Are you manufacturer's paying attention?

Cars lose their value due to the number of moving parts, competition in the market place, and exposure to the immediate environment. Which, again causes extreme wear on the automobile, thus making it less than pristine and eventually a bucket of rust.

You can buy a $20,000 dollar car and in ten years it may only be worth $2,000. All due to the above factors.

On the other hand, in 1987, I bought a new Adcom GFA 555 for $550. In 1998, I sold it for $350.

In 1993, I bought a new Adcom 565 pre-amp for $750. In 1998, I sold it for $450.

These are not high end by any means, but I think it demonstrates that stereo gear holds a better value than automobiles and I would bet that percentage wise it hold as well as other consumer electronics or products.
Just look at the used golf club or bicycle market.

-2,-2 for telling the truth? Give me a break. I suppose it is too much to ask for an actual reply or something else of intelligence.

Don't buy the stuff if it does not deliver good value for the money. Just focus on high value-for-performance gear. Is there truly not enough high value/performance gear available?

Can anyone compile a list of high value/performance amplifier manufacturers? Let's examine if there are enough to choose from.

Everyone knows that audio performance does not go up in direct correlation to cost. It is our choice to go beyond the "knee" of the cost/performance curve or not.

Do you want good sound or bragging rights? Have we all not heard mega-buck systems that sounded awful? And cheaper ones that sounded better? Exercise your choices; vote with your purchases.

People paying outrageous prices perpetuate the pricing. The exclusivity, expense, and sheer audacity of some manufacturers appeal to some buyers. We don't have to participate.

We've tried really hard to keep prices down over the years, one of the more obvious being we just don't price our gear to the same formula that a lot of manufacturers do.

Despite that, the market has consistantly told us that it prefers to pay a little more if the end result is better sound. Unfortunately, there is also the phenomena that a more expensive amplifier is perceived to be better for no other reason then the cost.

Eventually the market figures out that the more expensive amplifier is not always better out of sheer price alone. It is finding that out about one of our close competitors right now.

There is also the 'you get what you pay for' issue. I doubt there is a single under-$2000-amp out there that is really something that would be called world class and state of the art. We would all like to make amps that cheap, I imagine, but the facts are that such an amp has to really have some corners cut to be worth making.

I paid < $1000 for a mint,< 50 hour Pass Labs Aleph-3
This retailed for $2500.
I've read dozens of reviews where this amp was put up against 'the best' and more often than not walked away the winner.
"You get what you paid for" mentality is what SOME big $$$$$$$$$ amp manufacturers want you to believe.
Nelson Pass puts out big $$$$$$ amps but still offered a modestly priced amp (aleph-3) and didnt call it something else to protect his name.
I say,buy used at a fraction of the retail and let the big pocket guys who *need* to spend all the money take the loss.