Buying used or sight unseen speakers a bad idea?

Whether to buy a pair of speakers unseen depends, in part, on your options. If it is a common speaker, I would wait till another comes up for sale where I would have an opportunity to inspect the speaker. Even if one has to pay a dealer premium for a trade-in, the peace of mind is worth it. For something rare, one might have to gamble more.

Most used speakers that are under ten years old that have not been abused are essentially "new" speakers. Some speakers from the 1970-80s had foam surrounds on the edge of woofers that would go bad and fall apart, but most current speakers can be expected to last much longer.

I am, personally, in a position where I have to gamble in my search for a particular speaker. I have been looking for a pair of midrange drivers made by Western Electric in the 1930s. I have heard plenty of different speakers and drivers, and for me, this is it. But, the speakeer is extremely expensive, the only pair I can find will be shipped from Japan, and it is pretty much impossible to repair if it turns out to be defective (the Japanses source is reputed to be reliable). On top of that, I don't even know if it will integrate properly with what I have.

I have bought 3 pairs of speakers here;usher rw 729's,dunlavy sc III's and soundlab m2's;the key to these deals was communication and the original packing materials.
I feel deals here are safe but you must remember there will always be some risk involved and the question is how much risk are you willing to take?

Who NEEDS and M5? It is about what you WANT! No one wants the car that they NEED.

By the way, the deal for the B&W CDM CNT went flawlessly. Sometimes it is just worth a bit of risk. How else will you ever get the reward?

Large metro areas have very reputable dealers who will sell used equipment at a reasonabkenprice; perhaps not as low as a private deal, but for the difference you get piece of mind. Some examples are Audio Consultants in Chicago or Goodwins in Boston.