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Is Component "Upgradability" Important ?

I have always been concerned when buying a component that it can be upgraded by the manufacturer at a later date if a new version comes out but I am starting to wonder if this is really that important. I say this because manufacturers are hardly willing to give away upgrades just because you may have purchased an earlier version of their product. It seems as though you will end up spending the same amount of money whether you pay for the conversion to the new model or you sell your old component and put the money towards the cost of a completely new model. I am not sure what is the best way to go for the manufacturer but I am also not sure that having one model physically converted into another model is always the less costly way to go for the consumer.
mchd1
kthomas
911 posts
 
I think upgradability is way oversold as an attribute. In theory, it would appear to be very beneficial, but in reality it seems to have mixed results. There's no doubt that new models cause old models to depreciate overnight, but they don't perform any worse in the morning. Upgradability can certainly extend the life of a component, but there are definite limits. One other form of upgradability I'll throw on the table is Lexicon's - they have very competitive trade-up offers when they bring out new models.
lakefrontroad
302 posts
 
Hi,

I upgraded a ML38 to a ML380S. Given the upgrade cost me $2650 and the original piece $1600, it put me about as much as most of the upgraded 380S around. However, I ran into a 380S for $3500 which I'm sure plays just as good as my "new" 380S.

When ML upgrades their AVP's I'm selling and buying used.

Bill E

I bought a used original Lexicon DC-1 v1.02 which worked great but cost a ton to upgrade. I see no advantage to owning new upgraded outdated equipment.
katharina
56 posts
 
If I were a manufacturer, I would go into offering upgrades especially when I felt my sales going down, my stocks were fairly low and a new model was in the works, ready to hit or already on the market. I would send the new model to be reviewed in the audio press and would drop the hint, that an upgrade was available. Often it ain't about music, its all about money. The press likes it. It gives them something to write about. But the consumer often is just exploited. That's why we stopped buying ARC from about 20 years ago, because we were getting tired of their upgrade policy, which has not changed to this day. According to their logic, the old stuff must have sounded like crap, which it didn't and the new releases like heaven, which they didn't either.
kthomas
911 posts
 
Bill E - Just to be clear, the Lexicon upgrade policy I was referring to was a generous trade-in allowance towards a newly released model. I agree that upgrading outdated equipment is usually expensive and only modestly effective. That's why I liked being able to trade my DC-1 in on an MC-1 - it saved me the hassle of selling it and was worth real money (not just a token amount) on the MC-1, which is not outdated. In a year or two, the MC-1 will be outdated and I'll be glad to get credit towards whatever the next release is. -Kirk
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