# Fair price for high-end NAD/Polk components



## jcandy (Apr 27, 2010)

I have some older relatives who are having heath issues and moving out of their house. My uncle bought the following equipment in August 1990 (I helped him pick it out, set it up, etc and its very weird to now be asking this question):

NAD 4300 tuner
NAD 1300 preamp
NAD 2600a AMP
NAD 5300 CD player
Polk SDA2b speakers

Can anyone estimate "fair" prices for this equipment, or maybe indicate interest if interested in purchase (San Diego area)? All NAD components are in mint visual condition, but I need to bring the stuff home and check it out myself (its not hooked up). The Polks have blown tweeters but also replacements in boxes that I offered to install. He never really listened to music -- I think it was mainly my aunt using the tuner until she blew one (or both) tweeter. 

Any comments would be appreciated.


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## Lucky7! (Jan 7, 2008)

Sorry, I have no idea of what a 'blue book' type value might be, but a check of what you'd realistically get for them would be an eBay or Craig's List search.


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## jcandy (Apr 27, 2010)

A9X said:


> Sorry, I have no idea of what a 'blue book' type value might be, but a check of what you'd realistically get for them would be an eBay or Craig's List search.


I tried that and the numbers seem to be all over the map. For example, that sort of search turns up:

4300 tuner = $150
1300 preamp = $100
2600A amp= $170
5300 cd = $150
SDA2b = $350

However, I can hardly believe I could get $150 for the CD player. OTOH, the amp seems like its worth more than $170. I thought somebody might have some first-hand experience with some of the components; for example, I know quite a bit about the 2200PE amplifier (and its relay problems), but not the 2600A. Did the 2600A have similar relay problems? Did the CD player typically stop working properly (belts, alignment, etc), did it sound awful? 

I apologize if this is the wrong forum. Maybe there is a better place to post. Although he never used it (I think the only CD he has was Simon and Garfunkle), my uncle treated all this stuff with kit gloves, so I wanted to really an accurate sense of what its worth now.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Generally audio gear regardless of high end or not looses its value fairly quickly. I agree that the CD player probably wont fetch that much nor will the tuner or preamp simply because the technology has changed so much in the last 15 years. 
The amp however you should be able to get a bit more maybe $250


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## Lucky7! (Jan 7, 2008)

jcandy, the reason why I suggested looking at old auctions and sales is so that you could get an idea what people are _currently willing to pay_ for your gear because I read your original post as you wanting to offload it now. What someone feels something is worth is often very different to what the market thinks, something I have learned from when I used to trade in vintage audio and instruments. Six months from now people may be willing to pay more for what you have, but maybe they won't. Prices are still low all around for 'luxury' items like audio since the GFC, even down here where we seemed to weather it better than most of the world. 

Apart from that I have no specific knowledge of your particular components, their value or issues.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2010)

You would probably get the most from ebay. Vintage stuff seems to sell all the time their. Mainly, stuff with a high end name. People actually buy vintage Bose stuff, so you should have no problem.


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## jcandy (Apr 27, 2010)

Generic said:


> You would probably get the most from ebay. Vintage stuff seems to sell all the time their. Mainly, stuff with a high end name. People actually buy vintage Bose stuff, so you should have no problem.


An older colleague of mine (now a theoretical physicist) took Amar Bose's electromagnetism course in the late 60s at MIT. He said the course was one of the most difficult he'd ever had :unbelievable:


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## mjcmt (Aug 30, 2010)

jcandy said:


> I have some older relatives who are having heath issues and moving out of their house. My uncle bought the following equipment in August 1990 (I helped him pick it out, set it up, etc and its very weird to now be asking this question):
> 
> NAD 4300 tuner
> NAD 1300 preamp
> ...


I would post your question on AudioKarma. The folks on this forum are passionate about vintage or older hi-fi. There is a section for vintage SS and another for speakers. These guys are really knowledgeable and love talkin' about this stuff.

