On Saturday, September 4, 1999 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Russ Button wrote:   
   > doctorjohn  wrote:   
   > : I was waiting for someone to say something civilized for the repro's and   
   > : you have said it very well. Mr Burn seems to have a hard time selling his,   
   > : but that's not his fault and he needs no lambast.   
   >   
   > I hope you didn't construe my words to be a lambast so much as a lament.   
   >   
   > : I agree very much that the "value" of things is not easy to assess, and   
   > : they may change too. Just a recent example, I was ASTONISHED when an ALTEC   
   > : EL34 integrated amp sold on ebay for over $1,200. Surely NOT for the   
   > : Peerless trannies, nor the BB EL34s, but for the beauty of the front   
   > : plate. Yes, the close up of the front plate and logo was smashingly   
   > : beautiful.   
   >   
   > The "value" of something is what folks are willing to pay for it, and   
   > is related to supply and demand, as this situation so clearly indicates.   
   > Before the reissued units came about, it was a very rare thing to see   
   > a Marantz 9 for sale at all, and when they were, it was at least   
   > $5000 for a pair, even 10 years ago!  Supply and demand.  That   
   > Marantz was able to get $8400/pair for these amps is the ONLY   
   > reason they got reissued.  Being in business is about profit, and   
   > if there are insane profits to be made, then you can bet they're   
   > going to go get 'em.   
   >   
   > It was because of that demand the the reissue ones came about.   
   >   
   > : And then the issue of sound has always been a difficult one. One thing   
   > : that should be mentioned is that these new M9s should be really run-in and   
   > : used for quite a while before detailed comparison with the vintage ones. I   
   > : am sure the vintage is better but the repros are no slouch.   
   >   
   > Why shouldn't a reproduction be as good as the original, if not a wee   
   > bit better?  We have all these much improved resistors and capacitors   
   > available to us today that everyone is using.  You can't look at a   
   > vintage tube amp and not see new and improved caps in it.  And I   
   > can't believe that the Marantz reproduction had truly identical parts   
   > made up for it.  If anything, I'd expect that the capacitors and   
   > resistors are of a quality old Saul Marantz could only have dreamed of.   
   > There's no reason the transformers can't be exact copies of the originals.   
   > I'd fully expect the repros to be at least as good as the originals.   
   >   
   > I just wonder what the market value of these amps would be if they   
   > were as plentiful as the 8B.   
   >   
   > I agree that the reissues will only become more valuable over time.   
   >   
   > Russ Button   
   >   
   >   
   > --   
   > button@NOSPAM.best.com   
      
   Hi Russ,   
      
   Who bought the pair of Marantz 9 at the last?  I live in Cupertino, so we   
   might get together sometimes. I am an audiophile.   
      
   - Gordon   
      
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