Imagine you were driving an older Honda Accord. You've been extremely happy with it, but felt that it was time for a new one. You walk into your Honda dealer and you find that the model introduced in 2009 is still available as a current model. In 2009 and until only a few months ago, the 2009 model sold for $24,990. But now it sells for the insane price of $35,990. How quickly would you walk out of that dealership?
What I'm referring to here specifically is the MIT Magnum M2.3 interconnect. I own several of these. The retail price was $2499 when I grabbed them - and I am pretty sure this was the original retail price when this was cable introduced in 2009. The retail price recently increased by $1100 to $3599 - a 44% increase!
Of course it's always been relatively easy to grab the Magnum M2.3 and other cables from this series for half off. But that still means that one needs to fork out 44% more for the M2.3 - a whopping $550 extra!
Per the inflation calculator at http://www.westegg.com/inflation, what cost $2499 in 2009 should be $2667 in 2012. So the increase due to inflation after three years is $168 - or $56 per year. MIT's increase was $1100 four years after this cable was introduced - which works out to $275 per year. MIT's price increase is almost 5x the rate of inflation.
For comparison, let's look at one of MIT's competitors: Nordost. The 1m Nordost Valhalla interconnect was $3300 when it first came out in 2001 (as best as I can tell). According to the inflation calculator, the price should have increased to $4276 in 2012. Guess what? The Valhalla sells for today for $4260!! The Valhalla was improved once in its lifetime (said to be a substantial bump), so a person buying the Valhalla today actually gets a better value. This is how it's supposed to be done!!!
[Of course Nordost has just come out with the Valhalla 2 that's priced at $9799 - 43% more than the Valhalla 1. But the Valhalla 2 is an entirely new and apparently a much improved cable. Unlike MIT, Nordost didn't just jack up the price of the original Valhalla by 44%.]
Alternatively there's MIT's Matrix series. But here the prices seem inflated as well. The now discontinued Magnum MA interconnect had 36 poles and retailed for $2499. It looks like the Magnum MA was replaced by the Matrix HD 36, which also has 36 poles. The HD 36 adds F.A.T. and increases the price by $1500 (60%) to $3999. The Magnum MA, if it were still around, would likely be priced at $3599 as the M2.3. So maybe F.A.T. only added $400 to the price - and the rest of the increase is the same extra fat (pun intended) that was added to the "dot 3" series. Just guessing with respect to the pricing here though. I sure wish it were easier to figure out MIT's various models and lineups. [Has anyone compared the HD 36 to the Magnum MA? If so, do you think it's worth the 60% price increase?]
I had been saving for quite some time in hopes of moving up to the next rung in MIT's "dot 3" lineup. So, as you'd imagine I am extremely bummed about this massive increase in price. The money I saved will no longer allow me to obtain the same level of improvements I would have gotten earlier this year prior to this massive price increase. As a long time MIT customer, this is a very tough pill to swallow, and I think it tells me that I should move on to a different brand. I had long thought that MIT delivered a good value for the price. But that no longer seems to be the case.
It seems that most audio manufacturers today are attempting to deliver a better bang for the buck. MIT appears to have gone way in the opposite direction, which seems insane given the state of the economy. Can anyone offer an explanation for this apparent madness?
What I'm referring to here specifically is the MIT Magnum M2.3 interconnect. I own several of these. The retail price was $2499 when I grabbed them - and I am pretty sure this was the original retail price when this was cable introduced in 2009. The retail price recently increased by $1100 to $3599 - a 44% increase!
Of course it's always been relatively easy to grab the Magnum M2.3 and other cables from this series for half off. But that still means that one needs to fork out 44% more for the M2.3 - a whopping $550 extra!
Per the inflation calculator at http://www.westegg.com/inflation, what cost $2499 in 2009 should be $2667 in 2012. So the increase due to inflation after three years is $168 - or $56 per year. MIT's increase was $1100 four years after this cable was introduced - which works out to $275 per year. MIT's price increase is almost 5x the rate of inflation.
For comparison, let's look at one of MIT's competitors: Nordost. The 1m Nordost Valhalla interconnect was $3300 when it first came out in 2001 (as best as I can tell). According to the inflation calculator, the price should have increased to $4276 in 2012. Guess what? The Valhalla sells for today for $4260!! The Valhalla was improved once in its lifetime (said to be a substantial bump), so a person buying the Valhalla today actually gets a better value. This is how it's supposed to be done!!!
[Of course Nordost has just come out with the Valhalla 2 that's priced at $9799 - 43% more than the Valhalla 1. But the Valhalla 2 is an entirely new and apparently a much improved cable. Unlike MIT, Nordost didn't just jack up the price of the original Valhalla by 44%.]
Alternatively there's MIT's Matrix series. But here the prices seem inflated as well. The now discontinued Magnum MA interconnect had 36 poles and retailed for $2499. It looks like the Magnum MA was replaced by the Matrix HD 36, which also has 36 poles. The HD 36 adds F.A.T. and increases the price by $1500 (60%) to $3999. The Magnum MA, if it were still around, would likely be priced at $3599 as the M2.3. So maybe F.A.T. only added $400 to the price - and the rest of the increase is the same extra fat (pun intended) that was added to the "dot 3" series. Just guessing with respect to the pricing here though. I sure wish it were easier to figure out MIT's various models and lineups. [Has anyone compared the HD 36 to the Magnum MA? If so, do you think it's worth the 60% price increase?]
I had been saving for quite some time in hopes of moving up to the next rung in MIT's "dot 3" lineup. So, as you'd imagine I am extremely bummed about this massive increase in price. The money I saved will no longer allow me to obtain the same level of improvements I would have gotten earlier this year prior to this massive price increase. As a long time MIT customer, this is a very tough pill to swallow, and I think it tells me that I should move on to a different brand. I had long thought that MIT delivered a good value for the price. But that no longer seems to be the case.
It seems that most audio manufacturers today are attempting to deliver a better bang for the buck. MIT appears to have gone way in the opposite direction, which seems insane given the state of the economy. Can anyone offer an explanation for this apparent madness?
Last edited:
