Audio Recession

It's a great time to be a buyer for any luxury item right now - there are definitely signs everywhere that luxury items, including audio gear, are in a buyer's market. There have been many pieces listed here and other places over the past six months that were very reasonably priced and never got listed as SOLD. Presumably some did and just never got updated, but it sure seems like a soft market. There have also definitely been a lot of ads that give financial-straits reasoning for selling. I agree with everyone who makes the point that during tough financial times, it's easier to convince yourself that what you have is good enough, at least for now. Very similar to the car you drive, the house you own, etc. Even though the deals are good, the money is hard to come by and it seems a lot riskier than in "good" times. -Kirk

After 10+ years in debt chasing the mythical "Absolute Sound" and recent run-ins with arrogant, unprofessional dealers. I've decided to save for the ultimate audiophile accesory -a house. The good part is: I have a great system to keep me company for the next year of saving (if my ARC tubes don't burn out!)

I have seen some PHENOMENAL deals lately. Needless to say, they are marked as "sold" pretty quickly. Evidently, there is still enough "pocket money" floating around for those "killer deals" when they do pop up. Otherwise, i do agree with the rest of you. Things have slowed down. Hopefully, sales will start to pick up again pretty soon. While i have not stopped buying or selling, i too have slowed down somewhat. I was literally "slammed" full tilt at work today though with customers backed out the door. Who knows, maybe it's already on the rebound... Sean
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The biggest killer for the high end community is, HOME THEATER!! You alot of companys out there making home theater at a cheap price with high performance. And you have magazines writing colums on how two channel high end is dead, And why buy two channel if you can have seven. Well for me I will always have my two channel. I dont want to hear the drummer coming out of my left rear speaker. Thats not how it is live. Gino

My company builds high end toys for the rich, and we too have been affected. The sales are down but not gone. I feel that the consumer is in a position of strength, and we as sellers need to work harder to keep every deal alive. There is a difference between a few thousand for a component and a few hundred thousand for one of our products, but I think that the comparison is still valid. Myself, I have a new baby on the way and am now on one income ... but I think that the right deal would send me into my pocket. Times will get better, thay always do, but not until the market has purged itself of the weakest links in the money chain.