To buy new or used?

[Scott Gardner]

Let's say that you want to assemble the best-sounding system you can
on a budget of $10,000. You are limited to two types of gear:

1) Brand-new, current models, for which you pay average retail.

2) Five-year old equipment, which costs you exactly half of what it
cost new.

Essentially I'm asking if it's easier to build a quality system with
$10,000 worth of 2003 gear, or with 1998 gear that cost $20,000 at the
time.

I'm not interested in particular brands or models, I'm just curious
whether you would prefer new or used, and why. Feel free to mix and
match as well, such as selecting a new preamp, but a used amplifier.

Are there any types of components where you feel progress is so fast
that you would definitely want to buy new?

Scott Gardner

[Max Holubitsky]

Scott Gardner wrote:

> Let's say that you want to assemble the best-sounding system you can
> on a budget of $10,000. You are limited to two types of gear:
>
> 1) Brand-new, current models, for which you pay average retail.
>
> 2) Five-year old equipment, which costs you exactly half of what it
> cost new.
>
> Essentially I'm asking if it's easier to build a quality system with
> $10,000 worth of 2003 gear, or with 1998 gear that cost $20,000 at the
> time.
>
> I'm not interested in particular brands or models, I'm just curious
> whether you would prefer new or used, and why. Feel free to mix and
> match as well, such as selecting a new preamp, but a used amplifier.
>
> Are there any types of components where you feel progress is so fast
> that you would definitely want to buy new?
>
> Scott Gardner

My *opinion* is

I'd get new speakers, a new CD player, and a new cartridge - but used
amplifier, preamplifier, and turntable.

My justification is as follows.

Speakers have come a long way in recent years, and it's also nice to have
the latest in industrial design as well. Speakers seem to look "dated"
before other equipment does.

CD player is mainly a reliability issue, and also because you never know
how many "miles" are on the old one.

Amp and Preamp are very reliable components, and haven't seen so much
development lately. An exception to this would be home theatre stuff.

[Robert Morein]

"Scott Gardner" > wrote in message
...
> Let's say that you want to assemble the best-sounding system you can
> on a budget of $10,000. You are limited to two types of gear:
>
> 1) Brand-new, current models, for which you pay average retail.
>
> 2) Five-year old equipment, which costs you exactly half of what it
> cost new.
>
> Essentially I'm asking if it's easier to build a quality system with
> $10,000 worth of 2003 gear, or with 1998 gear that cost $20,000 at the
> time.
>
> I'm not interested in particular brands or models, I'm just curious
> whether you would prefer new or used, and why. Feel free to mix and
> match as well, such as selecting a new preamp, but a used amplifier.
>
> Are there any types of components where you feel progress is so fast
> that you would definitely want to buy new?
>
> Scott Gardner
>
As far as two channel audio is concerned, buy used, except for the DAC and
speakers.

Progress in amplifiers and preamps has been in a reverse direction for a
number of years. Because the market has shrunk, manufacturers have had
difficulty obtaining economies of scale. The result is smaller, less capable
amplification.

The upsampling DAC is a recent development, which in my opinion provides
considerable improvement.
In conjunction with such a DAC, the type of CD transport is irrelevant.
Anything that tracks well is equally good.

Speakers have continued to advance in accuracy, but not necessarily in a way
to please the ear. However, any speaker made since 1990 is essentially
modern.

You can go back to 1983 and find excellent amps and preamps.

[Joseph Oberlander]

Scott Gardner wrote:

> Let's say that you want to assemble the best-sounding system you can
> on a budget of $10,000. You are limited to two types of gear:
>
> 1) Brand-new, current models, for which you pay average retail.
>
> 2) Five-year old equipment, which costs you exactly half of what it
> cost new.

Try 1/3 to 1/4. But we'll say 1/2 for this example.

> Essentially I'm asking if it's easier to build a quality system with
> $10,000 worth of 2003 gear, or with 1998 gear that cost $20,000 at the
> time.
>
> I'm not interested in particular brands or models, I'm just curious
> whether you would prefer new or used, and why. Feel free to mix and
> match as well, such as selecting a new preamp, but a used amplifier.

Only ones with numerous moving or wearing parts like a record player
or tape deck. A DVD player also should be new for this reason and
also because the recent advances ARE really nice - you can get a
Panasonic progressive scan DVD player that has crystal clean slow
motion and pause and whatnot for under $300 last I checked.

Figure $1000 for all these three pieces. Also, a TV should be new
or if a projection unit, have new bulbs and screens/elements.

As for amplifiers and receivers, it's all the same technology.
Speakers are fairly simmilar - most B&W brands you can buy today,
for instance, were selling 4-5 years ago.

[Sockpuppet Yustabe]

"Glans, I" > wrote in message
...
> (Scott Gardner) wrote:
>
> >Let's say that you want to assemble the best-sounding system you can
> >on a budget of $10,000. You are limited to two types of gear:
> >
> >1) Brand-new, current models, for which you pay average retail.
> >
> >2) Five-year old equipment, which costs you exactly half of what it
> >cost new.
>
> If it's five years old, do yourself a favour and pay 1/3rd price :-)
>
> >Essentially I'm asking if it's easier to build a quality system with
> >$10,000 worth of 2003 gear, or with 1998 gear that cost $20,000 at the
> >time.
>
> You can get a lot more for your money second hand, especially at this
> price bracket. It's also more of a risk. Do you like taking risks?
>
> >Are there any types of components where you feel progress is so fast
> >that you would definitely want to buy new?
>
> Digital gear.
>

I ayegree!




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