interesting thread and very insightful comments from many...I have a tendency to buy used or new and almost never sell it. I buy what I wish to use and keep and avoid selling off 'spare' equipment. I can almost always find a use for spares so they actually get used rather than collect dust exclusively. I appreciate the value in some used vintage gear, whether that value be in its boat anchor tough construction or its nostalgic appeal or its real world performance. I appreciate what new gear brings to the table, the up to date circuit design, and its ability to mesh with other modern equipment. Home theater receivers continue to evolve and change and while HDMI is the current standard, whether we like it or not, who knows what will be the next iteration of that? So if you are doing HT that is a piece that will need upgrading to keep up with the ever changing tech and of course all the codecs that go with it. 2 channel equipment is seemingly much slower to evolve though there are some great strides in class D design happening seemingly overnight. But by and large, if you are a vinyl 2 channel guy, there is not much reason to update equipment very often. That said this hobby has a way of absorbing extra money like a sponge. :)
Anybody having trouble getting near-your-asking-price for used gear ? (Plz. no hype)
I buy and sell gear "on a whim" and have done so for 40 years. Mostly high-end tube stuff that I get an itch to move from my rig to make room for other high-end stuff that I have been dreaming of. It's fun and gives me a fresh faces to fall in and out of love with.
Lately I am having a really hard time getting any serious offers above 1/4 to 1/3 of retail- actually zero offers over that. And winter is the time of year gear sells. Once the sun comes out things get really quiet. Not terribly long ago I could ask 50% of retail and get serious offers pretty close to the ask.
I am especially having trouble selling ARC gear. It's prices are steadily collapsing. On HiFi Shark that stuff sits for close to a year (or more) before it moves. For example SP 15s are under 2K now. They were selling (not asking) at 3K a year ago. It took me almost a year to sell a new-in--box I/50 for $3000 (!) Ref 75s are moving under $3000 and TMR will only offer 2K for one of them. The older stuff is selling in the hundreds not the thousands. Top-Of the-line stuff like Reference 10 preamps are moving under 12K (asking is around 17K)
I recently sold a Bryston BR-20 brand new in the box and it took me 7 months to get 48% of MSRP. This is NEW stuff- not somebody's junk.
My guy at Magnepan told me their stuff is really moving slowly as well. He blamed it on the political environment. ARC is pretending all is well but I have a little birdie inside there that tells me their stuff is stagnant as and dealers are actually cancelling orders.
Now, assuming you are being honest and not "fluffing the market" with bullbleep because you have something for sale and hoping for the greater fool, are you seeing/experiencing the same thing I am experiencing?
NO RETAILERS PLESASE- you guys tend to "exaggerate" to put it kindly- plus most of us here at AG know who you are and your 1000s of posts are a big clue.
Signed/ Depressed about my favorite side gig.