Here is the link:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php


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## jackfish (Dec 27, 2006)

That amp brought $295 on AudiogoN on 9-9-2010.

Here are eBay prices for the amp:
EBAY 2010-12-03 USD-$202.50 - 
EBAY 2010-12-02 USD-$103.50 - 
EBAY 2010-12-01 USD-$89.99 - 
EBAY 2010-11-24 USD-$160.00 - 
EBAY 2010-11-24 USD-$155.40 -


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

I wouldn't describe any Polk speakers as high end. Many are fans though and they seem to be a bargain, often enough for the listener. I looked at them and decided I could do better with DIY. There are a lot of speakers out there that can't IMHO be described as high end but people are more than satisfied. I don't know if my electronics, all Emotiva just about, can be described as high end, yet I'm very satisfied and don't desire anything more. My speakers on the other hand are high end IMHO and I was able to afford them because they are kits, the Eton Symphony 7 (actively crossed over) and the Rediscovery (also actively crossed over) both from Madisound. I have an acquaintance with all MacIntosh electronics, they are definitely high end yet I bet that mine sounds just as good or better.


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## jcandy (Apr 27, 2010)

Theresa said:


> I wouldn't describe any Polk speakers as high end.


Don't say that at Club Polk (the official Polk Audio forum). There is an arrogant, cult-like following for vintage Polk speakers (monitor, SDA) there. 



Theresa said:


> Many are fans though and they seem to be a bargain, often enough for the listener. I looked at them and decided I could do better with DIY.


I would agree with both points. All speakers in my HT are DIY, and just about everything is my own design.



Theresa said:


> There are a lot of speakers out there that can't IMHO be described as high end but people are more than satisfied. I don't know if my electronics, all Emotiva just about, can be described as high end, yet I'm very satisfied and don't desire anything more. My speakers on the other hand are high end IMHO and I was able to afford them because they are kits, the Eton Symphony 7 (actively crossed over) and the Rediscovery (also actively crossed over) both from Madisound. I have an acquaintance with all MacIntosh electronics, they are definitely high end yet I bet that mine sounds just as good or better


I also have an Emotiva amp, and it is a long way from being the weak link in my audio chain. But, there is no shortage of Emotiva-haters out there. One guess is that the very high performance-to-cost ratio makes buyers of "high-end" electronics feel silly. Audio, or more specifically claims of audio quality based on perception, are often so incredibly biased so as to be completely unreliable.


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

From the number of fans I must surmise that Polk speakers have value to many people. Thats o.k. by me. They may perhaps be one of the better mass market speakers. The ones I had in the '80s were definitely nothing special though. But for the cost of their upper end speakers anyone can buy a kit from Madisound or PE and have a much higher quality speaker for less. You pay less because they don't have have the cost of advertisement (at least not nearly as much) and you provide the labor. Excellent cabinets can be had for not much money. I especially like the PE curved cabinets and put my Etons in them and have been almost totally satisfied (some dissatisfaction when they were still breaking in). Of course there is little resell value for DIY speakers. I don't know why but it seems unthinkable to most people to take a screw driver, a soldering iron, and a drill and assemble their own speakers. I guess early training from my father building Dynaco and Eico kits made it easy for me. Active crossovers are even more unthinkable for most perhaps because of the cost of amps and their inherent complexity. miniDSPs have made it much easier to design and build speakers, eliminating the hurdle of learning crossover design.


