2. amps-preamps
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Outrageous used pricing on older McIntosh

Am I the only one to notice that pricing on older McIntosh gear is bordering on the ridiculous lately? In the last few months, sellers with amps and preamps that are from the 70's, 80's, and 90's are asking within a few hundred dollars of the original asking price! Now I know Mac gear holds it's value very well, but for a used item decades old to be so close to original is ridiculous. Of course, the newest gear is in the "stratasphere" region, but that is to be expected. Anyone else notice this?
sid42
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,868 posts
 
have you heard what a Mac 240 can do ? minty they sell for 15 X new.
My dad shelled out $199 for the demo amp in 1965. It is vintage 1961.
Value determined by mkt for sure. Is there a MAC bubble ? Maybe.
Just bought MC250 from Berdan's " private stash"... decent shape..not mint physically..but electrical performance quite good. Clips at better than 10 % above rated pwr. Drives a pair of Vandersteen 2 CE really, really well. Magic of SP6-B does not hurt..
but the bottom line is Mac delivers lasting sonic and physical value..at least to me.

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,868 posts
 
forgot to add I still have the 240... yum...

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,493 posts
 
I have owned Mc gear and I don't understand why people pay ridiculous money for them.  Nostalgia I guess,  my last piece of Mc gear was a C15 that I paid $700 for....It was OK but no comparison to the McCormack pre that replaced it....I did appreciate the fact that I sold it three years later for $1300......
Ag insider logo xs@2x
tonykay
1,298 posts
 
"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."  (Quote)

Warren Buffet (probably not an audiophile).
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
Tubegroover said:  "  The amps sold for 198.00 each new during the time of their manufacturer from 1955-1961."

Just to put things into perspective, I worked the graveyard shift for Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica in 1957. With overtime, my pay maxed out at $110.00 per week. I bought a 1955 Chevy Bel Air hardtop with 2400 miles on it in 1957 for $2200.00. In 1965, I bought a brand new home in Huntington Beach for $20,650. Payments were $147.00 per month ... and that included taxes and insurance. So, considering the times, what we now call "classic" audio gear was quite expensive. 

For a lot of collectors,the classic gear is like collecting postage stamps. Records (lp's) can be the same. There are folks who pay multi-hundreds of dollars for original Blue Notes, etc., when they could have pristine reissues on 180g vinyl. Why is the original so important to them? Because they are collectors first and listeners second?

The real question is: Has the value of the classic gear gone up ... or has the value of money gone down???
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