What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

 Well part of this is the fact that great sound can be had with products costing far less such as Tekton speakers, Class D amps, digital powered DACs and making your own audio cables.   DIY is on the increase for sure. Many of us have just said enough with these crazy inflated prices and doing something about it.  I know lots of Aphiles rolling their own cables and upgrading their own gear to achieve what they want.  

@daveyf 

Part of the massive depreciation of luxury vehicles is the 'image' issue, driving the latest and greatest is a status symbol, and part of it that many of those brands lean heavily towards leases vs purchases (not sure about Bentley or Rolls, but it's very true for MB, BMW, Jaguar, etc).  

Plus, there's additional downward pressure on used vehicle sales because once they start leaving the warranty maintenance costs are dramatically higher than they are for more mainstream vehicles.  Buying that $100,000 Mercedes for $30,000 a few years old can be seen as a bargain, but the maintenance costs are still in line with a $100,000 Mercedes and not a $30,000 Toyota.  

@tutetibiimperes. That’s all good and correct, question is whether this also applies to HEA? Since a lot of the new gear is edging towards pricing that makes most of these new luxury cars pale in comparison!

daveyf:
In my guestimation when you buy a piece of high end equipment (and see what I say later about what is high end to me) it immediately depreciates by about 33%.  After used it a year or 2 maybe then by 50% and at 5 years 75%. When I sell that is usually what go by and my stuff generally sells quickly - but not immediately and usually after some negotiation.  That makes me think the above numbers are somewhat true.   This data is also generally supported by I've seen for equipment that has actually sold on eBay (we unfortunately cannot track sold prices here).  There are a few factors here - most equipment after 2-5 years may not be quite obsolete but has been replaced with equipment as good that is now sold new at lower prices.  I am speaking about the equipment in the $1K to $6K range as I unfortunately have absolutely no experience in the 5 and 6 figure stuff (I briefly owned a pair of Pioneer S1EX speakers purchased at 50% off but had to sell because they were physically too large for my listening room (long story), so I was close).  I bought an Aurelic Vega DAC new 6 months ago that I think I'll be lucky to get half of it's price - DACs keep getting better and less expensive in short amounts of time.  I would hope things like amps, preamps and turntables would hold their value better than that.  Now if we all followed the same thinking we would sell better and then buy more and therefore keep evolving our systems to be 'better'.  And I agree that the people that can afford to spend on the five and six figure $ equipment have no need to buy used and they aren't really the focus of this discussion (sorry to you really really rich people - BTW I'm envious as I would really like to have some six figure speakers - lol).  In joking I realize that a six figure speaker would have to depreciate by 90+% for me to afford)

@daveyf 

Other than the pricing of some of the gear I don't see a lot of parallels between HEA and luxury vehicles.  

Many people buy expensive vehicles to present a certain level of success to the world, to outdo their neighbors or coworkers, etc.  That dynamic isn't really in play with audio systems as far fewer people are going to see your audio system than your car, and even those people you invite inside likely aren't going to know Bose from Magico.  

Also the maintenance issue doesn't really apply to HEA.  Outside of tubes in tube amps and styluses in cartridges there's not a lot of routine maintenance needed in audio systems.  Amps and speakers can go decades without having to have caps replaced, and even if they do need it the parts themselves are generally inexpensive.