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

mcmanus, I would look for new speakers at $4,000.00 rather than used upmarket speakers.  There are a number of reasons for this.  First is warranty.  There will always be a warranty with new speakers.  Even if you get a 'warranty' from a dealer on the second hand speakers it will likely be only a few months.  Second is technology.  There have been a lot of advances  over the past decade, and there continue to be.  Driver materials in particular are always improving.  What was top dog ten years ago is not top dog now.  Third reason is wear.  Moving parts wear and there is not much getting round that.  Time will also ravage the finish on products.  A possible fourth reason is design.  This won't apply to all speakers but do you really want your lounge looking like an antique shop?

I have been buying and selling used audio equipment for over 45 years and will assure you that that any pair of speakers that was built by a well known and respected manufacturer that originally sold for $40,000.00 will not sell for $4,000.00 ten years later, unless they are stolen or heavy damaged, the average price of such speakers would be $13,000.00 depending on condition. After consulting several experienced techs who have worked on $40,000.00 (there is not many) all agreed that the quality of the crossovers and drivers in a $40,000.00 speaker that is ten years old would be considerably better than a new speaker that cost $4,000.00 or even $13,000.00 today. 
We don't normally invest in speakers that are over 15 years old (unless there classics) and most of the problems we encounter with speakers of that age is not from parts going bad but rather from misuse and or abuse, a few examples are (1) Exposing a speaker to direct sunlight for ten years will fade the finish and deteriorate the surrounds (2) Over driving your speakers or clipping your amp, can get you a big repair bill or maybe worse, the knowledge that the speakers can't be repaired at all.

devekayc rightly put :
  "Anything that was 40 grand and has the possibility of being 4 grand today is a scam either then, or now. ."

You wouldn't buy a used car that was once 40k for 4k would you? Seams kind of suspect unless of course your into total restoration then those speakers or that car might seem worth it albeit you'll be dropping a pretty penny to revive either..just go with new, if you can?..

Interesting thread. I have designed and built a lot of high end speakers, and I have owned many, and used more as a studio Engineer for 25 years. Just to respond to some of the points here. 

It's easy to get a 10 to one sort of advantage if you are willing to undertake a repair. 

Drivers last a long time unless they are driven hard all day.  Because the Voice Coil is suspended in a magnetic field, friction at the moving part is minimal. Surrounds deteriorate, and are generally replaceable. Paper cones do too, but they are also replaceable. Entire drivers are often replaceable, and not very expensive in the overall picture. The top end driver makers (Scan Speak for example) often will have a close-to identical model for some very old drivers. Sticking with a vendor who has been around for a while improves dramatically the chances of finding a proper replacement. 

The way to tell a burned voice coil is to smell it. No kidding. 
In a crossover, the main failure point will be caps. If you have older speakers you can get instant improvement by replacing the caps with some of the excellent audio caps now available. Caps in general are a horrible thing to do to an audio signal, so I avoid any crossover over 3rd order. Low order crossovers do sound better, but make other aspects of design very tricky. 

The "overheads" on speakers are design and engineering time. They are totally worth it. The basic MO of large manufacturers is to use extremely smart design and scale to help drive down the cost of parts and manufacturing. You pay the design costs once. Crossover design is mostly automated at this point, but in years past, getting all the factors in place (box, drivers, xover) just to get a good test was very time consuming. So, one advantage of more modern speakers (>2000)  is that design tools have become commonplace. The interaction of xover, drivers, and box is still a matter of engineering art, however. 

Speaker builders who sell just a few pairs of a high end model can't make much of a living. However, I expect that 3d printing, the availability of cheaper NC machines, etc, has changed that. Keep in mind that the cabinet is costly. I used to have fun buying blown up speakers with good cabinets, and reverse engineering new drivers and crossovers to the cabinet. That's a way to get really amazing quality inexpensively, although it probably makes a few people choke on their coffee. 

Finally, in general, second hand speakers are a bargain, and a chance to afford speakers that were built without compromise. Audiophiles, including myself, like to experiment with sound, and with speakers, that means selling your old ones. My old ones are worth zero to me after I get new ones, so I sell them cheap. Also, our circumstances change. Listening environment, noise restrictions, room size, SAF.  Any of these factors demand different speakers ... so, again, bye bye old speakers. They might be perfectly good, but are only worth what the market will pay, which, sadly, is not much.