I own a Elite 97 in good working condition. Thinking of selling it. But what would be the market value?

Just want to ask a fair price and make a collector happy. But there hasn’t been one on the market dor a while. It’s an amazing player. Build like a rock.

Pick up inRotterdam, in case you’e interestend.

My guess is the value is around 250-600 but since no shipping it will be on the lower end unless you luck out finding a buyer who will spend more.

I think Grasshopper has one that needs a going through before selling but he can't find his buyer either.
People want the best now but are super cheap, unless you find that lucky person who want's to dump more cash

The price above are prices that I've seen in the recent past, in the never again times.
May be different now but you are asking.

Thanks for the input, but at those prices I rather keep it. But still curious what other people think. I believe I did find an older sake of 2000 which is over the top offcourse. But good players become nore rare.

It all depends on the condition and completeness of the machine.

I picked one up for $250 two years ago but it was missing its wood panels, silver feet, and didn’t come with the original remote. I ended up getting all the parts from someone else to complete the look of the player and eventually found an original remote along the way (the added cost pushed my total investment to around $430).

My unit does not have an AC3-RF output but I plan to add it later. That may or may not make the player any more valuable than it is right now.

I don't care what you do, that's your deal. If you would rather keep it, sell it, show a video on how a truck drives over it......

You asked about price. 2K was I'm sure during the never again times and I never saw one unless it had box etc even then
I think highest I've ever seen asking was around the 1200 mark.

If you don't ship expect to get less money, if you ship you will always get more but expect it to possibly get damage
unless packed super, super well.

This reminds me of the Kids In The Hall sketch about the boy asking if his head were veal what would it be worth.
I'm Not Selling.....

Well... the lower the price is always the goal of most of us collectors to make us happy, imho . I don't know anyone in their right mind who would be happy about paying more for something they could possibly get for less.

Anyway, I think even asking for a $1,000 is still pretty steep for many of us unless the machine is so pristine and if it has an AC3-RF out it would have to be one of the rare 97's that had a "factory" installed one (not one added later like most mods).

Here is a pic of that '97 w/ the factory AC3 output.....



I personally think what I paid for mine + the added parts was a fair enough deal for both seller and buyer (but that's me).

One with AC-3 RF, User Manual, Service Manual, and matching remote sold on eBay for $850 in July. After fees, seller probably took home around $730.

I'd rather pay nearly double for a local player than have one shipped to me though.

That not a factory installed AC-3 RF output, no 97 had one. That is a Duncan installed AC-3 Rf output, he made it look factory installed.

McIntosh did add it to many if their 7020's (not in their original units), it was the precision laserdisc board added to the 97 and packaged as the 7020.

Really? I would have sworn there were a few '97's that Pioneer undertook as official AC-3 mods.

I guess hats off to Duncan. He did a good job to mimic the original graphics and RCA jack design.

Thanks for all the input.

I would say around $600. At least...that's what I would pay for it.

it is so very sad that Mr. Hunter effectively... Passed On, as it were.

he was truly an indispensable asset to this community, as well as the LD-collecting community in general.

R.I.P. (more or less)

You are mixing it up with someone else. Duncan took in a room full of LD players from a number of customers and disappeared. If he is indeed dead, it is quiet possible but hopefully not, one of those angry customer shot him.

I think I saw this on one of the FB groups. The OP is asking 750 Euros which is fair.

I have seen clean 97s sell for $400-650 in the past but they don’t show up as often as used to so the supply is lower. This player built up a great reputation by the comments here and elsewhere so the demand must be at least the same as before or higher. Furthermore, this one has the RF output installed. I think anything under $600 is a lucky find and anything up to $800 is very fair. In a market, where much more inferior players get well above $1000, I wouldn’t call you ripped off if you pay a $1000 for a very clean 97 with RF out.

This one is in Europe so what I said has little relevance but I can only imagine the demand there is lower but the supply is even much more lower. Also, they have these high additional taxes for importing from outside the EU which probably makes the asking price even more reasonable.

Sorry, lack of clarification; he was an indispensable asset, up until he lost his mind and pulled his shenanigans on everyone involved,
effectively Passing Away, insofar as the LD community extant is concerned, at least.

certainly one of the worst ways to "Brexit" from one's communal obligations, in any case...

Would be interesting to know what my CLD-98 is worth these days - the "international" version of the JP CLD-959 and same guts as the 97, with multi voltage. It's for sure a rare beast, can't say I've seen another sell since mine ages ago.

And yes, the "ghost" of Duncanism still haunts the LD community with the specter of his exposed barn full of rotting customer's ld players and broken dreams. Maybe Duncan occasionally glances at his official Pioneer PR-7820 training diploma on the wall, in between shots of Wild Turkey through tear-stained eyes, wondering where it all went wrong, while assorted rodents and varmints prepare for the coming winter, sheltering in their Pioneer made "homes" out back.

It’s all about the hype. The 98 is relatively unknown so the hype-o-meter is relatively low as well. You need to advertise it well and wait for the right buyer. It should be worth at least as much as a 97.

I'll say this once, seeing how Duncan disappeared from the LD community was not planned or really a proper exit. But for the couple of us that know why it is really a sad story of what happened to him. All I'll say is that included his wife's death and the impact upon him, I'm not saying anymore than that. There should have been someone to clean up and return players and I have no idea what happened there, that is the saddest part that no one tried to clean up items that should have been returned.

I understand people feel ripped off but Duncan's departure was not a good situation either.

The oddest chapter in the Duncan saga was when someone hired a private investigator to save their player from it's purgatory in the barn. Said P.I. then posted on here offering his LD player recovery services and I believe another few players were rescued by this rather expensive mode - it really was only worth it for the most valuable units.

I could almost picture Frank Cannon from the old 70s detective show on METV driving out to the barn and loading the players in the trunk of his Lincoln, dramatic music in the background, bruised and tattered from a heroic two-fisted battle with the wildlife guarding the LD player hoard - stung by wasps, smelling of skunk, bitten by rat...yet triumphant.

One can sympathize with Duncan's personal tragedy, but he was still taking in players well into this whole mess and threads reporting all the units in limbo on here. While his site was still up, I emailed him and he responded right away offering to service a unit, right in the middle of all the complaints here of lost players (and Duncan's failure to even respond about their status). Getting swamped amidst personal crisis is bad enough, but taking on more work knowing it would never be done? Maybe he just went off the deep end? Then there were suspicious posts here, and on other bbb type sites, by a "woman" and new member (a real red flag on anything LD related - sadly a boy's club) raving about getting their S2 or such back fixed from Duncan around that time - probable shill or who knows by that point?