This may sound a bit silly but why are so many

Of course someone buys new. But then they often get sold and resold, so the numbers can be misleading. Probably nothing going on here. Plus lots of members here have lots of money.

Everyone hears differently. What is beautifully neutral to some people sounds a little lean to me.

A preamp that is perfect for one system may sound terrible in another. You have to get all the components in your system complementing one another. A really good or expensive component may not work in a particular system

If you build your system by trial and error, as many on Audiogon do, you will buy and sell a lot of gear before you get your system to sound just right, if you ever do.

Perhaps they are not struck by the beauty of the music

Reference 10 is coming out as a replacement for the ref40.

Sfstereo
Are you serious? Where did you hear that?It would'nt surprize me too much but why not a Ref 80?