Is Used Gear Always a Good Value?

Everybody and I do mean everybody, including yours truly,
lusts after the stuff we couldn’t buy when we were in our formative years. But
unlike some high-quality products, such as Allen Edmonds shoes, which can be
bought used on EBAY for a fraction of their new price and then restored by
their original manufacturer to near new condition, used HiFi gear isn’t as easy
to return to original specifications. Two examples of the exact same model can
perform quite differently depending on their condition.

Now, a small percentage of used and vintage HiFi gear will
work seemingly  forever without any attention or repair. But a larger
percentage of vintage HiFi gear is the electronic equivalent of owning a
sailboat – it’s a hole in the ether you continually throw money into to keep your system afloat.

So, how do you tell
the difference? The first criteria should be age. The older a component is,
regardless of what sort of component it is, the more likely it will need
refurbishment. With dynamic driver speakers as the driver’s surround ages its
physical characteristics can change, making the speaker’s frequency and power
response less linear. Fortunately replacement surround kits are available for
most drivers, but they do depend on the installer’s skill to bring a driver
back to factory specs.

Most electronics have capacitors somewhere in the circuit.
As capacitors age they can leak and fail. The bigger and older a capacitor is,
the more likely this is to happen. Resistors’ specifications can also change
slightly with age, which if they are controlling critical voltages can wreak
havoc with active components. Solder joins can oxidize with age which can
cause intermittent issues that are difficult to diagnose. Sometimes older solder
joins get heat-sensitive, so they only fail after X amount of usage time. And volume
controls can get noisy from so many ways, including dirty or worn contacts.

Older turntables present a unique and even more convoluted
set of potential repair problems since they are both mechanical and electronic.
Getting accurate speed performance can involve repairs to the motor and the
parts connecting the motor to the platter, whether the turntable is a belt,
rim, or direct drive design.

After age, condition makes the biggest difference between a
good value and a bad one.  Among
automobile collectors “Original Condition” has become the new “mint.” But for
audiophiles, the idea of keeping a barn-found Marantz 8B amplifier “original”
condition, including dead spiders, rusted connections, and broken tubes, hasn’t
yet caught on probably because we like our stuff to work.

Audiophiles who gravitate toward vintage gear often have
more than one of anything they like. That’s because if you need parts for an
older component chances are the only way you are going to find those parts is
by removing them from another unit. Also the more time anyone spends looking
for and acquiring used audio gear, the better they get at it. For some
vintage-loving audiophiles the quest becomes even more important than the
components themselves. And yes, if carried to an extreme, this can turn into
hoarding.

So, to answer my original question, used gear can be an
excellent value BUT to get to the point where you can begin scoring great
values on a regular basis you have to do your homework, and most likely, pay
your dues through some less-than-stellar value purchases. I know I have…