it held its value.....

[Thompsonuxb]

just browsing looking at the depreciation of a few amps from the last couple of years - genuinly suprised how well the Rotel RA-1520 is holding its value, even now its been discontinued. Its floating around the 450ish pounds mark (moreish in black).

Which brands holds their price?

 

[matthewpiano]

Naim are kings of value retention.

 

[lindsayt]

Like the Naim NAP 500.

Available 2nd hand for £8000. Which is about 43% to 53% of the brand new retail price, depending on when it was first bought.

Not too bad, until you consider that that's a drop of £7000 to £10,600. Enough to buy you a complete system that will outperform any system ever stocked by a Naim main dealer.

 

[chebby]

Like the Naim NAP 500.

Available 2nd hand for £8000. Which is about 43% to 53% of the brand new retail price, depending on when it was first bought.

Not too bad, until you consider that that's a drop of £7000 to £10,600. Enough to buy you a complete system that will outperform any system ever stocked by a Naim main dealer.

Lower down the scale ...

... I bought a Nait 5i and CD5i together for £1440 in 2009 (brand new) and sold them for £586 and £550 rspectively (ex. P&P which was all paid by the customers) in 2011. The second-hand NAT05 tuner cost me £450 and sold for £450.

I lost £30 (over two years) on some used Naim speakers too. (Bought for £450 and sold for £420.)

So I got back £1950 from £2340 total outlay. (Fees totalled about £55 for the CD player, tuner and speakers at the time, and the amp sold privately.)

So an all-Naim entry level system cost me about £200 per year to own over two years.

Having said that, the return would probably have been the same if I were selling it all now. (A quick check on Nait 5i and CD5i ebay prices show that they are still about the same as they were in 2011.) So my ownerwhip cost might have only been a few hundred £s over 5 years if i'd kept it all until now.

 

[Al ears]

just browsing looking at the depreciation of a few amps from the last couple of years - genuinly suprised how well the Rotel RA-1520 is holding its value, even now its been discontinued. Its floating around the 450ish pounds mark (moreish in black).

Which brands holds their price?

I'm not so sure it is necessarily the brands that hold their value rather it is certain models from certain brands.

Some old valve amps have actually increased in value although this is quite rare.

 

[Paul.]

I bought a Marantz PM7200 in 2003 for £269, they are selling on eBay for around the £200 mark. If you tick the box allowing world wide shipping they fetch as much as £300.

 

[DIB]

Since they stopped production I notice that 2nd hand Squeezebox Touches are selling for more now than I paid for my new one 2 years ago.

.

 

[bigfish786]

i've not done bad out of all my *first gen* hifi

mission speakers. bought 300 new, had 8 yrs, sold 275.

arcam power amp, bought 2nd hand 250, had 4 yrs, sold 250.

previous cd player bought and sold for same price.(buttons)

same with 1st amp.

arcam dvd88 bought and sold 2 yrs later for 110 quid, no loss.

all i have left is an arcam a70 amp, bought ex dem at 260.had 6 yrs. still to sell.. but thats it. the rest cost nothing to have for years.

current kit should have cost around 5k, i bought it for around 1600. i'm one savvi shopper.

 

[lindsayt]

Lower down the scale ...

... I bought a Nait 5i and CD5i together for £1440 in 2009 (brand new) and sold them for £586 and £550 rspectively (ex. P&P which was all paid by the customers) in 2011. The second-hand NAT05 tuner cost me £450 and sold for £450.

I lost £30 (over two years) on some used Naim speakers too. (Bought for £450 and sold for £420.)

So I got back £1950 from £2340 total outlay. (Fees totalled about £55 for the CD player, tuner and speakers at the time, and the amp sold privately.)

So an all-Naim entry level system cost me about £200 per year to own over two years.

Having said that, the return would probably have been the same if I were selling it all now. (A quick check on Nait 5i and CD5i ebay prices show that they are still about the same as they were in 2011.) So my ownerwhip cost might have only been a few hundred £s over 5 years if i'd kept it all until now.

Totally agree. You make some very good points here.

If you're going to buy Naim, or any other item of hi-fi and wish to avoid depreciation, buy 2nd hand. And buy 2nd hand at a time when the depreciation has more or less bottomed out. The point at which this has happened will depend on the brand and the particular item in question.

At the lower end of the Naim scale, one of the possible reasons for their lower depreciation is the frequency and size of their price rises. When What hi-fi tested the Naim Nait 5i it cost £850. And the CD5i was £975 when they tested it. Does anyone know when these tests were done?

