Why isn't better quality used gear being made available?

Nope!

@soix you just feel remorse that you paid 50K for 25K speakers 😄​​​​​​

you just feel remorse that you paid 50K for 25K speakers 😄​​​​​​
 

@grislybutter Quite the opposite.  I paid about $3k for my speakers, which by the OP’s math are as good as $10k speakers, which are then comparable with $25k speakers, which are then comparable with $50k speakers.  So I’m feeling pretty good I spent $3k for $50k speakers!

@soix I was joking (well, tried)

But I understand your logic :) Here is the bad news: while your speakers are worth 50K, they are only as good as $500 speakers. Everybody knows that $500 speakers are as good as 3K speakers.

@grislybutter Yeah, I got the joke and just went with it. 
 

Here is the bad news: while your speakers are worth 50K, they are only as good as $500 speakers. Everybody knows that $500 speakers are as good as 3K speakers.

Heh heh.  And so it goes…

My experience when listening to a product line up of speakers is that each level speaker sounds better than the lower level one. This is nearly always true. For instance have listened to much of the Sonus Faber, B&W, Wilson, Magico, and Dynaudio lines. Every increment up gets better sound,

Making comparisons between brands is more complicated. There are vastly different house sounds… say Magico vs Sonus Faber. So if you compare a $10K Sonus Faber which you love the sound of with an even $25K Wilson speaker which you simply do not like the house sound, then you may think it is not worth it.

But in general $10K jumps net you very much better speakers in nearly all aspects. Companies design them that way and if they didn’t the market would force the company to do so by not buying the more expensive speaker without better sound. Most of us spend a lot of time listening to speakers before expending an automobile sized chunk of money.

Is the OP looking for advice on where to find ’Quality used gear’?

As it is to be ’used gear’, Which is the preferred era range of the production?

Obviously Quality and used can have a very broad range in purchase prices, does the OP have a budget constraint?

From the OP as their follow up posts, only conjecture seems to be forthcoming. I take such statements with a ’pinch of salt’.

Is one really going to part with $25K for any item used in a HiFi system, using the fantasy, the purchase is on par with a $50K used/new item.

I hope not.

Perhaps when you get to a point that tossing 50% of current to spend 100% for new that might be 5% better … you just stick with what you have

What was this thread about?

Ever wonder what happens to all the used gear being returned to dealers. They take trade-ins all the time and yet never seem to have anything available for sale used.  It's a quandary.

Maybe the manufacturers agree to take it back in some crazy financial maneuver to get it off the market. Clearly they much prefer to sell a brand new item and if the channel is clogged with used stuff the manufacturers suffer.

Ever wonder what happens to all the used gear being returned to dealers. They take trade-ins all the time and yet never seem to have anything available for sale used.  It's a quandary.  Maybe the manufacturers agree to take it back in some crazy financial maneuver to get it off the market. Clearly they much prefer to sell a brand new item and if the channel is clogged with used stuff the manufacturers suffer.

Okay, if you were already scratching your head about this thing being sketchy at the start, here we go off the deep end.  Why am I even here???

OP… “Maybe the manufacturers agree to take it back in some crazy financial maneuver to get it off the market.”

Ok, now that is a crazy conspiracy theory. My dealer takes trade-ins and sells them to a company that assesses and then either sells them on-line or to a reseller. There is not a high end company that could afford to do what you suggest. Some offer their own trade-in policies to do what you say, but they have very tight controls on it and limited payback.

I recently bought Dynaudio Heritage Specials. It knew from the reviews I’d like them, even better than I expected. 

in order for you to buy someones used equip, they have to buy new equip.
in this economy, less people can afford to buy new and are making do with what they have.

I'm sorry, but what a stupid post! If you can't afford the product new and it's not available used, move on! Your assumptions demonstrate you don't belong looking for what you say you are.

Because great equipment is more rare and less likely to be sold by those who appreciate it.  Patience is the best option.

Ban him(he reminds me of the 'Cat' guy with his BS posts)! 

So dealers take my trade-in and sell it to a company specializing in the sale of used gear? So that may explain things.

How does anyone make money selling new equipment with all this complexity? Unless the margins are greater than 50%.

It seems with all the solid state gear we're saturating a limited market with used gear since this stuff lasts for Long time. Eventually the market wouldn't be able to handle new gear as easily. And we know that new products introductions are mostly the same as old products only in new packaging. 

audiogon.com

cause good quality gear is manufactured in much smaller quantities!

question is too broad. specifying what exactly you’re looking for would help to share some findings.

please define "better quality used gear"

"So dealers take my trade-in and sell it to a company specializing in the sale of used gear? So that may explain things."

What would it explain as it would still get to market and be availble for those seeking it.  

"It seems with all the solid state gear we're saturating a limited market with used gear since this stuff lasts for Long time."

