Price changes do occur during the lifespan of many products. To top this off, some magazines have a lead time of several months. A product could be sent in for review by the manufacturer with all of the pertinent information in January with a list price of $1000. By the time the review actually makes it into print several months later, the item could be retailing for $1200 - $1500. The manufacturer might have forgotten to notify the editor of the magazine and the old price is listed.
To top it off, some manufacturers don't update their website as often as they should. As such, they could have prices that are months or even a year out of date. When someone wanders into their local dealer trying to by "Brand X" for the price quoted in the review or on the manufacturer's website, they are met with "sticker shock" to say the least. Going up in price is one thing. Raising it by 20% - 50% and doing it without making the change public knowledge is a whole different story. I have run into such a situation before and it has altered my decision to investigate such gear. Bare in mind that this is strictly talking new / current gear in terms of MSRP.
As for older gear, some products have been in production for an extended period of time. One could have purchased a specific product at the introduction of said unit and still buy the current version some 20 years later. The manufacturer may have made TONS of production changes in that period of time yet never altered the model number i.e. the original was a "Super Duper 1000" and that is what they call the current model. This is true even though the current model should be called "Super Duper 1000 Mk XX", etc... Over the course of time and production changes, the product might have listed for $1500 at introduction and now sells for $5000. On the other hand, prices could have come down due to changes in technology and mass production cabability, so that too should be factored in. I know that prices typically don't go down, but i have seen this happen on more than a few occassions.
With all of the variables involved, one really needs to have some type of reference point to verify pricing of various models over the years. Obviously, one would need to know the appr time frame as to when a specific unit was made if it is a long running model, as this might not only affect the value of the unit, but also the performance due to the aforementioned production changes. Orion offers annual price guides with limited technical info about various models, Audiogon has their BlueBook, etc... Some of us have gathered the various Buyer's Guide's put out by Audio, Stereo Review, etc... over the years. All of these can be excellent resources when trying to dig up info on older gear. However, these price guides are all subject to human error and the previously mentioned "price change" prior to publication. As such, it is always good to check with more than one source and be familiar with the product that you are interested in. Sean
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