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Buying new, but old speakers

Hi everyone. So I'm almost 100% buying a pair of the old Castle Avon speakers, pre-IAG, brand new old stock (NOS). I'd love to hear comments about this speaker if anyone has them, but my question centers around possible concerns with speakers that could be as old as 14 years (the Avon came out in 1996) sitting in their boxes for that entire time. Of course, the speakers could be newer than this. I'm not sure when Castle stopped production on the Avon.

I've never done it before, but assuming the speaker has foam surrounds, if those need replacing it seems to be a pretty cheap and easy fix. Would anyone here be concerned with the crossover or the drivers themselves? Obtaining old Castle drivers may not be easy. If for whatever reason they need replacing I guess I'll just have to find other drivers that would work. Am I worrying too much? I trust the dealer who is selling them, he has taken them out of the box to check them. They are fine now I'm sure, but what happens when I start using them?
fusion10
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fusion10 OP
50 posts
 
Hi Elizabeth, thanks for the reply. I'm actually in Canada. The price to be paid is over half off MSRP. I'm not sure if we can post links here, but you can find a review of the Avon on Gramophone. Just type into Google "Castle Avon Gramophone" and you should get the review. It says the speaker was launched in 1996. Also, there are some reviews of the speaker on audioreview.com from a few users who were purchasing it new around of the turn of the century. The speaker is a floorstander with one woofer and an offset tweeter below it. There must have been an original Avon in the 80's and an updated model in the mid 90's.
blkadr
739 posts
 
The surrounds are rubber, and I'm not sure I would be too worried about the crossover caps. The real question is, are these speakers the best $900 option? I have heard the Howards but not Avons, I don't doubt that they sound nice. I might be swayed if they have that beautiful wood finish Castle is known for, but if they are black?
fusion10 OP
50 posts
 
You are right Blkadr, the surrounds are rubber. I spoke with the dealer this afternoon and confirmed this. They are black, but hey, it's not like I can be too picky when it comes to old Castle speakers, especially ones that are in perfect shape.

I am not unhappy with the sound of my system right now, quite the contrary in fact. But I've always been intrigued by floorstanders and I find that feeling isn't going away, so now I'd like to live with one pair for a while and compare them to my regular speakers (Quad 12L2). Castle has always sort of intrigued me too, so when this pair came up I thought why not? If I don't like them I will sell them and maybe take a hit but not a huge one. For $900 I'm not sure there's another floorstander I'd buy. Maybe a pair of used Quad 21L2. That all depends on how much I like the Avons though, and I won't know until I hear them. But it'll also be cool to own something that's a little more obscure than most other speakers. They definitely have the Castle build quality too...when packed the speakers weigh just over 100 lbs!
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