And yet here you have created a thread whinning about the lack of used gear for you to find. Which is it?

A lot of life-changing events have happened since I started this epic thread so long ago. Adopted a dog and have become a philatelist.

Being a philatelist is a very very expensive hobby too. So much to learn. They got this one tiny square piece of paper called a stamp with perforations all around it with an upside down airplane in the middle. It’s an air mail stamp called the Jenny, the inverted Jenny. It’s very rare because it was a printing error and looks really cool and there aren’t too many of them. One recently sold for $2 million. How many $2 million speakers do you know of?

I also learned that you only get your image on a stamp if you’re dead.
In 50 years we may see Oprah gracing mail as it travels across the country.

I haven’t decided what my specialty will be yet. I like older US issues from the 1800s. They don’t make them like they used to. Also like historical covers and cancellations of the older variety can be very collectible. They used to cancel things by hand early on.

Curiously it’s very similar to audio gear. While mint or new stamps are more valuable used stamps can be very desirable and extremely valuable. And they have all kinds of condition issues that need to be evaluated.

"A lot of life-changing events have happened since I started this epic thread so long ago. Adopted a dog and have become a philatelist."

Thread so long ago? 6 days since the start - yes a real eternity

Epic? epic” is an adjective that means something like “big, grandiose, extreme,” or “awesome.” It’s usually used for positive qualities, but it can also be employed to indicate intensity. Sorry your thread(s) don’t qualify for the use of the term.

+1 @facten . Also, who cares?

Its secretly being bought up by big corporations and then taken to the scrap yard so that you will eventually have to pay their outrageous.prices for the new stuff.

Truthfully, it costs too much money to build the new gear as well as the older gear and smart audiophiles see this and hold on to it.

This forum truly needs an Ignore Member Feature. A few I would like to ignore and I would be filled with joy if a few ignored my posts.

🐱 

I recently heard a rumor that the secret used audio equipment cabal is expanding  their reach into philately...

OP you did not list the specific amp or linestage or cables you are looking for.

If you were truly serious about buying anything, this is what most people do, and when they get motivated place a want-ad or reach out to the mainstream used dealers.  Low-effort will get you nowhere. 

Emergingsoul, what websites did you conduct your search? Offerup, Ebay, US Audio Mart. I have used Ebay on occasions.

On Ebay there was a buyer that asked the question: Does anyone sell anything on this website that actually works I did however buy a Conrad Johnson MF 2500A amp for a ridiculously sum of $559.00. He had no feedback and cancelled his Ebay membership immediately after I sent the payment through. What he sent in the mail was a blank piece of paper in an envelope that was tracked to my residence. I contacted  Ebay and they immediately sent me a full refund. I was lucky that EBay had this guarantee.

There is plenty of high quality used gear for sale.It depends how much you want to spend. If you want a deal then you have to keep checking the usual sites for gear that you might want. There is no shortage of high quality used gear for sale. 

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Wait for my estate sale. 

Huh? What are you talking about @markalarsen ?

I bought a used preamp from a dealer in England on eBay for about $20,000 via credit card. there was a misrepresentation issue and before it was shipped I tried to cancel.  It would've been nice to have that preamp. 

Ebay was extremely helpful and they saw in the messaging there was a problem. Fortunately I was able to get the transaction voided and seller refunded amount and I made money on the exchange.

@emergingsoul 

20k used? That must have been a hell of a preamp.

@emergingsoul 

Holy cow. I have had battles with the seller on a $25 item. $20K? You are very risk tolerant.

@ghdprentice

It was a VTL used preamp 7.5 iii and it was in the color I was looking for. This was at a time new amplifiers were, and still are, hard to find and I really wanted it. Don’t see too many of these things coming up used for sale

I Settled for something else but it would’ve been better to have the VTL. Another factor was vtl doesn’t like to service or even look at preamplifiers from foreign countries

@roxy54

I have some high quality components I will not sell in my lifetime. I am satisfied with particular high-end amps, speakers and cables.  They will not be available on the used market. Others probably feel the same way. 

Iwas recently in a sort of upscale type of thrift store and saw a pair of Parasound JC-1 Monoblocks. The store has a 30 day money back warranty if they are not functional but are not able to be returned if I am just not happy with the sound of them. They want $1,500 each which seems like a good deal but there is no way for me to test them. I would probably just buy them to hook up and use for now but also list them here for sale to flip if I go back and buy them. So I guess my question is should I buy them and if so how much do yall think I would be able to get for them?

If they in good shape it sounds like a good deal.

I would offer them $400 to rent them for two days with the balance owed if you keep them. Or just buy them outright. And if you do this I would see if you can look inside them to see if there's anything that looks out of place. Check on the history if you can figure that out.