Resaleability of Active Monitors....

[jky999]

I'm very tempted to try out some of the active studio monitors out there but I'm worried abt their resaleability should things not work out. I rarely see anything other than the active Quads or ATC on Audiogon. Is there another venue for selling used professional gear?

 

Along those lines I'm really intrigued by the Barefoot Audio designs. They seem to get rave reviews on Gearslutz and obviate the need for a subwoofer.

 

[ciamara]

Resale market here is mainly to professionals, and more commonly, small home-based studios and semi-pro studios. You can maybe sell them on eBay, the Digideisn User Forum, Craigslist etc. I sold a pair of Adam P22A's on AudioGon and got about 50% of what I paid for them. Keep in mind this is a fast-moving and competitive market, so expect to take a hit when you sell.

 

[darascal]

When buying with future resale value in mind & looking at AudiogoN, C-list, etc, does the presence of a certain make/model indicate its resale-ability or is this more indicated by their absence (no one wants to let go of them & they get snatched up quick)?

 

Thanks,

Rascal

 

[jky999]

There are certain products that rarely show up on Audiogon, but there are others that show up on a fairly regular basis but sell quickly and tend to hold their value. I'm much more likely to take a flyer on something if I know I can sell it on audiogon at, or close to, the price I bought it at there.

 

[ramagochi]

The pro monitors have his own channels for sale. But is easily see in eBay

 

http://cgi.ebay.es/pair-Dynaudio-BM15A-Active-Studio-Monitors-MINT-LIKENEW_W0QQitemZ310189833842QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4838c13e72#ht_991wt_1103

 

Or

http://forum.recordingreview.com/f17/

 

But if you search in pro forums you can see a lot of sales

 

[Marvin8]

I rode the "high-end" speaker roller coaster for many years until I blind-purchased a pair of the Quad Active 12L's. That was the end of my search. In fact, I purchased an extra pair as a backup in case Quad decided to stop making them like Paradigm did with their Active 20's. The reason you don't see more Quad Actives in studios is that the monitor's features are geared a little more toward the consumer than the pro-user. The finish is an easily scratched black laquer. The woofer only gets 60 watts and the tweet only 40. Also, some high/low pass features on the back are missing. As a home user, I would have appreciated some kind of auto-sensing turn-on feature, but I think Quad either cheaped out or didn't want to put something in the signal path. Bottom line: I would never go back to passive speakers again....period. As somebody pointed out above, the LACK of resales is often a clue as to the desirability of a product.

 

[Panelhead]

I have two pair for the same reason. The supply dried up in the US for a while. Bought a pair in cherry and picked another just for when quad decides that they make more money selling one pair of electrostatics than they do on a 100 pair of these active monitors.

Couple things. I find they sound better when driven balanced. Also I picked up a matching Sub Lite and the combo is incredible. Whole house shaking bass and taking the low end off the 6 1/2 driver increases it's output capability.

The modules are very easily tweaked. All through hole components. Taking out the pair of TL072 and sticking in OPA2134 or better gets you 90% of the way. Bypassing the input caps, el cheapo electrolytics, is also an easy one. I have totally redone one pair and the results are worth the 100.00 in parts and maybe 20 hours labor. That 100.00 is only that high because I used 12.00 Opamps to the replace the factory 6 cent opamps. With OPA 2134 the cost is maybe 50-60 in parts.

Most modders could rebuild them for a couple hundred labor.

All the real pro monitors I have heard where crippled by the gear in the studio rooms at Guitar Center. But the stock Quad 12l sounded better than the Adams, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, and Genelecs. This might not be true if they were compared in the same system. But I have not heard any at GC that were even comparable at the agon price of 700 a pair.

 

 

George

 

[wgb113]

I've been rather smitten with my 12L's for the short time that I've had them. Not sure I'll be looking elsewhere anytime soon. Just saw a pair go on AudioGon for @ $650.

 

Bill

 

[PJH]

I'm off the speaker/amp upgrade treadmill, having purchased a pair of Dynaudio Focus 110A active monitors.

I could not believe the leap in performance offered by these active speakers. I thought I was doomed to spend most of my disposable income on audio equipment for the rest of my life.

I think that there are few used active speakers for sale because people keep them forever. I am not selling these.

In fact, I lucked out and picked up a pair of BM5A's for half price at Guitar Center, for my video system.

I sold or traded all of my passive speakers and my amp.

 

[Panelhead]

They sound better in my system when driven by a balanced source. Someone told me one time that all active speakers that handle both sound better when driven balanced.

Knowing that the input stage flips the - signal to perform the balanced to single ended conversion I expected the results to be the same. Used them for a long time before trying them balanced.

 

George

 

[Marvin8]

Will have to try using the balanced in's sometime, but the regular single-ended are working just fine for now. Am also using a Velodyne DD-12 for the lower end, which just makes the whole system sing. I use it for both audio and video sources, and am on the fence right now about losing the matching center channel. Don't really need it all that much since I don't have people off to the sides very often. DPL II phantom image works just fine for me. We'll see. Once you go active, and I don't care WHO makes it, you'll never go back. Too bad that consumers have been snookered by the high-end industry, which has been dying for over two decades now.

 

[Shadorne]

There is a smaller market for active speakers - no doubt. Musicians often aren't rich like the kind of people and systems you see on audiogon. Furthermore, used gear from a studio may not have been "gently" treated. Worse - most active designs come with workhorse black cheap boxy looking exteriors and all the expensive stuff is hidden in the box (pro drivers and high powered amps) - this has little resale value except to those who know and respect this. Contrast this to consumer speakers with the cheapest possible third party mass produced drivers but with a gorgeous high quality veneer - anyone who sees a gorgeous looking speaker in an ad becomes a potential buyer. Worse - if you buy high end then most tire kickers who might buy your used speakers probably already own a mega expensive humongous power amp that they are proud of and may not be willing to part with.

 

[Marvin8]

All true. Easier to sell pretty boxes and separates. More profit too. Like I said, that's why the high-end dealers have gone out of business. Most folks buy their speakers at Best Buy now.

 

[shahed99]

I've used AudioEngine A5 and for its price I've not heard anything better. I live in an apartment. Most good speakers need some breathing space to sound their best which ruled out many speakers I had on my wishlist. I settled for NHT with two subs and it sounds great in my small living room. I've also used NHT M60 monitors with XDA with very good results. Its possible to get NHT with 2 subs for less than 3 grand. The used ones I've seen on audiogon was around 2.5k; indicating a good resale value.

 

[lndshrk]

I'm looking to go to a separate DAC and balanced thru a Sub to a pair of Quads myself - wondering if you'd care to take a minute and detail what you've done to them mod-wise?

 

Which OpAmps did you use?

 

Would love the 411 if you would.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim Conforti