Any experience with buying used / refurb equipment?

[number17]

Hi folks,

First time poster here.

I am wonder if anyone has any experience with buying used / refurb. AV equipment from ebay or other internet shops?

I am in the market for an AV receiver ... since I have a limited budget (preferrably < $800 Cdn, or $$600 US) I am wondering if those used / refurb stuffs are worth looking into.

Most of them don't have much of a warranty ... usually just a couple weeks of power on warranty.


Thanks!

[Kingdaddy]

I have bought many pieces of audio equipment used, I think that amps are the best barging, followed by processors then speakers. I however knowing what I know now would not buy again from e-bay, too easy to get ripped off. However many forums have regulars that have stuff for sell, also there is Audiogon and Videogon.com that have a good selection. I plan on a processor and amp up for sale on some of the audio forums myself, don't want the hassle of e-bay.

[Andrew Pratt]

You might be interested in this HK reviever here or this NAD

I've purchased several items used and my DVD player was a refurb from eCost (easy to work with for importing into Canada) and they've all been solid buys for me

[David Meek]

Echoing what King said:

Go with Audiogon.

[number17]

Thanks ... you guys are great.

Let me ask my question from a second angle though ...

My dilemma is this.

I had a budget to buy a home theatre system, but because I ended up spending more than I wanted to on the TV (bought a 57" Toshiba Cinema series RPTV 57HX83 ... very happy with the TV BTW) I have to shrink my budget a bit for the receiver, speakers and subwoofer.

I am hoping to get these for under Cdn$2500 (~ US$1700)

I don't listen to music a lot, and I primarily use my HTS for movies and TV.

I am thinking of spending ~ C$1500 on the speakers, ~ C$500 on the subwoofer and ~ $500 on the receiver. But then again I am not sure how long will a Cdn$500 receiver last ... I may opt for an upgrade in a year or so, which would end up being just a waste of $$. That's why I started thinking about used receivers ...

So what do you guys think? Given that budget should I go for used or new?

If I can get a good receiver and the speakers under that budget I can defer the subwoofer till later. My room is not very big (12 x 15) so I don't need something very powerful.



Thanks!

[markusp]

I think you will always get a better value buying used as long as you deal with a forum such as this or audiogon etc. I personally have switched my system around quite a bit over the past 7 months and everything that I bought was either a demo or used except my dvd player (not big on buying used dvd and cd players unless its from somewhere that offers a warranty).

Buying new gives you the latest and greatest but buying something that is only a year old can save you tons of money. I bought a used NAD T752 for $750 CDN on canuckaudiomart complete with warranty and shipping (reg $1499 CDN plus taxes). This was not a refurb unit and it sounds great - no problems whatsoever. Conversely, I bought a new Marantz SR-7300 a little over a year ago for $1100 CDN plus tax but ended up selling it for approx. $800 CDN 9 months later.

The upgrade bug bites us all sooner or later - why not take advantage of that and buy something that isn't very old but is still in perfect condition?

Watch out for ebay though - I've bought and sold tons of my equipement there before finding audiogon etc. but I just got burned on 2 older Rotel amps. They were in poor condition (scratched and dirty despite ad stating that they were in great condition) and the packaging was pitiful! UPS is trying to follow up on damages but it looks like I will have to chalk this up to a learning experience as one of the amps had some binding posts snapped off and the plastic sides cracked during shipping thanks to this one guy's careless attitude (he just threw them in a box with little to no insulation / packing material).

Best of luck :T

[Andrew Pratt]

Where in Canada are you?

CreativeSoundSolutions in BC is moving at the end of the month and so has some items on clearance that might interest you. For example they've got a B stock subwoofer that should be pretty nice...esp for the low cost they want for it now. Here's what it looks like and they're only asking $380 plus shipping on it now so its quite the deal details

Creative also has tube kits for the shiva driver that I'd highly recomend as well given your budget.

If those aren't of interest see if you can find a used Paradigm PW2200 as it should be in around that price point and its a very capable sub.

Audioshop has a Marantz 5300 for sale at $499 that would be a decent purchase at $500

Speakers are a different story as they're more of a personal choice...but I'd suggest you stick with the Canadian brands like Polk, PSB, Energy, Paradigm, Sound Dynamics, Totem, Fluance, Axiom etc as your dollar will go further on these lines then others.

[aud19]

If it were my money I'd spend as much as I could on the mains/centre for now. Do you have any old speakers lying around you could use for surrounds and just upgrade them later. Try for a used Rotel 1055 reciever and then wait to pounce on any good deals you find for used/B stock subs and surrounds.

Jason

[markusp]

There's a nice Marantz SR5400 on canuckaudiomart for $380 CDN. This usually retails around $799 so its a nice place to start. You can find it here:

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?search_and_display_db_button=on&db_id=20830&query=retrieval

[number17]

I live in Toronto, Canada.

I don't have any spare speakers sitting around so I do prefer to have all 5 speakers initially. I rarely listen to music though, and use my system primarily for movies only. In that case, is it important to have a set of nice tower speakers up front? Or would a set of decent bookshelf speakers + a subwoofer (I'm thinking something like Energy Encore 5.1 or 5.2) be good enough for movies purpose?

OTOH there CAN BE an upgrade path ... I can always move my front speakers up to the study later on if I need a set of front tower speakers.

My friend had an old marantz receiver that sounds pretty good, but it didn't even have component input switching back then. I should probably checkout that deal on the used marantz though.


Thanks guys!

[Andrew Pratt]

The Marantz would be a good purchase...esp for the price they're asking. This Sony 555ES for $500 wouldn't be a bad buy either though it lacks some of the newer surround formats like PLIIx which is nice for regular TV watching etc.

As for the speakers since HT is your game I'd make sure that the subwoofer you purchase is up to the task then buy a 5 speaker package or 3 pairs of bookshelf speakers if you have room to do a 6.1 install. Given the funds you have available you should be able to do better then the Encores...not that they're a bad speaker since they aren't its just you can do better with $2000 total. For example These Mirage are very nice speakers that you'd just need to add some matching surrounds too and a sub. These Paradigm Stuido 60's are very nice as well. I'd opt for Paradigm Titan's as surround which are about $250ish or these Mini Monitors and add the matching Studio centre for a very nice set up..then add this Paradigm Servo 15 if you can. Its is VERY VERY good but it might be a little too expensive for your budget...but ask what he wants for it anyway as it might be worth getting even if it means we have to scale back our surround speaker choices its that good.

[number17]

I am not sure about used speakers ... I tend to think all the knocking around during shipping can't be good for the speakers ... but you guys can tell me if that's true.

That's why I was thinking about something like Energy Encore ... that kindda fits into the budget for new ones.

[markusp]

Shouldn't be a problem as long as they are packaged in their original packaging (boxes, foam etc.). Afterall, they arrived at the dealer the same way.

Speakers can be a great buy when previously owned. You should be able to do better than the energy encore series for the price. 8)