Interesting topic. My point of view is that for a person like myself who doesnt know a lot about fixing machines and always has to pay someone to come in when I have a problem....I dont mind paying a bit more for a machine that is nice to look at, plays well and most importantly will be reliable.

It doesnt take long for a cheap machine to become an expensive one if you continually have to pay someone to come in and fix it for you.

Having said that I would always seek advise from members on this site before buying and from what I'm reading I wouldn't go $5500 on this machine...probably around $4000 for me....that's kinda meeting him half pay I pay extra for a nice machine and he losses a little on his time/money spent on the restore.