Second hand speakers

[speedyman]

I've been looking at eBay and seeing various makes of speakers which cost about 2K when new and only a couple of years old being sold for about £600. I'm looking for floor standing speakers, but what make to go for and are second hand worth a punt.

[stevoknevo]

speedyman said:

I've been looking at eBay and seeing various makes of speakers which cost about 2K when new and only a couple of years old being sold for about £600. I'm looking for floor standing speakers, but what make to go for and are second hand worth a punt.

Like everything, buy the seller - there's a few second hand dealers on there that you'll pay a weebit extra but get a 90 day warranty and they'll often have the original boxes etc. Hifi forums are a solid bet as many sellers will have been members for years and have a personal reputation to protect so are very thorough in their descriptions and have used them sensibly (look on eBay at some of the 'absolutely mint' chancers, when a look at the photos show they're anything but)
Have a look at ones you like the look of, how big is the room they'll be in and read reviews whether they would be too much/not enough speaker for the room; what amp will you be using to run them, does it have the capability of driving whatever speakers properly; what kinda sound do you prefer/hope to achieve (purely as an example, many people find B&W to be bright/sharp/clinical whilst others love them).
Read and research and ask questions and try to narrow it down - there are some excellent speakers that might've been pushing £2K but unless they were poorly received they'll likely be a decade old (I done similar 18 months ago and ended up buying a pair of PMC for just over £500 (I was looking at PMC/Neat/Spendor and couldn't find any of the latter for sale at what I was willing to pay)

I'd also look at brand new as technology has moved on a bit/no delivery hassles/warranty - these were £1K at release, just been superceded and they're now £2K, £699 (if you like the styling, and well reviewed) https://petertyson.co.uk/q-acoustics-concept-40-fl...

[speedyman]

Thanks for the advice, the search begins.

[Crackie]

speedyman said:

I've been looking at eBay and seeing various makes of speakers which cost about 2K when new and only a couple of years old being sold for about £600. I'm looking for floor standing speakers, but what make to go for and are second hand worth a punt.

Just spotted a pair of these https://www.stereophile.com/content/joseph-audio-r... on E-Bay now..........ending pretty soon though. US speakers don't usually sell to well in the UK because we have a lot of home grown talent but that doesn't mean there are aren't talented designers in the states too. A few anoraks like me will know what they are and also how good they are............I've seen Joseph gear win best sound at the show at a few stateside hi-fi shows.........pretty much unheard of to see speakers in this price bracket winning best of show.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284688529642?hash=item4...

Hope you see this post in time.

If the above don't appeal then possibly EPOS ES22 might work for you. The ones here look like new.

https://2ndhandhifi.co.uk/product/epos-acoustics-e...

The ES22 is a really interesting 3 way speaker designed by Robin Marshall and iirc, despite being a 3 way, it only has 2 crossover components. An inductor in series with the bass driver and a capacitor feeding the tweeter. The midrange driver doesn't use any crossover components and is directly wired to the speaker terminals and therefore connected directly to the amplifier output stage. To all intents and purposes the midrange is active; the midrange crossover slope shape is determined by careful design of the surround, cone profile, dust cap / phase plug and the inductance of the voicecoil.

I've just been reading Peter Comeau's review in Hi-Fi News and he concluded.

"Time and time again I found myself drawn into the music as though I was at a live performance unaware of the hi-fi equipment between my ears and the original performance. An enthusiastic recommendation is unhesitatingly awarded."

Another very good speaker........if the budget can be stretched slightly.

https://www.hifi-forsale.co.uk/moreinfo-2.php?prod...

Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 15th March 10:27

[P700DEE]

Nothing wrong with second hand speakers , they are usually good for many years use with few issues. All about the previous owners. My advice would be look local. Big speakers don't ship well and ideally you want to audition them in the owners system to check they work great and arn't abused. Definitely some bargains out there.

[Timothy Bucktu]

All my kit is second hand from FB Marketplace. You can get some one time very high end speakers for not much money. I've got some Linn Keilidas at the moment which cost £80. They sound very nice. Before that I had some B&W DM620's which I think were £100. And some Ruark's which I kind of regret selling on.
With decent kit the sellers are usually very enthusiastic and happy to demo stuff if you ask.

[Timothy Bucktu]

Crackie said:

If the above don't appeal then possibly EPOS ES22 might work for you. The ones here look like new.

https://2ndhandhifi.co.uk/product/epos-acoustics-e...

