What is going on? No-one buys good stuff priced right.

Can audio return to greatness? Question is can artistry return to being artistry and not you know what ? Theoretically yes.
Economic conditions are good enough for many and not too bad for most, this is not a cause but an excuse. People spend ridiculous dollars on bullsh-t and eat three times more food than they need. Alright, I'll be more gentle - two times more. Not to mention drinking like pigs, oops I mean drinking too much.

Maybe the prices are not so right. Example: There is a Sony CS/SACD player listed for $1,100. (or make an offer, to be fair.) This is the only option even remotely within my means. The others in my search here range from $2,200 to $35,500! The list price of the Sony is given as $3,500 in  about 1999. Actually, the list was dropped by Sony to $2,500 in 2001. So I would have to believe that the Sony depreciated only 56% over 18 years. I do not believe that and I don't think it is worth risking anywhere near that money on such an old unit. It was a fine player, and the price is in-line with those listed elsewhere; but not for me!

Does anyone want to buy my 2005 Subaru Outback wagon for $29,000? It only has 154,000 miles and the tires are outstanding. 

I've been using Agon for 15 years now (holy crap) and have gone thru so much equipment it makes me wonder. After retiring a few months ago, the time of needing newer, better, or just more equipment is over for me. It's been a nice ride though, and I have not just heard, but owned some extremely nice gear.

For some reason the thrill of owning and listening to the really nice stuff always seems to fade for me. I start thinking, "I paid $5k for this amp and is it making my listening any more satisfying?" My answer has always been "no, not really." The expensive stuff get's sold, and lately not through Audiogon.

What has been satisfying is finding pieces which offer equal (to my ear) sonic pleasure at a fraction of the price. Building Bottlehead kits comes immediately to mind. Or my latest project, finding a non-working Hafler amp and bringing new life to it with modifications. 

As I said, my stuff doesn't get sold through Agon anymore; they lost me during the big shake up a few years ago. Seemed like every time I went to list an item here the fee structure was different and there were other alternatives which worked just as well for me. When I joined this site, placing ads cost $2 it might've been $1 but my memory is fuzzy. It was a wonderful site for hobbyists. As with everything in life though, it changed. 

2channel8 has it right on the money, pun intended. I have slowed my buying to a crawl because the price of used gear is absurd. The prices reflect a depreciation that is just not realistic. I recently looked into a pair of speakers that were 16 years old and the owner was asking 70% of original price. I walked away.