Uesugi UTY-7 phono stage

Perhaps this will be of limited usefulness but, I believe....
It was sold in a limited edition in the early 90s (replaced by the Bros-20 (a single chassis phono pre) in the mid-90s). It had an MSRP of JPY 350,000, which would have been about $2800-3000 back in early 90s dollars. It had a great reputation when it was originally built and still has a pretty good reputation locally (in Japan). I haven't seen one for sale for months - I would say they usually come up once or twice a year on the Yahoo Auctions (local version of fleapay) and less often than that on HiFiDo. Not quite hens' teeth but certainly not just there for the asking. I do not have a clue what they go for, though Uesugi has decent resale value in Japan, AND this has a rep, AND it is rare,which means that while I would normally expect a secondary market value 40-50% range of MSRP given its age, Uesugi gets a better secondhand premium that that, and the UTY-7 is probably even a bit better (though that is just speculation on my part).

I have not listened to it and personally do not know anyone who has ever had one. If I found one for cheap (say, $1k or so), I might buy it just to see what it was like, because I would be pretty sure to be able to sell it afterwards.

Hmmm... I looked on Audiounion after i wrote that (because they occasionally have Uesugi stuff, and they are one of the only places to have Linear Technology stuff) and I did not notice it. I guess that means you live in Tokyo too though... Pity that it is tough to test much in their stores... That said, I would imagine that for 140k yen you could do a lot worse (but I know nothing of the Trigon), and if you decide you don't like it, it will not lose you much (if anything) if you decide to sell it on YahooAuc.

Have never seen a website for Hiphonic. For some reason, I thought that Uesugi was being distributed by someone like Esoteric, but I could be wrong. You might try their website (not TEAC/Esoteric but the Japanese website).

I think recofan is a terrible place and you should never ever go back there (because you might buy the stuff I want to buy). Recofan is just down the street from me and that makes it downright dangerous, and I go there as often as I go to all the other places I visit combined I guess at this point, so no other recommendations really (if I were into records at 10k yen a pop, I might have some, but I am not. In any case, recently I have been avoiding the place just to listen to what I have, but I am sure I will be back there over the holidays...

You might be right about a possible Esoteric/Uesugi JV on that one amp, but for some reason I seem to remember seeing more of their stuff on the Esoteric/Teac site before... tho could be wrong.

Lewm, the one in Shibuya is less than a 5-min walk from home - pure torture sometimes. If you are willing to sift through the cheap bins, there is the occasional gem. Otherwise, there is lots of good stuff there at "regular" prices. If you are looking for the 6-eye KOB, or original BN pressing of 60s jazz, it will cost you a pretty penny (anywhere you go), but if you are looking for good stuff to listen to, it's probably the best and cheapest place to go in Tokyo.

Kohey, many months later how do you like the Uesugi? Anyone else have experience with this?

Kohey, Good to hear you like the Uesugi.
I know nothing of the Rotel, or the Highphonics.