The ES22 is a really interesting 3 way speaker designed by Robin Marshall and iirc, despite being a 3 way, it only has 2 crossover components. An inductor in series with the bass driver and a capacitor feeding the tweeter. The midrange driver doesn't use any crossover components and is directly wired to the speaker terminals and therefore connected directly to the amplifier output stage. To all intents and purposes the midrange is active; the midrange crossover slope shape is determined by careful design of the surround, cone profile, dust cap / phase plug and the inductance of the voicecoil.

Very nice. I used to work at Epos and may have assembled those myself!

[VSKeith]

Timothy Bucktu said:

Crackie said:

If the above don't appeal then possibly EPOS ES22 might work for you. The ones here look like new.

https://2ndhandhifi.co.uk/product/epos-acoustics-e...

Very nice. I used to work at Epos and may have assembled those myself!

Very nice indeed, well worth that money IMHO, especially if they're anything like the ES14

[Griffith4ever]

Have a look at Mirage Omnipolars. OM7's here for £400

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304376830640?hash=item4...EYAAOSwf69h95Fl

They are the bigger brother of my OM9's. I paid £1400 for the pair a long while back and they are simply breathtaking. (for the uninitiated they fire fore and aft so create a very wide sound stage - wondefully airy).

[mgv8]

I have had second-hand speakers before and some are very good value. When very old sometimes the crossover might need some work but that is not too hard. You can also get new drivers for some.
Monitor Audio and Leak were the two brands I had and the Leak's were very old, but still impressed quite a few people.

[Some Gump]

Personally i'd buy these in a flash!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gr20/1340...

I have gr20's powered by musical fidelity pre / power. Sounds utterly superb.

[OutInTheShed]

All very personal.
Depends on the room you're listening in and many other things.
If I were looking at spending proper money, I would be looking at active crossovers and/or multi-amp systems.

Linn stuff is worth a listen, even if it's just to try working out why you don't like it.

My best speaker purchase was a pair of Gale Monitors, which I put in the kitchen, £30 secondhand with a faulty amp thrown in.
Main speakers are old B&W on wall mounts.

Of course used stuff may have been abused, or simply suffer from old age. People don't realise how much no-linearity and distortion is down to the speakers, I can only see that getting worse as the flexible bits age.

[Crackie]

OutInTheShed said:

All very personal.
Depends on the room you're listening in and many other things.
If I were looking at spending proper money, I would be looking at active crossovers and/or multi-amp systems.

Linn stuff is worth a listen, even if it's just to try working out why you don't like it.

My best speaker purchase was a pair of Gale Monitors, which I put in the kitchen, £30 secondhand with a faulty amp thrown in.
Main speakers are old B&W on wall mounts.

Of course used stuff may have been abused, or simply suffer from old age. People don't realise how much no-linearity and distortion is down to the speakers, I can only see that getting worse as the flexible bits age.

Some good points there regarding rooms and personal preference but these apply to new purchasing as well...... the advantage being that it is easier to audition new gear. That being said unless you can find a retailer who is happy for you to listen at home, with the associated partnering equipment, then a shop audition can also mislead. Hopefully a S/H seller will be happy to let a buyer to audition: if not, you'd have to question why not?

Regarding the potential for speakers to deteriorate with age; it is certainly true for speakers with foam surrounds, it isn't the case for speakers with rubber surrounds though. The polymers used are extremely strong. If abused by excessive power the voice coil wire and associated adhesives will be the point of failure. Speakers arguably perform better when used 'enthusiastically' ; the pleated spider used to locate and centre the voicecoil certainly benefits from a good workout.

Selecting S/H speakers with drivers made by companies with a reputation for reliability makes sense. Seas, Scanspeak,Vifa, Dynaudio, B&W and ATC spring to mind.

[TorqueDirty]

Some Gump said:

Personally i'd buy these in a flash!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gr20/1340...

I have gr20's powered by musical fidelity pre / power. Sounds utterly superb.

I also had a pair of GR20 in combination with a Musical Fidelity A308 pre and power set up (with an A308CD player).

Sold the GR20s with boxes (they were brilliant) for about £400 - and bought a pair of second hand Kef Reference 205/2s. I think the rrp for the Kefs was about £8k, paid I think £2k for them. Christ on a bike they are good!

The point being that SH speakers are a bargain if you do your research and can find a good pair. On the whole speakers don't become obsolete like a lot of other electronic gear so a well looked after pair of good but older speakers - chosen well - are pound for pound an excellent hifi upgrade.

[Funk]

If you have the space, someone with a username that sounds like Punk might have a pair of Celestion A3s he's considering selling; a little over that budget though but corking speakers...