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Buying new, but old speakers

Hi everyone. So I'm almost 100% buying a pair of the old Castle Avon speakers, pre-IAG, brand new old stock (NOS). I'd love to hear comments about this speaker if anyone has them, but my question centers around possible concerns with speakers that could be as old as 14 years (the Avon came out in 1996) sitting in their boxes for that entire time. Of course, the speakers could be newer than this. I'm not sure when Castle stopped production on the Avon.

I've never done it before, but assuming the speaker has foam surrounds, if those need replacing it seems to be a pretty cheap and easy fix. Would anyone here be concerned with the crossover or the drivers themselves? Obtaining old Castle drivers may not be easy. If for whatever reason they need replacing I guess I'll just have to find other drivers that would work. Am I worrying too much? I trust the dealer who is selling them, he has taken them out of the box to check them. They are fine now I'm sure, but what happens when I start using them?
fusion10
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Well, if you are paying only what they are worth used, then it will be a deal. If you are paying for 'new speakers' i would be not so eager.
Just so you know, the "AVON' Castle speaker was actually made ONLY from 1984 to 1986 NOT 1996!! (from the Orion Blue Book 2007 edition) The retail of the standard was $1799 and the 'exotic (wood finish) $1999.
The 2007 used retail values are only $420 to $497 and the 'mint' trade in is only $248 to $296.
So if you are paying more than $550. for these you are being taken advantage of.
The TEN YEAR ERROR on the part of the dealer is sort of interesting. A slip of memory or really a baldface white lie?
25 year old speakers will need new surrounds if foam. If rubber they may be OK having been in a sealed box. The caps in the crossovers certainly are going to be a problem soon enough, being 25 years old.
I would be far far more leary of this so-called deal unless the price IS around $500. or LESS.
Just my $0.02
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Googling(after I posted of course) Shows other Avon speakers in England (other than the ones in Orion Blue book) so I would guess they were sold in USA only from 84 to 86 but were continued to be sold in Great Britain for much longer and the 1996 is when reviewed in GB.
So I am not certain where the OP is located? GB or USA?
Anyway, be careful with this purchase.
fusion10 OP
50 posts
 
Hi Elizabeth, thanks for the reply. I'm actually in Canada. The price to be paid is over half off MSRP. I'm not sure if we can post links here, but you can find a review of the Avon on Gramophone. Just type into Google "Castle Avon Gramophone" and you should get the review. It says the speaker was launched in 1996. Also, there are some reviews of the speaker on audioreview.com from a few users who were purchasing it new around of the turn of the century. The speaker is a floorstander with one woofer and an offset tweeter below it. There must have been an original Avon in the 80's and an updated model in the mid 90's.
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