I sold my Maggie 2.5R's for $1100, had them insured for $3500. The ribbon was damaged during shipping box was all bad. UPS paid out, paid the buyer $200 for replacement Ribbons from Magnepan. Used that money to buy a pair of Maggie IIIa's $2000, they were not working as described, on the seller's dime, they were shipped to Magnepan for a complete rebuild. Netted $1300 , plus a completely new rebuilt set of IIIa's....
Audio deals you bought that seem impossible for the price?
When I look at the Elac Adante center channel I bought open box (I later added the stand) for $1400 total, a couple of years back, I think how is this even possible at anywhere near the price? The 65 pound speaker (designed by the amazing Andrew Jones) has an aluminum front baffle with waveguide, custom designed (as opposed to off the shelf) concentric drivers, a very sophisticated internal woofer band pass structure and a trapezoidal cabinet.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-NJlSV8T4YYE/p_970AC61GB/ELAC-Adante-AC-61-Gloss-Black.html#&gid=1&pid=2
What are your audio purchases that seem impossible, or where the manufacturer clearly lost money?
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-NJlSV8T4YYE/p_970AC61GB/ELAC-Adante-AC-61-Gloss-Black.html#&gid=1&pid=2
What are your audio purchases that seem impossible, or where the manufacturer clearly lost money?
44 responses Add your response
Audible Illusions M3 preamp and Cary 40m monoblocks for $800 4x Klipsch Heresy for $400 Nakamichi Dragon $100 (not working) KEF LS50 $500 Linn LP12 Valhalla Ittok LVII K9 $800 Rega P3 Grace747 Nagaoka 110. Schitt phono stage, 2 Grado cartridges and 75 LPs $600 Teac X2000R with case rolling cart and mouse ear cover. $250 -and lots more over the years Trying to arrange a time to meet a seller this weekend for a NAD/Rega P2 for $120. |
No one is losing money. High end audio is typically priced at 6 times manufacturing cost. This is how nice ole homey Paul of PS audio can afford to give MSRP in trade for your old stuff: Assuming he sells at the standard of 600% of cost to make, a $6,000 piece has $5,000 to play with, because he has no middleman or retailers. Transistors, caps, etc are cheap. once there is a design, its mostly profit. Dealers pay 50% of retail. The distributor pays the other 50% to the factory. Dealers typically pay freight, but on a good sized order, the sales rep will deliver to make the sale. We all get great deals here and there, I hope, but as I said, no on is losing money, unless the company has other serious problems, such as getting stuff built by the lowest bidder, i.e. early American relatively higher end audio, such as Phase Linear, GAS (Ampzilla), and Hafler. |
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I got a pair of used Clearwater Audio Duet6 stand mount speakers for $800. They have Accuton ceramic tweeters and drivers, mundorf caps, Supra wiring, just top notch parts all the way and the cabinets I heard were built by Salk and are almost 30lb each. I haven’t heard a stand mount for under $5k that are better, maybe different but not better. I don’t even have a place to use them right now but even my wife said I should hang on to them for as long as I like, and she hates holding on to things. |
Buying searching out the gems quality ,brand,build quality then totally upgrading myself 20 years modding xovers ,the weakest link in well over 80% of loudspeaker so important being the central nervous system of a Loudspeaker the mfg feels ok is good enough ,out of site out of mind , in electronics many brands Come to mind ,even some very $$ ones nice looking average parts quality inside , with over 40 years in Audio and owned a Audio store in the U.K I recommended many upgrades ,that’s how Dan Modwright made a name he hired top engineers to assist in upgrading the circuit with better parts quality . currently looking at top quality speakers ,getting a lot of flac on Many loudspeakers even Big names going cheap in the Xover dept. |
I bought a Vincent SA31 pre amplifier at half price in a sale, never had Vincent before but needed a cheap pre amp. It was originally around AUD$1000 got it for AUD$550, great bargain. Got it home fired it up and noticed it was a little different to the box so thought maybe minor upgrade and whilst box said SA31 the unit had SA31MK on it so I thought mk1 vs mk2. Had in system for a week before I queried with the store (after visiting Vincent website), the young salesman was apologetic but maybe I could just keep what I had as they had now stopped selling Vincent? So a new SA31MK rep AUD$1900 for $550. |
Flash sale at Crutchfield for the CS9080 center for $611. Pay $1 now and the rest when the item ships 5 weeks from now. I look around after paying…still $1,199 at B&H and locally. Next day, the rest of the charge hits my card. I had planned to use a different card and/or make the money to pay for it in 5 steady work weeks or cancel. Nope! Took the money out my checking account already and I called to see what gives. Seems they received the shipment just 5 weeks earlier and that’s why I was charged. Oh, well! Got the speaker and no worries about how to pay for it. It was done and over and on the way! Cool enough! |
Stoped into a resale shop one day and spotted a marantz 9-1 av receiver (new is $2100). The owner happened to be out this day and a nice lady was filling in. There was no price on it and the power cord was missing. I asked how much and that no power cord concerned me as I could not even test if it would power up. She tried to call the owner but could not reach him. Right next to the marantz was a rca unit with built in turn table that was marked $90. She said they look alike so how about $90? I said no cord how about $80 and it was mine. Ordered new power cord and it has worked flawless for over three years now. |
