Hi

What I find interesting is that people explain the Meridian DVD price drop has been due to the advent of HD DVD/Bluray! Everywhere else I read on here it feels that these formats will never take off and are doomed to fail!
2 Linn Movie's sold on eBay for between �1550 and �1700 secondhand with a retail price of �2800. Similar in nature to a G91A. No where near as good, it has no HDMI and no DAB tuner option. It will not upsample any of the audio or video inputs but does have a built in 5 channel amp. Either way that is well over 50% of its new value and is considered high end in most peoples eyes. For gods sake it doesn't even have HDMI and people still want to buy it.
Why? No HDMI video let alone HDMI audio. No upgrade path and not a very good review unlike the Meridian DVD players.

I have seem a major drop off in people wanting to buy Meridian from 2-3 years ago. My inbox used to be full with 'can you get me' questions and I could move the second hand kit they wanted to get rid of to a list of people waiting to buy it! I maybe get one enquiry every 3-6 months now.
Maybe its money but the UK are doing well with low unemployment etc. Again this is affecting Meridian in particular as I can site examples from a linn CD12 selling secondhand for �6k on eBay not long back. I looked 3 years ago at buying one and it sold for �6k then.
Vinyle is not even mass produced any more but my friend sells high end decks for upto �3800 + �2500 for the arm. When I have put one on eBay I could sell 5 of them for circa 70% of list and these are all secondhand decks.
I think the plain fact is Meridian have lost some of it's market for whatever reason and we as enthusiasts don't want to see it. We were spoilt with good second hand values over the years but the bubble has burst and it hurts. I sold all of my Meridian kit as I could see how it was going and I did not want to get burnt with over �25k invested in it at one time. Speakers are not holding their value. I could have sold 2-3 pairs of DSP5000's MKII for �2200 only 12-18 months ago, now there are no offers at �1800?
eBay can give you good results or burn you bad, luck of the draw on the day and you only hope 2 people want the item and are prepared to pay a decent amount. If only one guy wants them then you are stuffed. Nick Pugh does not seem to sell much Meridian at all now so he must know there is a problem. At one time if you wanted to sell he would be one of the first to email offering to take it off your hands ready to turn around onto eBay and make a few quid. As much as I hate to admit it either Meridian have lost a lot of customers for one of two reasons:
1) They have gone elsewhere (other makes) leaving us to talk of the good old days,
2)or they were all so old they have died leaving there kit to kids who want to paddle up the streaming highway and surf the bitrates!

Either way it has been happening for so long I don't believe it will recover. Richards thread had a reply saying he would love to buy the G91 but he can not get the money he wants for his kit to buy Richards making it not worth selling. This to me seems obvious that in the current market the items are all priced to high. Whether we agree or not it appears that the only way we can solve the problem is for all of us to buy at the asking price +20% to make the market strong again. That would not really solve the problem as you sell for more and then you have to pay more to buy unless you are not buying Meridian again! A circle really but if we can all do that then I do have a few bits left I could sell you! wink

Regards Paul