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If you have been around high fidelity, or any other part of the electronics realm for any length of time you learn that new is not always better, just new. That does not mean that innovation has been lost or stifled, but some things made in the past hold up very well today.

In fact, there is a large market for certain used audio and video products, which keep their value and usefulness. Things that suffer from mechanical wear tend to not get collected, as repair cost tends to be difficult or monetarily prohibitive. Items with quality construction and no moving parts are sought out, even coveted, by those who know that the items are of top quality and that time has only lowered the price, and nothing else.

When building a system on any budget, money goes further when someone else has owned the products before you. Sometimes, if you are very lucky, you can find a closeout item, new, but discontinued, possibly a year or two ago, and getting sold at prices that makes you wonder if the seller might be suspicious. If the seller is otherwise known this can be a fantastic way to enter the realm of quality for not much cash.

As an example, in 1983, I purchased some pieces of top-of-the-line Kenwood home audio equipment, at firesale prices, because the line had been relatively unknown, and the economy in general was not being kind to discretionary purchases.

The Kenwood L07M was a mono block amplifier, built like the proverbial tank, the size of a large shoebox and weighing 35 pounds. Each of these provided 1 (mono) channel, and was designed to be put near the speaker, and driven from the preamp with long, high quality interconnects.

 This amplifier provided 150 Watts into an 8 ohm load, and would drive extremely difficult loads - I used them to drive the bass section of my Infinity Reference Standard 4.5s. The L07, this one bearing the name Trio, showing it probably came to America with a soldier from Japan, was one of the few amplifiers at the time that would not shut down when trying to reproduce bass at realistic levels on the Infinitys. It would still be a great buy today - if you could find one. 

These speakers, Infinity Reference Standard 4.5, originally sold for $4500 per pair, I became the third owner of my pair, and got them for $1650, 2 years after they were released - there is NOTHING being produced under $10,000 today that compares in sound quality. Period. Less than 2 months ago a pair was for sale on eBay for $1250.

  This Quad ESL speaker, no longer made, still commands its original purchase price when in working condition. (Shown next to a small chair for comparison) These things were able to make magic!

These were only one part of the L07 series, which also included a pre-amplifier, a tuner, and a turntable. I bought 6 of these amplifiers, 1 tuner, and 1 preamp for 1100 dollars. When looking it doesn’t seem that cheap, but if comparison is done to list price, it was a steal. Each of the pieces I bought listed for $650, which means I got $5200 in equipment for $1100. The important thing to remember was that I got tremendous value because these pieces were a deal at list price. The L07 was the zenith of the Kenwood equipment that saw American shores, as soon after Kenwood changed the thrust of its endeavors to car stereo. If you look on eBay now, you some times see these amplifiers still for sale. The price when sold is usually around $300, which proves that I got a great deal (and should never have sold them) and that the quality was such that not only is the item working more than 20 years hence, people realize that the quality still competes well after 20 plus years.

Speakers, although having parts that can wear out, usually are a good buy if you can ascertain the general treatment gotten prior to your purchase. Natural wear and tear on the surrounds, by ozone, or just age, can be something that while not trivial, can be repaired by many places in a process called re-coning. The actual cone is sometimes replaced, but most of the time the surround is all that is being replaced. If any other damage is done to the speaker, such as blown capacitors in the crossover network, a quick but thorough audition will reveal it.

Many brands of quality speakers will lose little of their value over the years, VMPS is one. Other ways to get quality for less, by buying used is to get a kit speaker, built by the 1st owner. Many times these are found at estate sales, and because there is no branding on them, the seller lets them go for a song. Obviously there is some chance being taken here, as you have no guarantee that the build was done correctly, but most of the time you can get things below what raw drivers would cost. If some changes are needed, you can spend a little to get the speakers up to snuff and still be ahead of the game.

Places to find quality used equipment are eBay, large city newspaper classified ads, ads in audio and video enthusiast magazines, and, in metropolitan areas, stores dedicated to quality used items.

The important thing to remember is that while you will probably not make any money if you decide to sell the quality used pieces after a time of use, you have even odds of not losing any either!

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