Top resale value speakers

My story: bought some Infinity RSIIa speakers back in 1984 and paid $2,200. for the new pair (retail $3,200)
Used them for almost 20 years.
Then took them apart and sold the PARTS here on the goN' for $1,850.
That is a good deal.
(Not as good as a Marantz 9B if you owned it from new and sold it now!! But still not bad.

It is impossible to know the various discounts available on all speaker brands but it is well known that Magnepan does not discount much at all, whether due to low margin to begin with or factory control, I am not sure. But I think this factor has a lot to do with Maggies holding resale.

The argument can be extended by (in theory at least) getting enough data on selling vs list price of all speakers when new. Then, compare the resale value of these at a future point in time, assuming (again in theory) equal condition. I am guessing the result of comparing used resale to new discounted price will be much closer (ie clustered) than you might expect for 80% of all brands.

Similar models can apply to the car biz. For years, M-B held up value as there was no discount available. Since they started discounting a few years ago, resale value has dropped and it varies by model, which variance corresponds quite closely to the selling discount by model.

I think it has always been true that street price and not list price is the correct number to reference for resale value. Those items which are heavily discounted will not hold value as well as items whose selling price is closely guarded. On the other hand, supply/demand ratio can cause an exception to this formula.

Elizabeth:

your analysis is a bit flawed as the 1850 you received is MUCH less than the 2200 you paid in real dollars (inflation adjustment) Its only around 900 bucks. (still not a bad deal, of course)

KeithR

Keithr, while you have a point, it is rare or never that resale value considers inflation. Auto leases (residual values), real estate tax computation, etc are not affected by inflation indexing. Maybe in theory they ought to be, but for whatever reason they are not. Businessperson does NOT equal economist. So, while Elizabeth's computations may be 'flawed', it was done the same way as everyone else does it.

Note: just because everyone else does it does not make it right in every case. For example, spelling a plural noun (eg, kids) with an apostrophe (kid's) is not correct, even though every bloody one in my office seems to be doing it! Aaaaargh.