Being slightly bored and thinking I have some £ burning a hole in my pocket (I don’t), I am browsing eBay.
What am I missing about the 252 prices?
£1600 gets you an old and clearly unserviced one that is 20 years old.
Double your money and you can get one from this decade. Most are from reputable dealers too. And of course boxed, with remote, SNAIC, and Burndy. And they don’t look like they have been kicked around the shop either.
Last week there was a Supercap DR and 252 for under £4k. I (naturally) assumed it was a scam. But have these once £7k bits of kit really dropped that much?
Markets in all categories have dropped off, not just hifi! Car sales volumes are seriously off, resulting in, it is reported, sigificant discounts.
Hifi is no less immune to market forces. Dealers report that the market has gone quiet, at least in the UK.
Keep watch, when the wider full realisation of recent events hits reality, together with what very likely will be a plethora of adverse world events in the very foreseeable future, current bargains may soon like inflated prices!
Whatever way you look at used prices, especially for very recent used prices.
The first thing to remember is that as soon as you part with the cash and walk out of the shop with your brand new shinny in your grubby hands. It devalues by 20% instantly (VAT).
I’m honestly wishing I’d put a bid in on a cheap 252 I saw last weekend it went for much less than I expected, not really money I could afford especially as I would have wanted to get it serviced. Also would have needed to swap my 282/hcdr for a scdr which would probably have cost more. But still it went for a steal.
Yeah that’s the one, I suppose a pre amp doesn’t need a service as much as a power amp but I’d probably at least ask my dealer before making a decision.
The significant price drop may be due to in-store demos, customer trade-ins or discontinued units being cleared out to transition to the latest. When the XS was discontinued, I had gotten the XS at a fairly discounted price compared to an in-store 3-year-old demo. With that said one of my online audio stores of interest had advertised the XS3 at half price and the Supernait 3 at slightly over a cou[;e thousand more. Mind you one of the two was a customer trade-in and the other an instore demo.
As a buyer of used Naim and other gear, I like the used market dropping.
I got a good deal I thought on a newly serviced Hicap DR a couple of months ago (from a Naim dealer) for quite a lot less than equivalent prices last year and not so much more than an Olive version. I think the reasons for the current prices are many but people are not buying so much these days of a whole range of elective spend items but also I think in Naims case is we are still seeing the adjustment of the market post a new range and the discontinuation of many of the black box/green label items. They will find their place among enthusiasts just like the Olive range has.
It is never a good idea to think value of a used item is a percentage of the new price.
Naim used prices tanked post-Covid and this was only exacerbated by the introduction of the “New Classic” series. I see 250.2 amps going for $1000 right now and 252/SC for under $4000. I paid more than this to have my 252/SC/250 recapped and DR’d two years ago.
I guess these will now see me into the grave, so it doesn’t really matter!
Prices for the 252 are very inconsistent I find and those two the other week went for a steal, even if they did need a service.
I think a lot of dealers have taken these in as PX deals on the new range and are just looking to move them on to clear stock, they will probably go even cheaper before long.
I’m after a 252 (for an upgrade from my SN3) and think now is a good time to enquire about a PX.
I’ve spoken to my dealer about a few things now, but never here back. Maybe he has a long list of customers for nac 252 and nap 300dr?
I know if I speak to them he will want £4k or more for a 10 year old 252 based on previous conversations. But, the market tells us there are deals out there, and from reputable dealers.
Acoustica are a slight anomaly I feel. They’re more happy to let high value Naim boxes go to auction than other dealers, IMO at least! That’s meant them selling NDSes very cheaply in the past, for example. If no buyers are out there looking for a 252 in the week it’s for sale, then it might go for £1600. I haven’t seen a NDS for sale from Acoustica for a while now, not sure if they keep them back until they think a particular line might sell well or not. They definitely seem to me to have a different sales model to most other UK Naim dealers.
As a counter example, Tom Tom sell far less on eBay I think, their prices are higher on their website. I wouldn’t like to guess who turns over more stock (if a like for like measure could be defined), but Acoustica definitely seem to have a lot for sale through eBay at any given time.
Good point, maybe they’re just taking a commission on a customer sale.
Maybe it’s because of the cost of the other components needed with a 252 puts buyers off, or people are seeing the new range as “better” than the 252 and are going straight from SN2/3 to the new range. Also, the 252 is a few years old now so maybe the majority of those that were going to upgrade to them have done so which leaves a smaller market. The worrying thing is if they can sell a 252 for £1600 then what are they giving in PX for them !!!
I personally will be holding out for a 252…or waiting for the 552 to drop too
As others have said a lot of “luxury items” are dropping in price recently. I was at a classic Lambretta / Vespa auction two weeks ago and a lot of them either weren’t hitting reserve or going for at least 30% of what they would typically sell for.