Why do some amps go up for sale frequently

[NOSValves]

Someone needs a vacation already ?

[Audio Flynn]

Dave,

You have kind of found my point.

You can lose allot of money buying the wrong amp at the wrong price.

If a newbie feels the need to go down the road of evaluating amp voicing and performance; they should understand they can take steps backward in sound performance and potentially lose hundreds if not thousands of dollars through a poor choice to match the needs of speaker, room and listening preference.

I know my next amp choice will be a Scott 296 or the VRD/ Blueberry (Scott 130 pre amp as a second choice perhaps). And when I buy i will never resell.

The Scott LK-48 I own will never be sold but if I do I could get 80-85 % of the origonal investment.

Like buying a new Cadillac (which I would never recommend); some of these amp choices can only be sold used at less than 70 % of new and some near 50% of MSRP.

[mike stehr]

"If a newbie feels the need to go down the road of evaluating amp voicing and performance; they should understand they can take steps backward in sound performance and potentially lose hundreds if not thousands of dollars through a poor choice to match the needs of speaker, room and listening preference."

Boy, that's gotta be a naive bastard. You'd think by 50K, he'd have a clue.....

[3dzapper]

It's a hobby for crin' out loud. Fools like us blow money on their hobbies Be it golf and cars, or like me audio and archery (throw in a gun here and there).

Maybe a some of those Moondog and Wright-Sound 2A3 owners are selling because they got DRD 45 amps too. It's their money donchaknow.

How many men our age have a 20k Mustang or 45k Vette sitting in their garage going to waste? I know at least one of each. (NOT ME!!) How about a 100k boat you use 10 times or less a year"(Used to be me.) A 50k swimming pool that's only used for cleaning? etc,etc,etc.

A 2k amp that you can enjoy for a while and sell to another for his enjoyment is cheap IMHO.

Rick

[edwinr]

I've chopped and changed over the years and I've sold perfectly good amps to friends because, well, I don't really know.

Perhaps it's the thrill of getting something new or different. If I had the money I would have kept everything I ever bought, and just keep adding to the collection.

I think it's an itch that just needs to be scratched. (that's not original, I read that in the F' 9/11 thread).

[J M O N]

----------------

On 7/19/2004 9:02:09 PM Audio Flynn wrote:

All these Wrights, Moondogs and so forth go up for sale so often.

----------------

I have found just the opposite to be true as I had been on the lookout for either of these for a while. When they do come up, they sell almost immediately unless the sellers are asking for an unusually high price. When it comes to resale, at least for these two particular models, they seem to sell for a relatively high percentage of their original price. When I look to buy used equipment, unless something is practically new, I expect to pay between 1/4 and 1/3 the original retail price which seems to be the going rate for used equipment. This is the reason you can get so much value on the used market. Paying 1/3 to 1/4 original price doesn't happen with the Wrights or Moondogs, they sell for much higher than that. It is probably because they don't come up for sale that often.

[Piranha]

Sheltie, I can relate. I am smiling all the time myself also Hmmmm???

[middlecreekguy]

Top 10 Reasons You Sell Your Amp

drum roll please...

10. You walked into an audio parlor and heard audio bliss........again.

9. Your NEW tube amp sounds great but you want that OLD Macintosh sound.

8. After rolling tubes, cleaning the tube sockets, changing the interconnects, getting new speaker cable and investing in the biggest thickest most expensive power cord money can buy, you decide this amp is juuuust not right for you.

7. Your new neighbor uses your current amp as a paper weight for his Krell owners manuel .

6. You read on a website forum that a SET amp was what made dreams come true.

5. You read on a website forum that your SET amp was well suited for small rooms...... like the one you bath in.

4. Your best friend just got a new amp. Sooo........

3. You had a party last night and everyone kept asking if that was the "good distortion" they were hearing.

2. Forum members keep making wise cracks after they click on you system profile.

And the #1 reason you sell your amp..........

1. The one you just purchased on ebay after consuming 4 martinis was a price you could not refuse.

[neo33]

"I don't know, I mean, you see almost everything out there all of the time."

Dean, I remember once upon a time you said that there'd be "cold day in hell" before a pair of Moondogs will pop up on Audiogon. Hell must be pretty cold right now.

