I am in the market for a pair of speakers and from time to time I see some advertised that I find interesting. I don't see enough ads for any particular speaker model to get a good idea of their market value.

I'm curious what sources of pricing information various vintage audio folks may know of or use when they are purchasing vintage used equipment. For example, I see a pair of HPM-100's for sale but don't really have an idea what a fair bid would be.

Perhaps the only way is to study large numbers of ads and record what you find but I'd like to hear from others anyway :) Thanks a bunch !

There's a section here on market value called Dollars & Sense. See what you can find there. Then pick a model you are interested in and do a Google search like this"

"craigslist pioneer hpm" without the quote marks. You'll get returns for all the CL (Craigslist) listings across the country for that model. Add them up and average them out and you are about at street value. EBAY may go higher due to crazy bidding. Thrift stores and garage sales will be lower. But the running CL average will get you in the ball park.

The way I buy.. I figure what it's worth to me.. yeah, I may pay a little more for something, but most times, I think I am being too cheap..

I recently paid more for a pair of kenwoods than what was listed as average price.. almost twice as much. But since I've gotten these, I would have paid twice what I did.. they are very rare, but that isn't why I would have.. they turned out to be some of the best sounding speakers for the buck I could have spent..

do a Google search like this "craigslist pioneer hpm" without the quote marks. You'll get returns for all the CL (Craigslist) listings across the country for that model.

That search will not hit only Craigslist sites - it'll match any page with those three keywords. To guarantee you only get Craigslist hits use this format "pioneer hpm site:craigslist.org" without the quotes. You can use this same format to search any single domain simply by specifying site:domain.

This is how I found the Pioneer SPEC equipment I just purchased. :yes:

Martin

Hmm...that's a good hint :)

I really wished people here could experiance OHIO at about 250 watts on some really efffecient speakers....

The wife kkps tryying to get me to not even listen to CSNY.... she knows better... gonna piss the neighborhood offf a little more....

I grew up in the early 80's... I wised I knew the 60's...

I really wished people here could experiance OHIO at about 250 watts on some really efffecient speakers....
'Southern Man' is a really good one for that too. :yes:

Is your spelling telling us that you've been having a relaxing night with the turntable and a twelve-pack?

...on topic, so this thread doesn't turn into a total train-wreck: I find eBay's completed listings to be helpful, and if you fossick about in Google you can see a few more that are past the ninety-day expiration. The bay can be (is) weird though, sometimes you'll just get two new bidders who will go back and forth for the last three days of an auction, sending the price up into the clouds.

Thanks for alot of great info guys. Sorry it took me so long to get back, was oncall for work :( I have started using the craiglists search and it is very helpful :)

I say three sets of HPM 100's go recently. Two sets for around $200 and one set for $420. No idea what made the last pair so special. Still searching :)

I'd really like to have Yammy NS 1000's but those babies are pulling down some serious $. HPM or JBL 100's are nice and I also am interesting in CV D-9's cause I really love to crank up the old rock :)

Thanks again very much :)

There is always the comparison method -- choose a speaker you like that is commonly available -- large Advent or EPI 100, Dyanco A25 or AR 2ax or what ever -- and then use it as a benchmark multiplier. Whether you use average market value or how much you'd be willing to pay for a pair, it makes it pretty straightforward to roughly judge value to you. Is a pair of JBL L100s worth 4 pairs of Advents? Is an AR 3a worth 3 pairs of A25s? Note that this takes your taste into some account, and actually has the beneficent effect of introducing some sense of proportion into your calculation.
I can't claim I actually follow this good advice myself...

That search will not hit only Craigslist sites - it'll match any page with those three keywords. To guarantee you only get Craigslist hits use this format "pioneer hpm site:craigslist.org" without the quotes. You can use this same format to search any single domain simply by specifying site:domain.

This is how I found the Pioneer SPEC equipment I just purchased. :yes:

Martin

Very cool "trick"! It even works for site:audiokarma.org , hehehe. Of course, AK now has the Google search option built-in, but I wish I had known this site-specifying trick before that was added.

Used Google for years and consider myself a decent searcher, but that was new to me. THANKS!