hifi as investment?

Obviously, items that are hand built in limited quantities by "masters of the trade" are the most likely candidates. The early tube based pieces made by Marantz are a prime example. Once you start working your way into more modern gear, there are very few pieces that could ever come close to obtaining their original retail sales price on the used market.

As such, building a system based on "collectability" or "market value" will have you running almost all vintage tube gear. If you like that sound, that's a double bonus for you. If you don't like that sound but are worried about your investments in this "hobby", you are better off looking for the best buys possible on used gear that has a good reputation. Straying from this formula to find some lesser known "gems" may net you musical satisfaction, but it will only end up hurting your pocketbook in the long run.

While i do agree that a quality "bang for the buck" system is hard to beat for the money invested, if you are more worried about your pocketbook than you are obtaining musical pleasure from your system, you should be scouring the ads at Best Buy & Circuit City to see what will produce the amount of sound desired for the least amount of money. In the long run, it is only the personal enjoyment that you obtain from using your system and listening to music on it that will ever recoupe the investment that you make in it. Once you accept that fact, you'll be a lot better off and won't feel so guilty about allowing yourself these pleasures. Sean
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Wheeler: As a case in point regarding the Marantz gear, i recently traded my original Marantz 8 ( serial number just above 1000 ) that was in very good shape for some test equipment. While the Marantz 8 is an item that seems to be in less demand than the 8B, an 8 in good shape would draw somewhere between $800 - $1200 on the used market with the 8B drawing several hundred dollars more. Due to the condition of the 8 that i had, a local collector had been interested in this unit ever since seeing it. When all was said and done, he ended trading me some test gear that would sell for over $2000 in current condition. Since i had paid considerably less for this unit, the "investment" that i made in this piece did pay off.

Having said that, this is a rare case of planning ahead and finding a good deal when i initially purchased this unit. As Jdevine stated above, if you can buy low and sell high, you'll do okay. I've been involved in quite a few transactions and never really been "stung" without everything working out okay in the long run. Just take into account that there are bound to be mishaps in shipping, items that are misrepresented, etc... On top of this, you may end up with a less than satisfying system musically as products that may hold their value individually may not work together as a system synergistically. Then again, we all have different priorities and ideas as to what "sounds good", so have at it. So long as it makes you happy ( one way or the other ), that's all that counts. Sean
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