I think the best approach is to purchase second hand or demo items. Other than my analog front end, everythimg in my syste was purchased second hand or demo, and I think I would pretty much get what I paid for it (e.g., I paid $ 4800 for my Guarneris with full warrasnty, as they were a demo pair). The Linn analog front end was still a good deal since I bought it in Europe as I moved back to the US and received the 20% VAT back. Rather than selling it to buy something else, I just upgraded the cartrdige and the subchassis last year, giving it a new lease on life. Granted, it takes longer toput together THE system you want if you need to wait for stuff to come up on Audiogon, and you may have to put up w the system being down for a couple of week as you sell a piece off to upgrade, but [atience pays off.
What's it worth if you sold it today?
Many people discuss what their system cost vs. list price, etc., but recent times have caused people to sell off equipment for more essential needs. I don't carry my audio equipment on my "books" as an asset that I could liquidate, but I thought about it yesterday (what I'd raise by full sell-off) vs. what I have in it. This is what I came up with:
Retail $31900
Paid $24900
Sell $16900
The Sell price will drop off fast as my system includes an expensive pre/pro, which tend to lose value quickly. Anyway, what would you get? -Kirk