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Member of the Trade
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Hmmm.... I love the looks myself, but for $3200 I would hire Alison Krauss to come sing for me in my living room .... and hope I could get her drunk enough
!!!
Edition10 has ruthenium finish with zebra wood inlays and comes with nice box and zebra wood stand. $ 3200 was $2600 in year 2000 . www.westegg.com/inflation/
Interesting choice of compounds used in this headphone:
Ruthenium is one of the rarest metals on Earth.
Ruthenium is found as the free metal, sometimes associated with platinum, osmium and iridium, in North and South America, and in South Africa. There are few minerals, such as laurite, ruarsite and ruthenarsenite. All are rare and none acts as a commercial source of the metal. Ruthenium is also associated with nickel and deposits (from which it is recovered commercially). World production is 12 tonnes per year and reserves are hestimated to be ariund 5.000 tonnes.
Ruthenium compounds are encountered relatively rarely by most people. All ruthenium compounds should be regarded as highly toxic and as carcinogenic. Compounds of ruthenium stain the skin very strongly. It seems that ingested ruthenium is retained strongly in bones. Ruthenium oxide, RuO4, is highly toxic and volatile, and to be avoided.
Rhutenium 106 is one of the radionuclides involved in atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, which began in 1945, with a US test, and ended in 1980 with a Chinese test. It is among the long-lived radionuclides that have produced and will continue to produce increased cancers risk for decades and centuries to come.
Ruthenium is primarily used as an alloying agent. Adding 0.1% ruthenium to titanium makes titanium 100 times more resistant to corrosion. Small amounts of ruthenium are added to platinum and palladium to strengthen them. These alloys are used in jewelry and in electrical contacts that must resist wear.
When Sony made another 200 pairs of the R-10 for the U.S. in 2006 they were $4200 plus tax. the $2800 price was the original price when they were in in full production back in the day (I should know, I reserved a pair of the newer last batch as soon as the announcement was made). I got them from "Themes and Gifts" and there was only one other company allowed to import them (their name escapes me right now). A mint used pair is currently going for from $6K to $8k. They are worth it in the scheme of things.
The Qualia 010's cost me $2600 new, and go for $3500 and up right now, if they are in good shape. The Orpheus HE-90 was $7500 without the amp, $15K with. It's all relative.
Ruthenium is not used on the entire ear cups on the ED 8. otherwise they would cost probably more then 10000$ ...