Buying speakers ten or more years old a good idea?

It's like anything else. Some products, whether speakers, amps, or cars, are
classics distinguished by a synergistic combination of forward thinking, sound
engineering, meticulous manufacturing, and high performance.

One sweet spot is the $400-600. For a new speaker that's a decent pair of
stand-mounted monitors with good midrange, but limited sensitivity, bass
extension, and dynamic range. For the same money you can pick up any number
of lightly used room-filling floorstanders such as the Aperion 633T or Mirage
M5si with transparent midrange, smooth treble, and bass that reaches down to
the low 30s or high 20s. That'll also save you the cost of augmenting the
monitors with subwoofers, which is an inevitable add-on for some.

Also, some used speakers hold up better than others depending on parts and
cabinet quality. Speaker cones with foam surrounds will need the surrounds
replaced about every 20 years. Those with butyl surrounds (e.g., ADS) neverl will.
Some older speakers were heavy and well-braced, others were not and have
more cabinet resonances. Examples: The Aperions I mentioned use 1" thick HDF
for the cabinet and they weigh 77 lbs each. My Mirage M5si's also have thick
walls, are well braced, and weigh 85 lbs. each. ADS speakers are sealed and well-
put together and also have very inert cabinets along with the butyl surround
woofers.

I just picked up a pair of Infinity Kappa 9 for 500 bucks. They are in beautiful shape except that the woofers need new surrounds. I could do it myself for about 50.00 or I can have it done for 300.00 Either way, I have a very capable speaker still highly regarded that in today's dollars would probably cost in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 thousand and sound like it. So is it worth it? You bet it is. And yes, these need big power.

I have been using the same pair of dynamic-driver, tower speakers ever since I bought them new in 1990. There have been at least 3 considerations I've needed to deal with over the years.

1) All the drivers have rubber surrounds, but it's still been necessary to treat them with a decent rubber preservative every few years or so, but that's very easy to do and not expensive.

2) I had the crossovers professionally refurbished in 2007. Crossovers do age, perhaps especially those with cheaper parts... I wouldn't expect you'd have to do that very often - once at some point during your ownership may well be enough. I removed the crossovers myself and shipped them to the service company, so I didn't have to deal with shipping the whole speakers. Cost: a bit less than $300 altogether.

3) Check to see if the used speakers you want use ferrofluid in the tweeters (or mids). After a few years or so (even if they've been in storage), the ferrofluid can dry out. In practice, discovering it can creep up on you and you may suddenly become aware of an otherwise unexplained channel imbalance in the highs and some loss in HF dynamics and power handling. Parts Express carries it and it's not too expensive. The only difficulty at first is learning how to remove and dismantle your tweeters so you can add some more fluid. But, then again, you would still really need to know how to do this, even if you were buying brand new speakers that use ferrofluid...just part of their maintenance. But, acquiring this skill can be a useful advantage for used speaker buyers since, often as not, they may be buying from individuals who possibly never fully understood this one real reason why they may have grown disenchanted with their performance. Anyone can take advantage of this: sellers, buyers and owners alike, but I suspect it may more commonly work for buyers and could possibly help you land a good bargain. But, in effect, I don't think there is functionally any difference between a tweeter (that's in otherwise good shape) with newly added ferrofluid and a brand new tweeter - they are essentially one and the same thing - top off their fluid and you instantly regain showroom performance from them...performance that you can easily hear.

Larryi said: "I hardly think that speaker technology is advancing such that ten year old speakers are necessarily inferior to newer models. There are MANY older designs that are terrific sounding and it is really more a matter of personal taste than technical advancement that will determine what is best". I completely agree. The old saying that there are plenty of both good and bad examples of speakers at every price point is very likely just as true today, I'm sure, as it was in 1939, so synergy together with personal preference is still the name of the game. But, many say that some of the best sounding mid and bass drivers ever produced were created from simple paper cones. If properly maintained, you can expect a good pair of speakers to last about 50 years.

I second vhiner. I have an 18 year old pair of thiel cs 3.6. I have used 4 different font end with them. Nad pre w/ Acurus a 250 amp, proceed pre and amp 2, classe ssp300 with ca 2200 and finally a classe cp800 with ct 300. IMO the classe is a better sonic match for the thiel which can be bright. With the upgrade of front end It has been hard to justify a speaker upgrade. They just sound very good not perfect but they do so much so well.

Hi, I have the JBL L7 speakers that I modded, they are from 1992, and sound wonderfull!, 5 degrees angled to the inside, 3 foot from rear and side walls, huge, focused soundstage that is revealing and very musical, cheers.