fail often and cost a bomb to repair. Lexus is the only exception where you get Toyota quality reliability on regular fuel no less and premium dealer experience. They also have by FAR the best resale value. For people who don't care that much about the driving experience they're easily the best choice - however - if you DO care about the driving experience and $70k to you is the same as $20 is to me then WTF do you care about repair bills - you want to show your friends that you own "German engineering" and has the right name badge on the hood. Mercedes is Mercedes while Lexus is just a glorified Toyota. Indeed, part of the appeal of Mercedes is that you can tell people that your engine blew and you forked over $20,000 to fix it. The repair cost more than a Honda Civic.
In audio - if you want resale value you need to buy an amplifier, say, that never gets discontinued or replaced. I paid $1850 Canadian ($1350 USD with today's currency conversion)for my Audio Note OTO Phono SE (well before becoming a reviewer). This amp (with the Phono stage) of this generation sells for $2300-$2500 USD ($3,150 - $3,400 Canadian) - nearly double what I paid 20 years ago!
Back in 2003 I also bought AN J/SPe speakers - I sold them in 2016 and got $417 more than I paid for them new - and in ugly black and a bit banged up in the back so 7/10 condition. I sold my TT2 turntable for $600 more than I paid. A turntable!
This works because they don't get discontinued and the new prices keep rising. It doesn't work at the top end but that's because the people who buy $250,000 products and are largely buying to impress other people and there are far fewer people who can afford those price tiers. The people who CAN afford those price tiers don't shop secondhand. They won't sully themselves buying a second-hand Ongaku - only poor unwashed masses buy second-hand. If I am a rich guy - I buy new not someone else's cast off.
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