The Problem with Synergistic Research

Sabai,
The reality is that you made the decision to spend your money, and you were obviously happy with your purchases. If you took your "outdated cables" out of the system and put them back in you would find they are still doing what they did when you bought them.
If you expect all future purchases from that manufacturer to be at factory cost, they would be out of business and your purchases would be unsupported.
To go on here and whinge about the cost of upgrades, target specific companies and yet claim that you have to respect your own privacy is hypocracy.
Even if the product were snake oil, you bought it, grow up and stop blaming other people for the outcomes of choices you made.

Dover,
Protecting my privacy is my right. It is not "hypocracy" [sic]. This claim on your part is clearly a non sequitur. If it were not, the question remains, is everyone required to divulge where they live when they post here? I don't believe country of domicile is an issue on Audiogon.

I am not the only one on this thread and other threads who has made this same observation with regards to SR and other companies. With all due respect, if it irks you to read what people feel please feel free to skip these posts.

You stated: "If you expect all future purchases from that manufacturer to be at factory cost ..."

I did not state this and I did not imply this. I have made the very good point that the SR trade-up policy is not favorable to customers -- contrary to what SR would like customers to believe. Many others have made this same point before on Audiogon. This is not the first time that my observations have been made on the forums. The fact that Ted_d is sensitive to my remarks shows they hit a nerve.

With the SR trade-up policy, you have to buy a product or products of twice the value to get 70%. If you can, it makes more sense to wait, buy on the aftermarket -- and sell on the aftermarket, as well.

I have not given up on SR products. I have many SR products in my system that are excellent. But some people have stated on Audiogon that they have given up on SR because they cannot keep up with the upgrades and have found that their SR products have become too-quickly outdated and the value of their SR purchases has depreciated. I believe this is a reasonable point. Now, some may argue by presenting time lines, that this is not factually correct. However, customer perceptions, even though they may not agree with company time lines, are important to note. Feelings are as important as statistics.

ted - awesome!
love the breadvan, got so much character that the new ones don't have. it's a modern classic. dinan are good tuners.
996gt3's are good value over there at the moment. they are still a bit too expensive here (aus); hifi is my main hobby.....

back on topic - i think your products are great! i bought my first ones on a visit to ny in 1998, they still sound great in my sytem and have been slowly adding to them since.
keep up the great work!

james

Sabai -

SR 70% trade in deal :

The Lifetime Upgrade Passport Program works as follows:

You receive up to 70% back on the retail value of your original SR purchase regardless of the price you paid. This applies to any Synergistic Research product, even if it is 20 years old. There are only 2 requirements to initiate the program.

1. You are the original owner, (the product was purchased from an Authorized SR dealer). A receipt may be required.

2. You are upgrading to a Synergistic Research product or products whose value is twice the price of the original purchase to receive the full 70 % rebate.

Example:

If you purchased an X Series Resolution Reference interconnect in 2001 which retailed for $1000 and you want to use your Passport to purchase a new pair of Element Copper Interconnects ($1200 120 volt US version) and and a Tranquility basik ($950 US 120 volt version), you’ll get 70% or $700 credit toward your purchase. Any combination of new products can be used to reach your two times qualifier so you can take advantage of all our new technologies."

This is actually quite generous. If you assume dealers mark up of 50% then the dealer in the above example makes $300 on a $2000 sale. No business can operate on $15% margin. Yes, they can onsell your tradein, but the reality is this then represents a lost sale of another new product at 50% margin, notwithstanding they may have to dump your tradein at a loss. I dont think many products get more than 50% of new price on 2nd hand market and yet you are offered 70% irrespective of what you paid.

I do not own any SR product but stand by my comments, your arguments are bollocks.

Dover,
Since you have to purchase a product for twice the price I do not call this a "deal". With all due respect -- which is unfortunately not always reciprocated on the forums, alas -- you have the right to your opinions. I have the right to mine. I stand by my comments.