I knew I could not afford the stereo equipment I wanted and in fact the class A amplifier I wanted is in my opinion one of best ever manufactured. I was wanting, looking for a Krell ksa300s which was last made in 2010. The Amplifier weighs in at almost exactly 185lbs not as big as you would think but, there is one reason for its extreme weight. Almost any wire that you think would exist within the chassis was replaced by oxygen free copper bars and has a massive toroidal power transformer. The extreme use of these copper bars insures that frequency signals shoot straight through internal circuitry much the same as you get from the use of expensive high end component and speaker cables. Thing looks pretty bad with 4 electrolytic capacitors as big as automotive oil filters. I've pretty much just reworded an article online from Stereophile so, if anyone is interested in specs, test results just go online and enter ksa300s and you will almost get directly taken to two different detailed articles from Stereophile. I thought I would find it on eBay which I did and had been recapped little less than 3 years earlier and came also with a matching Krc-3 preamplifier and an excellant kas250cd/2 I paid $8200 and according to former owner a company from California offers a clone copy of the class A amplifier at only $25,000. |
Miller - Moabs are so cheap because there was no design process. They are just a pile of planks and drivers nailed together. Nor is there any finish - they look like the homebuild project that they are. This is the kind of thing we all did when we discovered music and hi-fi as teenagers and had no money. But most of us got over it when we realised we had no idea of how to build a speaker. |
To date? Has to be my current Vandersteen 2CE Sigs. Bought them for $625 in great condition with original boxes. Actually agreed to $600, But the guy was willing to meet me half way between Indianapolis and Cleveland included in the sale price/free of charge. So, no shipping cost. I gave him an extra $25 Just because he was willing to do that. Great guy, great speakers. I sit and listen to those bad boys, and cannot believe I got that much quality for so little money. |
@jwillox by chance do you know Randy Vikan ? the wizard tech at Magnolia. Also, i got a TCD440 A for free, blowing fuses. Power transformer installed by Tand on a Monday or Friday lacking lockwashers, arcing to chassis….. So unhappy w disruption to customer they gave me it to fix…. Killer deck… Logic board failed in 1990 |
When I was selling home audio at Magnolia H-Fi in Seattle, WA, USA (mid-80s), the manufacturers were often ordering a great deal for employees. A few come to mind: 1: ADS was just releasing their CD3, which had excellent DACs, filtering, and build quality. I jumped at the chance (for the silly price), and it’s still working and usable today. 2: Tandberg offered 30 cents in the dollar deals and free shipping and no tax. I scooped up a pair of monobloc class A power amps and the matching preamp. Stunning. 3: Kef Reference 103.3 speakers via the same deal. Still sound stunning, excellent coupled-cavity bass, downward firing, excellent mids and highs, on stands with a slight backward tilt to put sound at idle sitting position. Too many more to waste your time. |
The wharfedale diamond 225's still amaze me at $449 a pair....winner of both the absolute sound and stereophile budget component of the year in I believe 2017. The sound, to me, is fantastic with no matter what kind of music you throw at them. Although I have since gone the tannoy legacy route, I will keep these around. |
I picked up a pair of speakers and the guy threw in a VMPS center channel. Neo 8, AC tweeter and dual WCF woofers. http://pointillistic.com/vmps-audio/HT-LRC.htm. He said it worked for about an hour and quit.. OK.. I took it home plugged it in within 30 minutes the cable fell out.. LOL That is exactly what happen to him.. 1600.00 speaker. wasn't even broke in.. It had TRT teflon caps and silver wire. 65 -75 lbs.. I still have it.. I never use it.. BUT.. I paid him 5K for 15K speakers and only 9 pair left in existence of the16 pairs that were originally made.. Cash of course....Still have those to.. look just like the day they rolled off the showroom floor.. 375lb each. heavy suckers.. Regards |
@millercarbon agree whole heartedly re: the Raven Blackhawk Mk3.1. One recent unbelievable purchase was a pair of Sony SSCS5 standmount speakers. I bought these on Amazon for $73! Yes. $73. Now they don’t sound like $73 speakers. Before I got my Magico A3s. I had a variety of stand mount speakers. These are at least as good as all of them and they cost hundreds to thousands of $ per pair. I have these a paired up with my pair of REL T/9i subs. The combo is tremendous. I don’t know how this can be. It confuses me. Essentially they are almost free. I have more $ in John Darko Amazon door stops and hockey pucks than these Sony’s cost. I bought them just for the hell of it. I thought maybe I would modify them with the GR Research kit. I decided against it. They sound so good as is and the value proposition is off the charts. The last one is the Intel NUC10 i7 that I built over specd for my Roon Core and mounted in a fanless case. The SQ is at least as good as my old InnuOS Zenith Mk3 and PhoenixUSB which I have since sold. Plus Roon Remote runs so much better and doesn’t crash like it used to with the Innuos gear. It also doesn’t flinch in doing DSP. All this at a total cost of around $800-900 as opposed to the thousands the Innuos gear cost. Another bargain. |
While I have bought new components from my audio dealer, I've shared my goals and interests and purchased demos of McIntosh C2600 and MC 302, Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V and Glass Ultrasonic record cleaner. On eBay I've purchased used Kimber cables. Ultimately, bargain is in the eye of the beholder - I enjoy listening to my system and that's good enough for me. |
In 1998, I bought a beautiful back ash set of Spendor SP100s for $1800 from a wonderful member here. They were less than one year old and in perfect condition. He lived a few hours away, and I told him that I wouldn't be able to get there for a week, but I would express him the money, but he said no problem, he would trust me, and he did. It was a wonderful transaction all around, and a hell of a bargain! |
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QSA fuse. How is it possible to get so much improvement for only $71? Tekton Moab. Many have searched out the parts and documented these cannot be built for that price, the parts alone cost more than the finished product. Volume pricing brings his parts cost down, but that still leaves labor, equipment, and a huge manufacturing facility to account for. Raven Blackhawk. This amp combines in-house caps with some very high quality transformers and resistors. Even the printed circuit boards are JPL/NASA quality not at all your usual shoddy thin trace boards. It is 4 stage powder coated not painted, and built to last a lifetime. For under $4k? Today??! Impossible! |