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2011)

Theresa said:


> From the number of fans I must surmise that Polk speakers have value to many people. Thats o.k. by me. They may perhaps be one of the better mass market speakers. The ones I had in the '80s were definitely nothing special though. But for the cost of their upper end speakers anyone can buy a kit from Madisound or PE and have a much higher quality speaker for less. You pay less because they don't have have the cost of advertisement (at least not nearly as much) and you provide the labor. Excellent cabinets can be had for not much money. I especially like the PE curved cabinets and put my Etons in them and have been almost totally satisfied (some dissatisfaction when they were still breaking in). Of course there is little resell value for DIY speakers. I don't know why but it seems unthinkable to most people to take a screw driver, a soldering iron, and a drill and assemble their own speakers. I guess early training from my father building Dynaco and Eico kits made it easy for me. Active crossovers are even more unthinkable for most perhaps because of the cost of amps and their inherent complexity. miniDSPs have made it much easier to design and build speakers, eliminating the hurdle of learning crossover design.


I myself went from a old pair of Polks to a Madisound Seas kit, and I fully agree, if you can solder, use a drill and read some basic instructions, your money does go farther. Polk Audio did make some monster speakers back in the day that cost over a grand each. Back before they sold online, best buy, etc, they only sold in specialty audio stores. Even today, they are far from bad, but I do think they have lost some magic over the years. I'd personally want some of those vintage beast compared to the new stuff they sell today. They should re-release some of their old vintage stuff like klipsch did.


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

Yes, back in the day I wasn't spending $1000 a piece on speakers so don't know what those Polks sounded like. I also had a lemon from NAD but I advised my brother to get their 40 watt amp in the '80s and it was a gem. I knew someone with an audio store but he only sold uber expensive Thiels. I have found going into strange audio stores aversive with the sales staff pushing products that just didn't seem worth it to me. I didn't have much money even though I was a nurse, I was the lowest paid nurse in the facility, despite being more intelligent than 95% of them. I went to grad school and had everything done for two masters but because of illness couldn't complete my thesis. I could never afford the "true high end," and still can't. I know there are Emo haters but their amps and even their processor are very good despite some bugs in the processor that don't really bother me. Their bargain priced amps let me put together a very nice active system using the Madisound drivers. I also just got a new amp for my subs, from another company that has it's haters, Behringer, the EP4000. Replaced the fan and its quiet and powerful.
The only components I'll spend a lot of money on are ScanSpeak drivers. I could really use another two 7" Revelators but have to wait until next year to get them.


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2011)

Theresa said:


> Yes, back in the day I wasn't spending $1000 a piece on speakers so don't know what those Polks sounded like. I also had a lemon from NAD but I advised my brother to get their 40 watt amp in the '80s and it was a gem. I knew someone with an audio store but he only sold uber expensive Thiels. I have found going into strange audio stores aversive with the sales staff pushing products that just didn't seem worth it to me. I didn't have much money even though I was a nurse, I was the lowest paid nurse in the facility, despite being more intelligent than 95% of them. I went to grad school and had everything done for two masters but because of illness couldn't complete my thesis. I could never afford the "true high end," and still can't. I know there are Emo haters but their amps and even their processor are very good despite some bugs in the processor that don't really bother me. Their bargain priced amps let me put together a very nice active system using the Madisound drivers. I also just got a new amp for my subs, from another company that has it's haters, Behringer, the EP4000. Replaced the fan and its quiet and powerful.
> The only components I'll spend a lot of money on are ScanSpeak drivers. I could really use another two 7" Revelators but have to wait until next year to get them.


I didn't buy them either, but I listened to a lot of the vintage stuff from Klipsch and Polk. I heard the Klipschorn too. When any of my friends would go buy anything audio related, we would all go together and demo everything they had, even if we couldn't afford it. My first set of speakers were barely used Polks. They had a upgrade program where if you upgrade within a year, you could put all the money from the first set to upgrade to something better. The ideal was so someone who couldn't buy the best all at once could slowly upgrade and still have some speakers. Anyway, my first set is what was traded in. Ha.

Not really sure what true high end is. I don't believe it really has a whole lot to do with how much a person spends on gear. I have a mix of crown, emotiva, and madisound and I feel I have upgrade to the point where I don't feel like I am missing out. I really don't want to upgrade for once.


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