Isn't that 90% of Ebay? People flipping stuff at inflated prices? And what about the seller that bought the cartridges in the first place? You think he's losing money at $99? jeff
I really like this cart. It has a certain magic, a swing of the hips, and makes for very enjoyable listening. Maybe my LOMCs are too much cartridge for the rest of my setup, because I think maybe I prefer this little $100 beast. I’m gonna give it a few weeks and then switch back to the DV-XX2/Quintet Black/Concorde MC200 and see if that initial impression is correct.
The seller was the owner of the company that produced the cartridges originally. They were a warehouse find.
And by the way, they now realize that they sold them for too little money considering how quickly they were bought out.
With the 1000LT, I'm using a stock Technics headshell with a small weight shim. With the E, I'm using an Ortofon SH-4, which I believe weighs 9.4g. The SH-4 is not ideal as it makes the E ride a bit tail up. Not sure if that is affecting the sound. It sounds pretty darn good to me. I'd love to hear of some other (affordable) headshell ideas. Though, I may just make a run to the hardware store and see if I can find some heavier screws to use on an additional Technics headshell. Someone else here is using heavier screws with a Technics headshell and reports good results.
I am glad they didn't realize it too soon. I am looking to digitize a few thousand LPs (assuming I live long enough). I knew I wanted to use the Coral 777e (or equivalent, or better) that I had enjoyed throughout the 1980s. The problem, of course, is that finding NOS copies of the Coral and its alter egos has been impossible for a while. And the one cartridge I had rebuilt wasn't quite the same. I missed the last group that surfaced a few years ago. But I was aware of this recent group almost from the beginning. At the offered prices I have enough "E" cartridges to do all the digitizing I want. And I have a few "LT" cartridges as well for when I want to see if they can be better than the "E". Had the price been double I probably would have only purchased a few cartridges, perhaps one of the "LT" and two of the "E" cartridges. At the listed price it was really easy for me to justify more.
I’m using the 13g+ Audio Technica LH-13H on my Technics al-1500c. It works well. Plus the settings on the headshell make mounting a tad easier since there’s not a threaded body and the long screws required make things difficult.
Yeah, I got an SAE 1000E in the dirty-pin condition. Ordered a second, pins were spotless as if the cartridge was brand new.
Remember that these are decades old. The packaging that they were in from the original factory was foam rubber which had deteriorated and became crumbly. Cleaning the pins with alcohol and brushing away any foam rubber residue should be all that's required.
Yes, he can sell it for $599 or whatever the market will bare, though that has two sides. People like to buy concert tickets at the real going rate, not for what scalpers who buy up quantity in advance, purposely limit availability, and turn around and resell for moronic prices to morons willing to indulge them, all under a perverse reasoning of it being "good business". It kills the spirit of what economics should stand for and therefore is recognized as "dirt bag" gouging by most any decent consumer or human being for that matter. Sure, he has all the right to do as he pleases in that regard. Econ 101? Lol, it works both ways. He's an opportunist and seen for what he is, and people, many people, whether they comment or not, have names for such folk. And that side of it falls under Dirt Bag Econ, 102 ;-) Go ahead, why not buy it from him, lol? Oh, I get it, you got one, so screw anybody else that didn't? Oh, that's Dirt Bag Econ, 103. By the way, he raised the price from the 250% mark-up of $249.00 to $289.00 (to likely cover "inflation"....hey, c'mon, we're all feelin' it, lol!). He doesn't even know what he has, calls it an elliptical stylus. It's quite clear he saw the buzz going around and likely bought a few to do this very thing. Good on the gentleman, we's do what we's see fit. It's true, the only way to curb it is to not pay their prices so don't buy it if you don't like the gouge, and feel however you choose to feel about him for doing it. Both sides are entitled to each point of view. IMO it's kind of early to start this kind of shenanigans and not expect comments about what's obviously going on, but not everyone values tact or class for that matter. I will also say that if you really wanted an LT and didn't get one, that price will still buy you a finer cart than anything even close to that price, and this seller picked up on that. Maybe the seller needs money and is in desperate times. If so, he and a person with $300 in the pocket that wants an LT can feel good about shaking hands on this, right? See, I'm not a total jerk towards all opportunists. Many are bastards and a few are just trying to get along. No idea who this seller is. Anyone seen his taxes for last year?
Yes, it goes both ways. I'd argue that the price was set too low for the market which allowed a networked group of buyers to buy them all up quickly, which led to hoarding. Just look at the number of people on the list who bought multiples, sometimes many multiples. That kept others out of the market who weren't 'in' on the deal. In a more competitive market, or with a a seller more motivated to maximize the value of their transaction, the price would have gone up a little with each batch released until an equilibrium was set. Hey, I bought one E at $99. I missed out on the LTs by a day. If the LT were priced at $150, $200, maybe $280, I might be able to buy one today. Same with the Es when they're gone. The truest way to let the market settle the price would have been to have an auction. Once I bought some 70s Pioneer speakers at a garage sale for $15 that I knew were considered desirable, so I auctioned them with a $1 start, no reserve. I made $600 on them, and felt not the slightest guilt. Econ 101. I wonder what such an auction would have fetched for an unused LT?
You need to remember how many cartridges the original seller had. Auctions work well with a limited number of desirable products. But when you have somewhere between 500 and 1,000 cartridges auctions don't work well unless you are either 1) looking for a wholesale buyer, or 2) willing to sell in very small lot sizes for a very long time. So the trade off involves sale price vs. time and effort. I collected all sorts of cards when I was younger. When I decided to give up collecting, it was easy to sell the most desirable sets at prices close (within 10% to 20%) to the current market pricing. But for a lot of the stuff it took discounts of 50% or more to get other collectors, or worse yet dealers, interested. At some point you just need to be done. I'm going through that again with excess audio gear. Thankfully MC cartridges ship easily. Had these been big old speakers moving such a large quantity would have taken forever. If the cartridges had been offered at $500 each very few (if any) would have sold. At $99 the "LT"s sold extremely quickly and the "E"s sold over a matter of a few weeks. So maybe the seller could have asked $200 for the "LT"s and $150 for the "E"s. But the higher prices might also have meant selling for a year or more to dispose of the remaining inventory.
Because these carts were only a small part of a rather massive house cleaning, there was limited time to deal with selling them. They just wanted to clear them out and move on to other more pressing issues. I do agree that they should have charged a bit more however. I'm in no way associated with the seller by the way.
Of course. I was suggesting that this 'scalper' could demonstrate the market price through an auction. The original sellers could have raised the price $50 with every release until they found the right mix between sales volume and profit. But you're right, they probably had other things to do. If we want to stick with the Econ thread, we'd say that increased profits did not outweigh the transaction or opportunity costs required to attain them. But the new seller has different conditions, and would be best to maximize the one sale he has to make.