For someone really adverse to depreciation, it's nice to buy appreciating equipment. For example, I paid £2250 for my EMT 950 with TSD15 SFL cartridge in about 2009 or 2010. They've been selling for about £4000 in the last year.

 

[DaveyBoy1980]

The Rotel ra-1520 is a cracking amp. I bought mine at 1 year old in mint condition for £330 and it's probably worth more than that now but I wouldn't want to let it go. It's driving my kef R500s very nicely :dance:

 

[DaveyBoy1980]

The Rotel ra-1520 is a cracking amp. I bought mine at 1 year old in mint condition for £330 and it's probably worth more than that now but I wouldn't want to let it go. It's driving my kef R500s very nicely :dance:

 

[chebby]

When What hi-fi tested the Naim Nait 5i it cost £850. And the CD5i was £975 when they tested it. Does anyone know when these tests were done?

The italic version of the Nait 5i was first tested in September 2009 and the CD5i (1st version) in February 2004. The italic (or mk2) CD5i review was an amendment of the old 2004 review but keeps the February 2004 date when searched for on Google. (Not confusing at all.)

In early 2009 they were £750 and £850. The prices in the reviews were subsequently updated by WHF?

I bought mine in March 2009 at their old prices and with a 10 percent discount hence £1440. (£1600 - £160)

In April 2010 they went up to £795 and £925 according to Naim's pricelist for that year. (Naim April 2010 pricelist .pdf file.)

They subsequently went up to £850 and £975 after April 2011.

(Also bear in mind the VAT went from 17.5 percent to 20 percent during this time.)

 

[MrReaper182]

Sony's range of es stereo amplifiers from the 90's seem to have held their value well, but i'm not really surprised about that as they are great sounding amplifiers especially the 808 model.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

The Rotel ra-1520 is a cracking amp. I bought mine at 1 year old in mint condition for £330 and it's probably worth more than that now but I wouldn't want to let it go. It's driving my kef R500s very nicely :dance:

Wow, I had ra-1520 for a year in my system, it was bought new to replace an old Yamaha reciever, the AX-620. The Rotel was ar'ight, but the Yamaha was much better with the speakers I own.

Infact I'm currently waiting for John Duncan to get his old Yamaha dspAX-620 out and give me his apprasil on it compared to his current amp.I'm curious to know if its just the system I have it in or if its has good as I say it is..........

 

[DaveyBoy1980]

Thompsonuxb

What speakers do you currently have?

In my experience now with swapping out speakers and amps I feel that the speakers and room acoustics will make the initial difference in sound and then the amp will make little differences on top of that.

I am very happy with my R500s now and feel the Rotel is doing a great job of controlling them. I know that if I were to try maybe the ra-1570 or high end Naim amp they would probably sound even better to me. So I'm going to not listen to or audition any other amps for a good few years now and just enjoy the sound I have.

But the difference between my Dynaudio X12 and Kef R500 on the end of the Rotel is night and day to me now. The R500 are a massive step up in terms of a much fuller and more detailed sound.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Thompsonuxb

What speakers do you currently have?

In my experience now with swapping out speakers and amps I feel that the speakers and room acoustics will make the initial difference in sound and then the amp will make little differences on top of that.

I am very happy with my R500s now and feel the Rotel is doing a great job of controlling them. I know that if I were to try maybe the ra-1570 or high end Naim amp they would probably sound even better to me. So I'm going to not listen to or audition any other amps for a good few years now and just enjoy the sound I have.

But the difference between my Dynaudio X12 and Kef R500 on the end of the Rotel is night and day to me now. The R500 are a massive step up in terms of a much fuller and more detailed sound.

Sorry it took so long to respond - but if you're still reading....

I have Mission 782se speakers (over 10yrs old now) - in isolation the Rotel is a good amp. But with the Missions it fails with detail in the lower frequency range when compared with the Yamaha. Lower mid upper bass region and the upper mids lower top region too, robbing vocals and instruments of timbre/weight. A read of a few 'reviews ' across the net suggest I am not the only one who hears this.

It hurts slow ambient tracks, female/male vocals - but this amp works really well with more uptempo music if I was having a party it would be my 1st choice over the Yamaha.

In all fairness if I did not own the Yanaha I would have been o.k with the Rotel - but I totally agree with your sentiment to resist the urge to listen to other amps. Your speakers would be in the same price bracket as mine (taking inflation and such etc)....