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Old or new £300 speakers?

Darren

So gentle when he tries to understand.
So here's a thing that's been going around in my tiny mind. You've got £300 to spend on speakers... But second hand 'finds' are worrying... perhaps in need of cross over maintenance, those metal dome tweeters have dried out ferro fluid hanging around and the bass drivers are, perhaps understandably, a little past their best sonically. So, is there still value here? Or, do you go for modern budget speakers instead? Steve Guttenburg really rates the Q Acoustics 3030i, really, really rates it. Have things come along in terms of performance per pound? Or does second hand value still rule?
What would you do?
 
New for me as far as speakers are concerned, unless I knew their history
That's just me being cautious though, I'm certainly no expert
 
Go for the Q Acoustics. From what Guttenberg said they are great with budget and will continue to excel as the equipment improves.
 
New for me as far as speakers are concerned, unless I knew their history
That's just me being cautious though, I'm certainly no expert

Go for the Q Acoustics. From what Guttenberg said they are great with budget and will continue to excel as the equipment improves.
Yea.... I know you are both right.....But... In the past I've found budget speakers a bit opaque sounding. They dont have that 'hear though' quality which I really value... perhaps it's their cheap cabinets singing along... Guttenburg hints at this.
 
I've got two pairs of old speakers, one pair is 30 yrs old the other pair 22 yrs old, both are sounding fine and working fine. Providing the speakers are a good pair to start with and have been well looked after and not abused I would have thought that you should be able to pick up a fairly decent quality second hand or ex-dem pair for £300.
I bought my eldest a pair of Q Acoustics bookshelf speakers a few years ago, I can't remember the model no but they were about £120 new, nice finish and good all round sound, she's very happy with them, however I think my ancient little Mission 760's sound every bit as good as the Q Acoustics.
 
Yea.... I know you are both right.....But... In the past I've found budget speakers a bit opaque sounding. They dont have that 'hear though' quality which I really value... perhaps it's their cheap cabinets singing along... Guttenburg hints at this.
Yes...and some have said they are over polite.. try them. Guttenberg says they major on transparency. What would you look for on the used market?
 
Depreciation on speakers is so great that £300 will buy a pair of used speakers that cost thousands when new. When my wife wanted to change the colour of my Kabers from Walnut to black to match the décor I simply bought a black pair. £2000 new, under £200 used. Mint, with aktiv cards, and sound as good or better than the old ones (which are now in a second system).
 
It really depends

I tried Q 3010, 3020 and some Concept 20, -which were the most expensive.
Preferred the 3010.

Many new speakers are chinese crap
Many older speakers are mostly much better choice.
 
You've not said what the rest of the system will be so assuming they will match...

Most of my speakers have been Linn. Out of those, you could get a nice pair of Katans for £300. They were launched in 2004 so would not be too old. Not made in China ;)

They were available in various finishes, black, cherry, white, maple, etc.
https://docs.linn.co.uk/wiki/images/4/41/Katan_info_sheet_rev2.pdf

Ideally, they need some power to come alive when driven passive, although sounded good on my 20w Sneaky DS. They were a bit subdued on my 12w Nait.

I had some Concept 20 speakers for a while. Very clear and detailed but didn't particularly boogie all that well plus Linn gear makes more sense of the music to my mind.

I've got 3 pairs of Kans dating back to the early-to-mid 80s and all working well :)
 
New or Old. I have this exact dilemma. Lounge system/TV speakers are wall-mounted B&W DM 302s. Boundary re-inforcement (and probably old 'lytics) means that everything above 1khz sounds 'shelved' and distant. Do I spend money on a re-cap? how far to go? OR... do I chance the B&W 607's touted elsewhere, and bung them/wall mount at risk to the SQ?

Note. am surprised how much the DM 601's go for nowadays, I bought a pair (S1) new in '96 @ £225 and sold them 3 years ago for £60. Now they seem to go for at least double that...
 
Get some used or ex demo speakers for that you will get much better value and better speakers buying used\as long as they are boxed in good condition and they shouldn't lose any value if you decide to change in the future
 


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