2. speakers
  3. 1436391420

Advice on buying a used speaker up to 3k

You all here on agon helped a lot in buying an amp (went with pass labs xa30.5 with you advice and my research) under 3k that I want your help again!

I love what the pass labs amp has brought that I have an upgrade inch again. My other components are an NAD m51 dac which has a 35 bit volume control and hdmi so it seconds as the preamp too.

My source is an oppo 103d which I use strictly for digital files and high resolution downloads used on a the flash drive on the oppos input. Also like dvds and blu rays on the system.

I have some Kef 104/2 that I really dig but I believe I am missing some higher frequencies with some of the new tweeters technology thats out. I have been impressed with what I have heard about the Raal ribbon tweets but there may not be a lot of choices at the price point.

The pass labs needs high efficiency speakers above 87 db. I also would rather want a tower over monitor but am open. I may be wrong but monitors seem to not be able to sound full range or complete as I think of it???
freemand
jazzcourier
201 posts
 
My three grand...I would wait in the weeds for a great 6-7 grand speaker used that fits my specificities.According to research done by yours truly, the higher new purchase price of the audio equipment,the less it has been used,hence the better deal on the secondary market...? I have seen some eye poppin' systems sitting around like eye candy getting no love from the owner? the shame of it!
freemand OP
224 posts
 
Just talked to Mark with Emerald physics on the ep-x and may be more interested. Problem is, they are so new that there is just nothing out on them.
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,490 posts
 
I build a lot of loudspeakers and have used most RAAL models I would offer a ported monitor 91db 4 ohm 38hz-32khz I build under KCS you can look me up John Kalinowski on google.
dayglow
708 posts
 
Freemand-Look for a used pair of Focal 826w/836w the size of your room will determine which is best.
jdoris
852 posts
 
Probably hard to give a precise sensitivity cutoff, Freemand, because for various reasons manufacturer's numbers are only a rough guide (For instance, I've seen speaker builders sputtering about rivals overstating their efficiency.) That said, if you can't try the speakers in your room and see, 92 db seems a pretty safe cut off for your Pass. More would be better.

+ 1 with Jazzcourier on waiting in the weeds. :) Partly because the bigger models are a headache to ship, markdowns in the used market can be huge, and with 3k and some patience, you can be looking at 6-8k retail. You might get lucky and get a discounted price on a cash local sale, as I did recently, to come in around 40% retail. PBN Montana is one example of an excellent larger line that sometimes trades way below retail (There's a lovely pair here at 25% retail, but out of your price range, alas.)

And shopping is fun. Happily check the boards for a few months, and pounce if there's a really good deal that interests uou. (The better the deal, the easier the resale, if it doesn't work out.) Shows are also more fun if you are shopping, so you might hit one of those. Think of the shopping as practicing your hobby, not a chore.

A high efficiency line not yet mentioned is Zu. Great guys, nice speakers. They often have good deals on their site. I'm not a stickler for listening before you buy, but in the case of Zu, I'd try to, because they re pretty distinctive.

John
More to discover