What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

 Well part of this is the fact that great sound can be had with products costing far less such as Tekton speakers, Class D amps, digital powered DACs and making your own audio cables.   DIY is on the increase for sure. Many of us have just said enough with these crazy inflated prices and doing something about it.  I know lots of Aphiles rolling their own cables and upgrading their own gear to achieve what they want.  

Few have purchased and sold as much as me on this site since it started many years ago. Stuff is just not moving in general and prices are at all time lows. It is a clear reflection of our changing hobby. High End Audio as we have known it is indeed dying. Is it going to be gone for good? No.  It is and will continue to change. Most of us are just fed up with the over inflated prices and have either opted out, gone DIY, or found gear as good for 1/10 the price of typical high end stuff. The discounts my audio friends are getting their gear for is amazing. 25% of list price on top notch gear is not uncommon today. This is not a good time to sell gear.  Always exceptions for many good reasons, but the general trend is down and down sharply.  

Agreed John. This is not a matter of argument and just a statement of the facts as they are.  High end is changing and for the good in my estimation.  Now is paying $10,000 for $40,000 speakers that reviewed very highly is a fair market price? Those that say so are just saying the fair market price is now in the tank.  We agree on that.  Perhaps we are all saying the same thing. 

HEA, in general,  has NOT delivered on its reason for being defined as -  providing the means for enjoying our music fully and with complete contentment. HEA delivers on some well recorded stuff, but in general has not delivered what we want and desire. Couple that with the silly high pricing we see today and you have the reason for HEA collapsing.  The shrinking market has brought on accelerated price increases as manufacturers milk what they can from the shrinking market. This is the classic sign of a product category in the decline phase of the product life cycle.  We are now living in this decline phase. 

The good news is innovation is bringing new home audio products to the market that are right priced and frankly better than what HEA has delivered in the past. 

I am talking about the core market of audiophiles here.  We are not as interested in turning and churning through gear anymore. We have been there and done that enough now and realize all these traditional HEA products don’t and won’t satisfy long term. No way we are spending big money on it now. We are not buying used gear like we used to.  This is why stuff is selling so darn slow if at all. If we decide to try one more piece it better be at a steal, I mean steal of a price. This is driving the prices down. We are a small group we Core Aphiles and we are causing this to happen.  We are the market.  

The example above is just one and not the rule. Used stuff is selling for 25% - 30% of retail, not 83%. Even then it sits. I know because I buy and sell stuff all the time. No more however due to the comments I have already made.

Tekton is one of the companies changing high end audio for the good.  They price speakers in real world dollars and offer great value.  They are one of the new breed of innovative audio companies breaking past HEA rules and norms.