I just bought a used cart here. Ortofon Cadenza Bronze. Great deal. About 40% off list give or take, these carts never go on sale. It’s a good way to try different sounds. As with anything mechanical, buy the seller, not the item. In this case, the cart was a dealer’s personal cart. Listening to it right now. Excellent!
Would you pay more than 25% of MSRP for a used cartridge?
Seems most seller want to price their "low-hour" used cartridges at 50-80% of MSRP. This seems ridiculous to me because there is no sure way to verify these "low-hour" claims. You need to have specialized microscopes and even then it's a just a guestimate if worn or not.
Another point is even a cartridge with 1000+ hours can still sound very good. A worn stylus will mistrack only on certain passages of certain demanding records. So it is nothing obvious.
So why do all these folks price their used cartridges so high? Are folks actually paying these prices?
My max. would be 25% of MSRP for any "low-hour" claim.
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“Caveat emptor” is good advice for probably more than 2000 years. “Trust but verify” also is a good motto. Get a pre-purchase inspection done by an expert. If someone like Peter Ledermann or our Needlestein confirms low use and perfect structure. I’d be all in. Such a specimen is worth much more than 25% of MSRP, to me, if I want it. If a seller won’t agree to a PPI, done at my expense, I’m not a buyer at any price. |
+1 @jjss49 Though I am thankful for those who won't buy used cartridges or tubes, etc. BTW isn't a demo also used? |
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