Opinions on the current market

Comments about good buyers and sellers is true -- because a truism. But your question deserves better; it has to do with the wider environment, and whether there is some advantage for buyers. I have had this same question, and I started looking in December.

Here is what I’ve seen, scanning both local stores, online trading sites (US Audiomart, HiFi Shark), and online stores.

There are deals out there — but, right now, the market is stronger than I thought it would be. While there is uncertainty about the economy, many who buy audio gear have a lot of disposable monies, and they’re shut inside; the audio makers I am in touch with report very good business. But I do think they’re concerned about the longer term. A conversation about price is not unreasonable. 20% discount is not unreasonable.

Where to look? The suggestion about brick/mortar stores is a good one (not sure who your local ones are, but they’re worth talking to); some of these brick/mortar stores also sell online — I’ve seen good deals at places like Echo Hifi, Saturday Audio Exchange, Gig Harbor audio, Audio Alternative, Paragon Sight and Sound. Also, The Music Room (online only), is an excellent, excellent and safe source — with a trial period for used gear. Many sweet deals there.

You asked about tube preamps. I’ve just bought my first one, and I got a good deal with my local shop — it’s a Quicksilver, so there’s not much markup on it to begin with. I got the line stage non-remote version, and I think it’s an excellent value for the money, sale or not. There are others I came close to buying — Erhard audio’s Ella (small maker, no discount) Cary Audio (bigger) had some excellent sales and Audio by Van Alstine’s sale page is really worth looking at. I see Rogue Audio on sale in many places.

There are other very well respected tube preamps which I have never seen on sale anywhere and I rarely see them on used sites: Herron, deHavilland, Sachs, Atmas-phere, Aric Audio, Erhard, Supratek, Modwright, Blue Circle, VAC. Among these, within my budget for a preamp (about $2k, max), if I had not gone with Quicksilver, I probably would have looked hard at Aric, Erhard, Supratek — and maybe deHavilland (a bit more, if I recall).

What about the online trading forums, such as Ebay, US Audio Mart, Audiogon? I saw some very good deals arise on these sites, including gear by Quicksilver, VAC, and Jolida/Black Ice. Here, the wider environment factor affecting buyers and sellers can become prominent, as people decide (based on their own economic situation) that their $4000 preamp is worth letting go of for $2000 cash.

While I’ve not owned a lot of gear, I’ve learned a lot by shopping around, bookmarking sites, visiting everyday, and taking notes over the past four months. I created a folder with bookmarks that go directly to the sale/clearance pages and I’d scan them, putting notes into a separate table and searching forums for experienced judgments.

Good luck!

Markets aren’t always equally as good for buyers and sellers. Liquidity of inventory is a major factor. Just look at periods of time or geographies that affect real estate. Tell me the time to sell your house was best in 2009 when prices were plunging and foreclosures ruled. That was a buyers market! It’s also not the greatest opportunity to buy a home when there is no inventory and buyers engage in bidding wars often sight unseen. To categorize markets, including used and new audio gear, as equally beneficial to both parties as a constant is deeply flawed analysis. If folks need to raise cash they will sell at deeper discounts and that is a better opportunity for the buyer...this isn’t difficult calculus. I don’t care how "good" of a buyer you are, the seller isn’t going to sell the item to you at a price lower than what he knows he can fetch within 24 hrs from someone else. Stock markets work the same....look for periods of time when we’ve drifted far from the mean and assess. No one has ever heard the expression "sell into strength and buy into weakness"????

As we now have surpassed 30 million lost jobs in just a couple of months it would tough to categorize the period we are entering as anything but a buyer's market soon.  I don't think we've seen anything close to full impact of this effect yet from the current crisis.

Just a Ponzi scheme , oldest in world  but  not forever .

Speaking of Ponzi schemes, what is it exactly you are going to sell for? Federal Reserve Notes you mistakenly refer to as dollars is my guess. But we haven't had dollars for a long time now. 

The word by the way comes from Thaler, the valley in Europe where vast amounts of silver were mined and made into the silver coins that were world currency at the time of the nations founding. The coins featured an insignia, a pole with a long flag spiraling around it, that in stylized fashion looked something like this $.

Back then there was actual tangible value in the money. Over time claim checks were issued representing the value held on deposit. These claim checks were known as bank notes. A note is a loan. The claim checks circulated but people could redeem the notes for the actual metal held on deposit. The value always was in the metal. The notes never were anything more than paper. Like you leave your clothes at the dry cleaners, he gives you a claim check. Same as that.

Somehow over time people were duped into believing the paper is the value. To the point that today people feel perfectly correct in lecturing about markets and buyers and sellers and all without ever once being aware of the fundamental dishonesty that lies at the foundation of all they are talking about. 

When you sell your component you are trading a thing of tangible value for something of zero intrinsic value. We just made 20 trillion more of them, without even the slightest effort. What do you suppose would happen to amplifiers and speakers if they could do that?

Right. You're not even close to what you should really be worried about.

@hilde45You got my point, thanks, as did @three-easy-payments: buyers vs sellers market. In reading old posts while researching used pre’s, some of the ‘you can get xyz-brand/model within your budget, used’ answers have equipment that is way higher than the quoted budget in today’s prices. On the face of it, that would seem used gear prices are on the rise. I’m thinking used to minimize risk, despite having had good luck in the past. But if a piece is selling for $2K now, I’d like to know I can get close to that amount back if I find I don’t like it in my system. I’m not looking to be greedy and make money, I just don’t want to loose my shirt.