Disgusting prices for preamps

[scaesic]

http://www.torresamps.com/preamps.htm

How can they charge the same price as a brand new combo for a pre-amp kit!

this is the most disgusting thing i've seen in a while.

[frankclarke]

OK, I won't buy one. I'll buy something mass-produced instead, that's why we are here .

[scaesic]

my whole point is that they are charging the same price for a kit (which would cost a tenth to source yourself), as an overpriced - fully operational, all inclusive with warranty, overpriced combo. in dollars the cheapest preamp is over $400.
obscene.

[dschwartz]

i don´t think that charging that much is obscene..what i think it´s obscene is that there are real people who buy those stuff at those prices..

they (we) can charge whatever they want for the product..eventually, market gives them profits or not..if they are holding those prices for long ago, that means that there are some really stupid people, ignorant and with enough money to trow away buying that stuff..

If you can associate your product with some magic mojo, mumbo jumbo phony tech details, and make the potencial customer feel like he´s buying something really special, unique, magic.. you can charge whatever you want..as we say in chile "every day, there´s one more on the streets (stupid people)"

luckily, we know a little about these toys and have a critical opinion about them..

[frankclarke]

The tweed deluxe is $295 in the USA http://www.torresengineering.com/tweeddel5e3k1.html That sounds OK for someone who doesn't have a week to spend on the net. If you mean UK prices, how long have you been living in the UK?
<edit: The UK is painfully expensive for electronics, especially Northern ireland) >

[DougH]

There's usually shipping and etc overhead for selling a u.s. product overseas anyway.

I don't understand why people get "disgusted" with prices for things they don't need and probably wouldn't buy anyway.

Let me tell you about the $138 dinner for two my wife & I had in Miami a couple weeks ago, with $10 margaritas with an extra $1 ea added to have them on the rocks.

[MartyMart]

Well all I can add is that my SE5a amp kit from www.ampmaker.com ( UK ) was very reasonable.
Fully pre-punched chassis/faceplates and all parts excluding valves and knobs ( which I had anyway ) was just
over £110  !!
Seems great for a first valve amp build and the VERY detailed step by step instructions were terrific.
Sounds superb BTW ..... nice one Barry, hope you're feeling better these days ...

MM.

[petemoore]

  Gather it all up and add it.
  210 for a tube pre? ... build one, count the winnings.
  Doesn't really seem that bad a price to me, but then I would salvage the transformers and...next week it might seem like a great deal.

[frankclarke]

Sounds like a better deal than Torres, Marty. Although if preamp X is what you gotta have, and you want to pay for the instructions, you pays your money and you makes your choice. An amp kit sound like a ton of fun though .

p.s. Wasn't the SE5a by the Royal Aircraft Factory originally? The confusion must cause accidents .

[DougH]

p.s. Wasn't the SE5a by the Royal Aircraft Factory originally? The confusion must cause accidents .

I can hear them in the post-accident review now- "You were supposed to accentuate 2nd and 3rd harmonics in the amp! Not the plane!!!!

[MartyMart]

p.s. Wasn't the SE5a by the Royal Aircraft Factory originally? The confusion must cause accidents .

I can hear them in the post-accident review now- "You were supposed to accentuate 2nd and 3rd harmonics in the amp! Not the plane!!!!

Ha - I remember building the "Airfix" version when I was a nipper !! ... now I've built two of them

To "DIY" or not is a difficult one sometimes, see the original FAQ from Aron/Peter, it quite often just doesn't make sense
to build something when the cost of the decent quality "buy" is reasonable.
Case in point - I've just bought a pair of Telefunken mic-pre's ( V676's ) from Ebay for a little over £300
They are superb quality units with good specs and "Haufe" transformers, a new "clone" at this quality would be at least
£2000 and the "parts only" for DIY .... well those kind of transformers ( 2 x in each unit ) alone are £50 a piece !!
I only have to invest in some re-racking and building a 48v phantom power unit to have a stereo mic pre of very
high quality.
Doing them from scratch ..... hmmm a few hundred quid AND several days of my time ... what's that worth ??

MM

[scaesic]

Well all I can add is that my SE5a amp kit from www.ampmaker.com ( UK ) was very reasonable.
Fully pre-punched chassis/faceplates and all parts excluding valves and knobs ( which I had anyway ) was just
over £110  !!
Seems great for a first valve amp build and the VERY detailed step by step instructions were terrific.
Sounds superb BTW ..... nice one Barry, hope you're feeling better these days ...

MM.

id say that is a good price, but if the offer didint inclde a chassis, a power amp, a tone stack or knobs, and then more than double the price, then that really isn't a good price.

[scaesic]

The tweed deluxe is $295 in the USA http://www.torresengineering.com/tweeddel5e3k1.html That sounds OK for someone who doesn't have a week to spend on the net. If you mean UK prices, how long have you been living in the UK?
<edit: The UK is painfully expensive for electronics, especially Northern ireland) >

£210.00 for a pre-amp that isn't even built? Really? I don't think i'd be looking to spend a day of my life constructing the thing if i was spending that much money. You could spend that on parts and build your own complete amp, and you could use your pre-amp, tonestack, power amp of choice from schematics online. If you're interested in diy'ing then thats the only answer, if you're not confident, then you could buy a kit for a whole amp from ampmaker for cheaper, almost half the price.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Would people be happier if they didn't offer the kit at all?
personally, I think they are mad to offer the kit - at any price - and here's why:
There's going to be a bunch of kits built, with varying degrees of skill - sooner or later these will get out in the public & may damage the brand rep.
And if they put out kits that are cheaper than the finished article, then even more of this will happen - plus they will lose sales of factory built ones.
Also, i don't know if they give any advice or support to kit builders - if they do, then they sure better factor in some $$ to cover it