If you’ve kept a loyal relationship with a dealer, you should get a solid discount. But even for a 1st purchase, since it’s such a large system investment your’re considering, he should work with you. Such a discount (say 20%) helps, but no it doesn’t close the gap to 50-70% off used pieces. But then you need to factor in warranty support; a lot of warranties don’t transfer to the 2nd owner. That can represent significant value on some of this very expensive to repair (and sometimes finicky) equipment. Furthermore a good dealer will help facilitate repairs and may also have a skilled tech that can perform diagnosis and minor repairs/upgrades. And of course some good dealers will give you good $ value for trade-ins to upgrades, or even for consignment sales.
I still do both kinds of buying. I started out buying mostly used, but transitioned into much more buying from my main authorized dealer once I got much more serious about putting together an awesome system. And yes, I do get better sound. My dealer’s expertise & knowledge is superb. And I no longer have so many doubts like: "what if this piece doesn’t sound its best because it was abused by a prior owner", and: "if this suddenly breaks what are my options".
Furthermore, I’ve found that - more often than not - newer gear from the best companies sounds decidedly better than older models. On these hot new models, the used market discount is much less. In many cases it’s a better deal, overall, to buy from a trusted dealer. Most of the typical gear from the early 2000’s (when I started) sounds absolutely awful compared to the gear of today - and the former is much of what you’ll find heavily discounted on the used markets. Of course there are exceptions, and some very fine vintage gear, but good luck finding it and putting together a whole system that works.
In short - if your dealer can put together 2ch sound rooms that blow you away, he’s an asset - work with him!!
I still do both kinds of buying. I started out buying mostly used, but transitioned into much more buying from my main authorized dealer once I got much more serious about putting together an awesome system. And yes, I do get better sound. My dealer’s expertise & knowledge is superb. And I no longer have so many doubts like: "what if this piece doesn’t sound its best because it was abused by a prior owner", and: "if this suddenly breaks what are my options".
Furthermore, I’ve found that - more often than not - newer gear from the best companies sounds decidedly better than older models. On these hot new models, the used market discount is much less. In many cases it’s a better deal, overall, to buy from a trusted dealer. Most of the typical gear from the early 2000’s (when I started) sounds absolutely awful compared to the gear of today - and the former is much of what you’ll find heavily discounted on the used markets. Of course there are exceptions, and some very fine vintage gear, but good luck finding it and putting together a whole system that works.
In short - if your dealer can put together 2ch sound rooms that blow you away, he’s an asset - work with him!!