[edster00]

When I bought my Moondogs I waited over 6 months for a pair to come up for sale. After a year and a half I did end up selling them...for a higher quality pair of 2A3 monoblocks (JF Lessard Horus).

I agree with JMON's post above. When you do find a pair of Wrights or (especially) Moondogs for sale, they do not last long, and they seem to hold their value exceptionally well.

FWIW, I often use my 2A3 amps for background music. I can put some music on and listen no matter where I am in the house, or on my deck. This is also a liability at times, if I am in the basement doing some serious listening my wife often comes downstairs and politely requests "TURN IT DOWN!"

[sheltie dave]

Edster, in 1 1/2 year of waiting, there has been one set of Moondogs that was at the right price for me, and I just missed. It is very hard spending close to $1500 - $1600 for a set of amps that will not be used 90% of the time in my case. There are some things you just don't know until you can sit down and have a good listen. Dean found that out with Khorns, for example.

Edmund, please feel free to carry on the discussion without referencing me in the third person. Sometimes it can come across as demeaning. We disagree on whether the 2A3 SET has some serious constraints, which I deduce to be a major factor in why a good percentage of folks selling theirs decide to move on to other amplification. The four SET amps whose owners I conversed with cited this as a consideration or a major factor in their decision to change. Three moved up in SET power, one was going the expensive HT route. We know you love your SET Moondogs - outside of Paul, you really don't need to take umbrage at a referenced comment.

FWIW, there are three sets of Moondogs FS in the ST. Louis area right now. They are all asking too much money, but that is part of the game until you get serious with selling, and actually advertise the sale, rather than talk about it! There are a set of Mac MC75 monoblocks, a Mac MC240, some Mac SS, a Linn marble base TT, and three sets of Lowther speakers. The fires should have plenty of fuel now.

[maxg]

People change stuff - it happens - often regardless of how the thing actually sounds. Take my friend Tony for example. He gets his KHorn setup singing as good as any - and then sells the whole thing.

Then he gets a Quad 989 system - spends big $$ getting it right to his ears - then sells the whole thing.

Now he is going down the B&W 802 route.

And that is just over the last 5 years. Remember that in each case the initial purchase has been followed by months of fixing and sorting - actual listening time to the finished item is usually minimal.

Each change has been a complete system change. Amps, speakers, sources, even cables.

This is part of the disease.

Of course one could ask the question why so many KHorns come up for sale just as reasonably. For most on this forum it is supposed to be the last speaker they will ever buy. I guess not for all.

[edster00]

----------------

On 7/20/2004 7:13:52 AM sheltie dave wrote:

Edster, in 1 1/2 year of waiting, there has been one set of Moondogs that was at the right price for me, and I just missed. It is very hard spending close to $1500 - $1600 for a set of amps that will not be used 90% of the time in my case. There are some things you just don't know until you can sit down and have a good listen. Dean found that out with Khorns, for example.

----------------

I wouldn't put out that kind of cash for amps that I wouldn't use either.

Believe me, it was a leap of faith for me to buy the Moondogs. I had purchased other low powered amps previously (top of the line Decware Zen monoblocks , ASL MGSi15dt/s) both are advertised as having more power than the Moondogs but neither could put out as many SPLs in my listening room. I never figured 3.5 wpc could ever be enough. I owned or auditioned many higher powered amps also, both SS and tube. There are a few of them I'd still love to own if I could afford them all.

The intent of my first post was to say that IMHO I don't think the Moondogs and Wrights come up for sale all that often. I have no idea how many are sold that are not listed on ebay or AudiogoN, but I have seen every pair listed at either place for the past 3 years or so.

[sheltie dave]

Mark, that is why you have me pissed off! I can't sell the Blueberry, unless I change to the Peach if I can understand that "pass-through" deal better. I understand Allan's approach quite well now, as in why mess with equipment that gets your system exactly where you want it.

I am now working on a probable home theatre setup, which is an even bigger thrash. I want the main stereo setup to also pull HT duty without defaulting to a AV receiver, so I get to learn about all the plasma and HDTV stuff. Colleen does not listen to the stereo, but she watches lots of TV. Maybe this approach will suck her into music rather than watching the boob tube[8)

[Guy Landau]

There are many other amplifiers that sell more often like Dyna MK III's and ST-70's and amps from Jolida, Cary, Canary, VTL, QUAD, C-J, ASL, ARC..........................

