I’ve bought 5 pairs of speakers used, 2 Monitor Audio (1 Gold/1 Silver), 1 Zu Audio, 1 Vintage Cerwin Vega, 1 Vintage Sony, no problems whatsoever. Asked if there were ANY imperfections in the cabinets or drivers, ANY issues with the sound, ANY problems with being driven hard. Everyone said they were never driven hard except for the Cerwin Vega guy, he said never any problems at all, had just put new surrounds on the woofers, told me the speakers were made to be played loud with no problems. He was right, they were perfect and actually sound much better than I expected. The non-vintage speaker values were checked in the Audio Bluebook so I was sure I was getting fair deals on them. I would buy used again in a heartbeat. Oh, and all the non-vintage speakers were purchased through US Audio Mart’s website.
What to ask when buying used speakers?
I have purchased used components in the past and I can do this with confidence their functionality is well defined and easily verified. I am starting to look for a new set of speakers and will consider buying used. Assuming that I am doing this over distance and will not be able to inspect or demo the speakers in person, what are some good questions to ask to determine the real state of the speakers? Any red flags? Can used speakers have incurred subtle damages or wear that will affect the sound? For the sake of discussion, let's assume that they are less than five years old so we can rule out decaying surrounds and old caps, etc.