Loudspeaker warranties and black market products

Generally agree with @larryi - if a speaker is well designed and not abused, the chances for a warranty need are exceedingly small.

As a buyer, I honestly care very little about warranty. My concern is for out-of-warranty service - whether it’s because the warranty period lapsed, or product was bought 2nd hand, or via gray market. Will the manufacturer make replacement drivers available for purchase at reasonable prices? Because that’s what makes or breaks the long-term viability of a speaker. 

In fact, if I’m buying high-end expensives speakers new, I’ll absolutely want to purchase and stash away some spare drivers. I’ve acquired spare drivers for my Tannoys over the years, but it wasn’t easy nor cheap - even though I was a buyer from a proper authorized dealer. 

Black market indicates stolen or illegal goods (ivory speaker cabinets, opium infused woofers, etc). I think you menat GRAY market ;) 
I generally have no problems buying gray market if the seller doesn’t seem too sleazy and the risk / reward calculation is good.

In my mind, a good manufacturer will service their producs (for "reasonable" fees) no matter the origin or warranty status. VAC is my gold standard of this so far. Rogue Audio is also excellent. Tannoy - oof, they’re a bit rough. Even since before the Behringer / MusicTribe acquisition. 

A few years back I read a study where it found the average life of a consumer electronics product like TV or audio is approximately 4.5 years if the product makes it past the 30 day mark.  Most failures due to workmanship of materials happen before that 30 day mark.  

When I buy something new I put some serious hours on it in that 30 day window intentionally.   I can't remember the last time I had a failure.   I've been extremely lucky at this game over the past 45 years 

So yes. I appreciate warranties , but they are seldom needed early in a products life.   

My main speakers were a 10 year warranty , second system speaker has a five year warranty.   DAC, 5 years.    Second system amp, 3 years.   Sub, 5 years.   All good warranties, still in effect but I hope to never exercise them.  

@mulveling is correct, speaker warranties are of little import. His advice to stash drivers is sound, however drivers by and large don’t fail unless abused.

That leaves the crossovers. Unless you rock Thiel CS5i, crossovers are simple circuits that are easily fixed / refurbished. 

My speakers are 42 years old. I play them loud. I like loud impolite music. I have no spare drivers around. I rebuilt (and modestly improved) my crossovers in my spare time. Will I experience a massive driver blowout tomorrow? Maybe, but I’ll cross that bridge if and when I get to it.

I once said that any audiophile worth his salt should learn how to fix their own gear. I was roundly flamed for that, but let me say this: if you are in fact going to fix your own gear, your speaker crossovers are the best place to start.

If you are concerned about speaker longevity, the two things to look out for if you want more than ten years of service are: 1) the type of surround for the woofer--foam rubber surrounds tend to crumble after a certain number of years, particularly if they are exposed to strong light (drivers can be re-foamed by services that are out there that specialize in this service); and 2) presence of ferromagnetic fluid in the voice gap of tweeters that tend to get gummy and dry out (there are also services that clean out and replace such fluid).  

Speakers are quite durable when not abused by excessively high volume play or being used as scratching posts by cats, etc.  It is also remarkable how many older speakers sound really good even though they don't have the supposed benefit of modern materials and technical improvements.

A leading cause of speaker trauma is inadequate amplification. Most speakers love current and don't get well with amps that can't provide it.