What does it really mean?

[sunnysal]

good top ten greg! lol.

my take on this issue is that there are three main reasons that certain amps come up for sale more often than others (that was the question right?).

1. that some highly turned-over amps turn out to be "stepping stone" amps, someone buys them, then discovers more about what he is looking for in an amp, and thus moves onward (and upward hopefully). ST-70s are perfect examples, many buy these as their first tube amps, generally like what they hear, then go looking for their "perfect" tube amp (much like I did, going from a dynaco mk IV to my PP DHT amp). others never leave the ST-70, satsified with what they find.

2. some amps simply dissapoint a purchaser, not to light fires here but SET amps are a good example. many buy these based on theory/recommendation/whathaveyou instead of careful research and audtioning and then discover that they do not work with their 88db "efficient" speakers, or decide that they just do not get the sound they want from them in their room, with their music.

3. some amps were produced in huge volume over the years and naturally turn up more often on auction sites.

regards,

tony

[D-MAN]

It's sort of like tube rolling...

It's a change. It's experimental.

Nothing wrong with that.

I think that some gear changes hands more-often not because it is inferior, but that it's price range/performance level that gives it a better resellability, if that makes any sense(?).

It's the resalability that enables the transactions, IMO.

DM

[seti]

----------------

On 7/19/2004 9:40:43 PM joshnich wrote:

I beg of you all-please do not start another SET/PP/Highpower/lowpower/magic/etc/etc thread!!!!!! Please see everything that has been said/discussed/argued/written/wined about/etc/ in the previous post. DO NOT LET THIS INFANTILE BABLE DEVELOP AND CONTINE. (Sorry for yelling) pretty please.

Josh

----------------

Well bummer I was hoping to watch another 12 page rant! I have an idea how about a forum just for SET and people can rant there all day long. Who am I to talk though my nick makes me flamebait : ). Just a thought.

seti

[Parrot]

There is a place like that, Seti:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/set/bbs.html

[dodger]

Hello:

Analogy: Person buys house. Spends many hours, labor, money for materials, brings it to where they want. Then they sell it and start all over again.

I've had my house 25+ years, feel sick to my stomach when I think of possibly moving (for those that remember the 50,000 gallon gasoline spill by me, the underground flow is to the Erie Canal which goes to Genesee River then Lake Ontario - it flowed away from my house.)

Back to stereo: Tubes: some people decide to buy then feel that there is too much maintenance, tube cost, quality - settle for boombox.

Solid State: hear something new, want it, buy it, sell old.

As we age - even a few months, tastes change - we want something else besides a mega buck system or our hearing curve changes, changes in housing thus acoustics, furnishings change (see analogy). Music tastes change.

We read so much about a piece of equipment usually higher priced, buy it then decide price paid vs lower cost equipment can be as satisfying - sell higher priced, buy another piece of equipment - DVD, SACD (vs standard CD), different speakers that need a different amp and the circle goes.

Some change for change sake, never satisfied. Some decide that they are actually spending too much time listening to their equipment rather than listening to the music.

SET: talked about other than continual move up price wise.

Audiophiles also tend to own many pieces of equipment. Move it in, move it out. Decide there are other things to life.

Keepers are as Josh noted those pieces coveted when younger. You can still find a bargain that will improve in value.

HT: that alone will cause many to sell amps to buy HDTVs, surround sound complete systems.

Computers: Media systems, sound cards, MP3s.

Necessities, health/medical bills, other toys - stereo is a very expendable item.

Lastly, tired of the much more frequent changes in the Source, the medium, the remasters etc.. People may scale down their system when it comes to replacing. Look at cable TV, now the price of digital each month versus Satellite (both have their problems.)

So while we see the higher priced move, the lower priced moves also - we just don't notice every Corolla because the Jags, Porsches, Rolls Royces stand out. ( We can't forget the vehicle factor vs stereo - shiny new SUV, Lexus with GPS, DVD players.)

There's too much competition for our money. Cary vs knee - not a tough choice. Moondogs vs house, vehicle or repairs to those two (2) necessities. Fewer high paying jobs, I could write all day, but I will let the games begin.

dodger