Loudspeaker warranties and black market products


Perhaps loudspeakers represent one of the wildcard purchases on the used market regarding warranties. Some manufacturers offer transferrable warranties. Others do not. And the real wildcard in the used market are black market products. Such products often are not disclosed by the sellers in their listings. The buyers of black listed products have no warranty coverage and often encounter a refusal of service if issues should arise. So I’m curious what the A’gon community user experiences have been regarding warranties for their purchases of loudspeakers. 

celander

Showing 2 responses by devinplombier

@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.

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.