Must be a full moon over ebay

Fritz33

Active Member
I notice that the Marantz enthusiasts are still throwing crazy money around on ebay.
Two recent cases in point:
* A walnut, original I assume, WC-124 cabinet which fits the jumbo 2385, 2500 and 2600 receivers, recently drew 18 bids before selling for $986. I know a guy who makes a perfectly acceptable walnut reproduction cabinet for the 2385 for less than $300. He's made a cabinet for my 2285 and 19 receivers. Does excellent work.
* A black etched faceplate for the 2385 received 22 bids before selling for $820. Elsewhere on ebay, there's a new black etched faceplate for the 4400 quad receiver that's selling for $168.

Have I missed something?
 
Most of the etched faceplates on the bay are put up by our own wlhd1610. He usually has them reasonably priced at a Buy It Now price under $200. I’m wondering if he threw that 2385 plate up for auction and hit the jackpot.
 
FYI,
That 2385 black faceplate was years in the making and theres a reason why no one else other than Marantz in 1978 has made them.

The aluminium sheets were a special order to get the proper gauge thickness that the 2385/2500 receivers two separate plates require.
Then the top plate had to be milled and grooved to match the original.
The larger rear plate had to have special reccesses milled in half of the holes to accept the shaft nuts.
Machine shop work is all manually done,no robo here.
Add in the cost of the brushed black anodizing ,cnc work,graphics setup,laser engraving,etc.

All this is done while running around to 6 different shops for the various processes to be performed.

These professional shops that do this work aren't cheap and are actually doing us a favor to "slip us in" along with their much bigger production runs for their regular clients.

These were "one off " faceplates that probably won't be repeated because of the sheer complexity and production cost.

The profit cleared from that sale?
Enough to buy a family of four a meal at McDonald's.


Bob
 
I notice that the Marantz enthusiasts are still throwing crazy money around on ebay.
Two recent cases in point:
* A walnut, original I assume, WC-124 cabinet which fits the jumbo 2385, 2500 and 2600 receivers, recently drew 18 bids before selling for $986. I know a guy who makes a perfectly acceptable walnut reproduction cabinet for the 2385 for less than $300. He's made a cabinet for my 2285 and 19 receivers. Does excellent work.
* A black etched faceplate for the 2385 received 22 bids before selling for $820. Elsewhere on ebay, there's a new black etched faceplate for the 4400 quad receiver that's selling for $168.

Have I missed something?

There are items.. that given the complexity or availability of the design or need in another buyers set up will affirm the negotiated purchase. It never ceases to amaze me, particularly with auctions, that a seller will reap the benefit. At the same time.. a buyer will be just as happy :)
 
FYI,
Professional shops that do this work aren't cheap and are actually doing us a favor to "slip us in" along with their much bigger production runs for their regular clients.

These were "one off " faceplates that probably won't be repeated because of the sheer complexity and production cost.

The profit cleared from that sale?
Enough to buy a family of four a meal at McDonald's.
Bob
My first career choice when I got out of high school was a machinist. And I can testify that milling one of those faceplates would be a "hand made" project. Making it VERY time consuming and expensive. Also the machinery needed to mill those plates costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the machinist would have to be highly trained to pull it off without any premade jigs.

Bless you for going through that much trouble and enjoy that Big Mac dude!!!
 
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