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New member Username: SorenpPost Number: 1 Registered: Aug-06 | I just got an offer to buy the following used equipment for 870$ - NAD C320BEE Stereo Amplifier (1-2 years old) - B&W DM601 Series III (1-2 years old) - Denon DCD-1450AE (3-4 years old) (The guy who's selling is working in a local HiFi store and has reacently upgraded to the NAD Masters Series) I know very litle about HiFi in general so my first question is weather its wise to buy used equipment and what should I look for before buying? I'm also a litle concerned weather this is a good offer or not. Should I go for new equipment instead? The amp is aprox 430$ NIB and the speakers are 520$. I don't know about the CD player since its too old. I should probably also mention that the speakers have been slightly upgraded: The wiering have been replaced with new wires for ~140$. And something had been done to the membrane. I believe he had sprayed something on the membrane to make it more stiff, but I'm not sure. Regarding the CD player. Has any of you heard about that model before? I can't seam to find any info about it at all. There are several references to the AR model but none to the AE... Any help/comments/suggestions are appreciated, /Soren |
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New member Username: TonyditoPost Number: 5 Registered: Aug-06 | Hi Sorenp, Second hand system is the good way to start. My self I did the same thing. I bought my amp and and speakers all second hand and really enjoy the music now. And I've spent only half of the budget originally would spend. Just make sure you have an audiotion of all you HiFi components before you buy them. HiFi component should be in original condition! Please not the modified one. When someone modified an amp or speakers that would change completely the performance of factory tuned. Spend sometime reading reviews: http://www.audioreview.com/reviewscrx.aspx http://www.stereophile.com/ Cheer, Tony My system component integrated amp Naim Nait5i speakers PMC - FB1 CD/dvd Panasonic s-77 for now (will be ugraded to Rega Apollo or Naim CD5i) |
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New member Username: NoutPost Number: 8 Registered: Mar-06 | $430 for as secondhand NAD C320BEE? The price for a new one, when it was released was $399 $520 for secondhand B&W DM601S3 speakers? A new pair cost $500 You must be refering to the Denon DCD-1450AR, there's only the Denon DCD 1500AE on the market (CD and SCAD player) which is a more recent model. The Denon DCD 1450 AR is actually an older model, released in 1999/2000, but has never been replaced by a newer (cd only) model, so your's could actually be 3 years old. It is a pretty good sounding player, solid build, but it unfortunately has, according to some customer reviews (and actually people I know), reliability issues, the error-correction isn't that good. Not a problem with perfectly conserved discs, but some oily fingers, scratches and dust could spoil the fun: it likes to skip. It costed around $500 when it was released. |
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New member Username: SorenpPost Number: 2 Registered: Aug-06 | Thanks for your answers! Dito: I was stupid enough to thinkt that (since the guy who did the upgrades are quite a HiFi entusiast) the upgrades on the speakers would actualy increase their value. However, given a seccond thaught based on your comment, I should probably get the speakers NIB. Thx! Naut: Thanks for sorting out the confusion about the CD player. I had some suspicion that it might be the AR model he was selling, but I wasn't sure as he clearly said it was the AE (he even wrote it on a note). What would you say the DCD-1450AR is worth secondhand? By the way, the prices where for NIB equipment (as an alternative to secondhand). The prices being higher than those you mention is probably due to me living in Sweden. HiFi tends to be more expensive in europe for some reason. The actual (local dealer) price for the C320BEE is $530 (quite a lot more than $399), but since it's replaced by C325BEE this week (in the local store) they are selling them $430... Regards, Soren |