[Hallicrafters] Another SX-88 surfaced

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 12:03 PM, James Liles <james.liles at comcast.net> wrote:
  If one should appear on ebay that looked new and was guaranteed to
operate to specs with a return in 7 days option, is there one of you
that would say that it would not sell for a premium???

Sure Jim. The issue is the definition of 'premium price'. It's clearly
not was it was a few years ago.

Case in point: A good friend purchased his SX-88 for the high water
price a few years back from a self-described SX-88 expert. It was a
clean example described as being in great shape cosmetically and
electrically, but when he got it he still had to spend a day or two
aligning and otherwise repairing it so it would function properly on
the higher bands, and cleaning excess oil out of it that the previous
owner had applied.

Like many others, he was disappointed with the overall performance or
'cost-to-performance' ratio, so he decided to resell it. Plenty of
clear photos. His first attempt on ebay brought a high bid some $3K
less than he paid. So he relisted it a while later with a reserve of
that high bid. It wasn't reached. Several later attempts resulted in
still lower bids. He ended up selling it outright for half what he
paid for it, despite it being a now-excellent example of the receiver
in all respects.

There's no doubt in my mind that the SX-88 is an interesting, decent
entertainment receiver. But being a user more than collector, to me it
was never worth close to what it was bringing unless you were buying
one as a scarce 'gotta have one' collector piece. It's hard to put a
price on bragging rights. The fact that I could buy a new or rebuilt
to new condition R-390 that would run circles around it, add an
outboard HiFi amp and big speaker for a small fraction of the cost was
all the proof needed that it was way overpriced as anything other than
a collector's item.

Other sets like the venerable KWM-2A have also come way down from
their ebay high of a few years ago. As true as it is that the economy
is affecting everything that isn't a necessity, I still seriously
doubt that there will be any large increase in prices further down the
road. The demand has pretty much been met on much of the stuff, and
there just isn't anyone coming behind us to create more than a very
limited demand in the future. Add the fact that there are fewer
shortwave and other stations to listen to these days and you can see
where it's going. While there will certainly be some demand for scarce
or top quality rigs as long as many of us are still around, it will
never reach the levels it did over the past decade. How can it with
more of us departing every day?

All the more reason to enjoy it while you can. If you bought your
radio gear to use and enjoy, you'll never be disappointed. If you
bought it as an investment, well.....

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4