Buy a pair of ten year old $40,000 speakers for $4,000 or new ones at that price point?

If you can get a deal like that and they aren’t messed up take it.  I got a pair of Dynaudio Sapphires limited edition for 10k less than new when they were 10 years old and there wasn’t even a hair on the screens , not a smudge or mark and they sound unbelievable. 

+1 johnwern

I purchased Escalante Design Fremont Speakers for $3000 that were originally $20,000. They were about 9 years old. There was a little paint chipping which I repaired with matching automotive paint. Not a 90% drop, but a significant savings and better than I think one would find new for $3000. 

The closest I have seen to this is speakers like the $40K Talon Firebird Diamonds that you can now get for $7K or so, maybe less, in perfectly good shape. They are every bit as capable as speakers made today, and will easily outperform speakers that sell for $7K new. Part of the reason they are so cheap is that Talon as a company doesn't exist anymore. If something goes wrong with them, you're on your own.

I recently bought a pair of Gershman Acoustics GAP-828 speakers, which are likely around 10 years old or so. Original list was around $15K, I paid $5K, and they were in perfect shape. One of the Dynaudio Esotec tweeters got a nice big dent while they were being unpacked, and I got in touch with Gershman and they sent me a brand new set. I also bought a set of midrange drivers to keep in reserve. This is why when buying older speakers, I think it really pays to buy from a company that's still around, so you can still get parts. I have one spare tweeter and two spare midranges ready to go just in case, and Gershman still has some of the original woofers left in stock should I ever need one. They can also be upgraded to the final GAP-888 spec ($24K list) for about $3800, which still represents a 66% off deal over new - and they basically would be new at that point since Gershman would put in new crossovers and new woofers as part of the update.

Good luck finding a speaker for $5K that can hit 22Hz like the 828s can, or that uses their "box within a box" construction, arced pyramid shape to reduce standing waves and diffraction, etc.

I have purchased  three pairs of used speakers used over the last 7 years.  All are in mint condition.  The first was a pair of Kef Reference 205's in perfect shape and perfect cherry finish. I paid $2800. They were a 'hold me over' speaker as I relocated, and I paired them with an Emotive amp and preamp.

When I got more settled, I found a perfect pair of B&W Nautilus 802's for $4100.  I think this was a great deal, and I upgraded (got my old) Classe pre amp and bought a used Classe CA 5300 stereo amp for $4800.  Since then, I have moved the B&W's downstairs and found a pair of perfect Revel Studio 2's for $7200.  This is just under half of their $16,000 new retail, but this is a current speaker and that is the best I could find.  I also now have BHK pre amp and BHK 250 amp, along with the Direct Stream DAC.  Wow.  For subs I bought new, but found a good deal on a pair of REL Carbon Limited.  I listened to several new speakers before buying the used Revel's; Kef Reference 3's, Proac K-36 and D48, B&W 802's, Paradigm and Vandersteen Quatros.  I did like the Proacs the best, but the K36's were over 20K.  I feel I got good value and great speakers for the money, and think used speakers are 'less scary' to buy used.  First, you can look at their condition and tell if they were well cared for.  Second, you can listen to them.