A bit of a fun exercise for some comparisons 😂

 

The amount you paid for all your hardware in your main system (minus cables, media, record etc) divided by the retail price (in todays $$$ for vintage gear) 

 

mine is 0.23 

 

im a bargain hunter 

 

suggest

>0.25 bargain hunter

>0.50 careful shopper

>0.75 get it with a warranty

> 1.0 early adopter 

 

happy for others to suggest some adjustments 😂

My main System would be about 0.55.

Eight items were purchased new, some during runout sales.  (I'm patient)

These are offset by 2 DIY and 5 used items.

The front mains and centre speaker are DIY, so my result is based on an estimate of what the retail price might be for equivalent commercial speakers.

 

 

0.35.

I recently evaluated for insurance discussions

It is Cyrus so, not surprising. In the colonies its depreciation as you walk out the door is worse than an EV leaving its lott.

And the companies who made my speakers and tonearm don't exist any longer.

 

I too am patient.

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 20241 yr by Steever

.62

Aside from my turntable, cartridge and phono amp everything else is either second hand, run out or demo.

The best thing is they are precisely the components I wanted but would probably not have purchased at their full price.

On 09/12/2024 at 11:59 AM, Andythiing said:

A bit of a fun exercise for some comparisons 😂

 

The amount you paid for all your hardware in your main system (minus cables, media, record etc) divided by the retail price (in todays $$$ for vintage gear) 

 

mine is 0.23 

 

im a bargain hunter 

 

suggest

>0.25 bargain hunter

>0.50 careful shopper

>0.75 get it with a warranty

> 1.0 early adopter 

 

happy for others to suggest some adjustments 😂

I'm not sure how you mean to work it out. I look for bargains (i.e. main speakers at cost from the importer, second hand items at bargain prices, etc), but how do you work out "the retail price (in todays $$$ for vintage gear)"? Like, I'm fairly sure I paid about $700 for both my Rotel power amps and could probably get double that if I sold them - does that put me at 2.0 or 0.5? And if I got my Kenwood Basic M2 thrown in with the C2 pre-amp, does that make it a 0.0, or infinity, item?

Most used gear terms to sell for about 50% of new and if it doesn't why but used? That said much of my system is one of a kind build to order by boutique builders so I've paid full price for everything in my main system.

 

My understanding is boutique gear goes for even less secondhand though really I've no intention of changing a thing in my system. Not given how it sounds. The components will probably outlast me.  🙂

 

That said irrespective of new price I would argue that my system is excellent value in terms of the sonics achieved for the overall cost. I believe I'm both a careful skipper and bargain hunter. That doesn't necessarily make the end result cheap though.... In all fairness though this is subjective and I'm probably a bit biased with respect to my own system.

Edited March 10, 20251 yr by MattyW

Speakers vary from maybe 0.1 to 0.85 - I say that because although new, they had discounts. And the other enjoyable used, modified set didn't cost much at all. This is "main system", otherwise it would be 0.00 to 1.00 over all speakers owned in the past. The 1.00 might be a $20 set of LogiTech ... lol

Amplifiers in use are generally 0.5 - 0.85 as I seem to prefer more modern carefree amps that don't have issues. One is 0.15 used. The others are quite low ratio but not used currently. Is it sacrilege to put modern internals inside that lovely vintage front panel, idk... 

 

Most things I buy used, and usually at a decent price, because unless I really, really want the item, I don't feel compelled to pay over perceived market price, after all, I have to keep the "wonder what this sounds like" hobby sustainable 🙂

I'm 0.59 ... of the 10 devices I counted only one was second-hand and a couple would probably be considered 'demo' items although all came with full packaging and warranty.

 

Ran the numbers for everything, cables-isolation-racks-tweaks, and came up with almost the same ... 0.58

 

I'm guilty of keeping a spreadsheet (foolish I know). Someone once asked about the value of cables as a percentage of total system cost. I used to be at about 10% but it's crept up to 14% over the past couple of years ... note to self 'stop buying cables!!!'

Everything I have was bought new at whatever the the retail price was.  I did buy one long USB cable from Stereonet but that is no longer used.

 

Even my previous systems in the 70s, 80s etc were all bought new.  However I do keep them for a long time once bought; no FOMO flipping here.  

 

So I suppose that makes me a pure 1.00

0.33 

 

I have a mix of newish and bargains all pretty modern gear and mostly still available new to buy.

 

Being a bargain hunter and not allowing myself to buy new gear (that much) does have its drawbacks though, you can only buy what’s on the secondhand market and do I ever really buy what I want, probably not.

On 11/12/2024 at 4:46 PM, Cloth Ears said:

I'm not sure how you mean to work it out. I look for bargains (i.e. main speakers at cost from the importer, second hand items at bargain prices, etc), but how do you work out "the retail price (in todays $$$ for vintage gear)"? Like, I'm fairly sure I paid about $700 for both my Rotel power amps and could probably get double that if I sold them - does that put me at 2.0 or 0.5? And if I got my Kenwood Basic M2 thrown in with the C2 pre-amp, does that make it a 0.0, or infinity, item?

A Kenwood M1/C2 combo was my first serious Hi Fi purchase. The M1 is still going 30+ years later.

I've been lucky with some new gear bought at introductory prices, that later became much more expensive. Overall I'm at 70%, buying only new and not even haggling too much. 

Haven't done the calculation but everything in my current system was purchased new with full warranty. I was however blessed by the (Let's give him a Discount) gods on each and every purchasing occasion, and when you look at what the RRP was then and compare it to what it is now (for the still current components), the blessings have been well and truly compounded.

Edited April 21, 2025Apr 21 by JukKluk2