The Music Room

Ok, so dont believe me. I’ve been on this forum a lot longer than you. If you were familiar with my threads and comments you would see that I dont troll, exaggerate, or make negative comments.
This is an old thread and last year I made positive comments about TMR. Had good transactions with them.

First point; Purist makes very fine cables and at that time I had Aqueous Luminist cables. So I wanted to add another Purist and because the age of the cable and ownership was unknown, I wanted the connectors fully checked out. After only good experiences with TMR, provenance was not an issue in this case. These were possibly abused cables or the connectors were stressed by a previous owner and should have been more thoroughly inspected by the techs when traded in. What are the odds of connectors on both ICs breaking off.
I only just read about the 45 day warranty, I thought it was 30 days. So, my bad for not returning them.

Next item was an Atma-sphere UV-1 preamp with phono, highly modified by Ralph. My cost new was $2700 and I owned it for 2 years, still had a warranty (which was attractive to the eventual buyer). The offer from TMR was $300. I dont want to hear that they need to recoup operating costs and make a profit in this case.
Put it up for sale here and at US Audiomart, had offers and took about a month to sell. Also included lots of NOS tubes and sold the unit for $1350.
So there’s my story which may sound like fantasy or BS to you.

Hi lowrider57 I hear you on the cables and thinking you missed the return deadline. It is still surprising that you did not contact them, being so close to the perceived deadline. By your own account you considered them to be a reputable firm, and so at least some accommodation might have been expected.

I have to take you at your word on the UV-1 figures, so I apologize for the negative remark. Perhaps TMR have not had good experience reselling Atma-sphere equipment. I notice that Dick Olsher panned the phono stage in both Ablosute Sound and HiFi+. Enjoy The Music had no such reservations, however.

Even given that electronics tend to be undervalued when traded in, what amounts to a better than 75% discount seems a little steep. It worked out well for someone, though: The person who scored your 2 year old UV-1 for $1350.
I wonder what you replaced it with.

Mark, Yeah I should have contacted them about the cables. A piece of one connector snapped off after about 2 months and the other cable not long afterward.

I hear you regarding the Atma-sphere. Maybe TMR didn’t really want the preamp, but they should have given me a reason. They could have said it would be tough for them to sell it, or maybe there’s not much demand. I did reply to show them past online sale prices which ranged from $1200 to $1500 and the rep wouldn’t change his offer. What makes me angry at them is it seems like they will buy or take a trade on anything. It's become a buyer beware situation for me.

I did hear from my buyer telling me that he was thrilled with the preamp.
Since you asked, I upgraded to a used Audio Note linestage, the M2 Special which means it was a custom order with upgrades from the UK factory. I’m loving it.

Sorry for my harsh tone, but this has been a sore subject for me.

In my case it depended on what I was trying to sell them. They offered a crazy low price on a pair of speakers less than a year old, $500 for $4000 speakers, I passed on that. An amp they offered as much as I was offered here on A'gon after trying for a month to sell it, I took that offer. 

TMR are making a living in the very tough used audio gear market.  If it was easy, everyone would do it.  Their prices are not too far above the general used marketplace and they, unlike sellers here and on USAM, offer a no questions asked return policy.  I purchased a pair of very heavy and somewhat expensive mono amps from them, that I may not have purchased elsewhere without the option to return them if I didn't like them.  It doesn't get much better than that in the used marketplace.

Regarding what they pay for used stuff, that is entirely their business based on their internal market research and perhaps even search requests they receive from their clients.  I have traded in gear to them that I might have sold on the open market but trading it in was a good way to get the deal done.