Electrocompaniet EMC-1: let's talk?

special circle for those who purposefully mislead buyers (especially audio guys trying to "drink champagne on a beer budget". It's a jungle out there: the Dodson dac and the Merlin VSM series loudspeakers are two other products I know of (these from personal experience) whose descriptions are regularly smeared by sellers. Another current example: the Reference 3A De Capo loudspeaker. There now is a De Capo "i," though advertisers of the superceded model often leave that tidbit out.
Upgradability is a great convenience and cost-saving benefit to audio consumers, but it has become a quagmire. I know Audiogon doesn't need more rules, but one that mandates a seller to identify his product as upgraded, and not being the same as the newer, factory-produced "original," would be a good step. As usual, caveat emptor!

Jayme: I know your post is several weeks old, but I didn't see it till today and I'd like to respond. In many (but not all) cases, an "upgraded" unit is indeed absolutely identical to one that was manufactured as that particular model. Customer service folks at Audio Research (the king of the upgrade game), Mark Levinson and others will verify this and they'll tell you whether they have to make any compromises when upgrading a component.

Still, I think a prospective buyer should be told that the unit in question did not begin its life in its present form, but a lot of people have a mistaken notion that an upgraded unit is somehow not as good.

Hi "9": I believe quality itself is not the issue, but rather the age of the unit, and also disclosure integrity.

Jayme: I agree; however, I get annoyed by ads for, say, an ARC LS25MKII that say this is an "original MKII" and not "an inferior" upgraded version that really isn't a MKII. That's not only misleading, it's a plain lie and shows the person selling the unit either doesn't know better or also lacks integrity. I always disclose everything and provide a serial number so anyone interested in something I'm selling can call the manufacturer.

It seems to me that an "upgraded" rather than factory MKII or whatever, would in some ways be preferable, having been back to the factory where in all probability, any problems would have taken care of.