I found a listing for a Denon AVR-X2600H including original box along with speakers (4 ProMonitor 80 satellites, ProCenter 100, and ProSub woofer) and wire for $380. It seems like a reasonable deal, although I haven’t looked up the speakers. We moved several years ago and now have a bonus room that I’ve always intended to be our home theater but currently has an older 4K TV (only 1 4K HDMI input, not HDR) and soundbar with wireless subwoofer from our old house where the TV was in an open living room. It’s never been in the budget to upgrade, and I’m not actually sure I could spend this because we had some unexpected expenses recently, but it’s certainly a more budget-friendly way to go. I think it would be a decent setup and upgrade for our current equipment, but I’ve never bought a surround system before, especially not used.
Have you bought used before? Any concerns with that in general or this system in particular? If we ever upgrade the TV to a newer 4K/HDR the receiver might be missing some features that would be nice to have, but I have no plans to do that unless the TV actually dies which hopefully won’t be any time soon.
Sorry, I’m late to the party.
For audio equipment, buying used is relatively safe as long as it is something that isn’t too old.
What is too old? Old enough that the electrolytic capacitors haven’t reached their age limits. For cheap electronics this life expectancy is about 15 years. Cheap electronics as defined by pretty much everything you can buy at a box store. For higher end electronics with good build quality then you can move that number up to 30 years. In my collection, I have two McIntosh (high end) amplifiers that were built in 1992. Both work like new, but that’s McIntosh who is the very definition of you get what you pay for. I picked up a Marantz SR2002 for free a few years ago where its main channels were both out. The surround channels all worked and the main channels DID work when directly plugged into. What I found were dry solder joints on the input board. I spent about 3 hours resoldering the entire input daughter board and the motherboard to get it working again. Relatively easy fix for someone like me that has experience in electronics… But not something you’d ever want to pay the labor rate to have someone fix for you. The build quality on the Marantz is actually pretty decent. The capacitors in that SR2002, and there are a metric f’k ton of them, all seem really good.
Also, before you buy do an online search for the model number to make sure there are no systemic issues with the unit. I have a relatively new Onkyo receiver sitting in my electronics pile that I picked up specifically to repair it. I was thinking it would be something simple and I would have a receiver to use. Unfortunately, what went wrong with it was a proprietary microprocessor that is a known issue with that specific receiver. I picked it up for free, but it’s a paper weight. My plan is to part it out for other projects, so it’s not a total loss.
The only way I would purchase a television used, is if I could plug it in and let it play for a minimum of 2 hours. A lot of issues with electronic devices only show up with the device is fully warmed up.
As to how to asses the quality of a manufacturer… If you can buy it at Target, Walmart, or Best Buy (with a few exceptions from BB) then it’s mass produced junk. Designed to have a 10 to 15 year life span and then be thrown in the garbage. The exception with Best Buy is I’ve actually seen high end gear there… I was stunned when I walked past a rack at BB that was full of McIntosh gear powering Martin Logan speakers. Who the hell walks into Best Buy to drop $7k on an amplifier?
Anyway, I hope something in my ramblings helps you out.
Thanks, this is still helpful! I never did get anything and with some health issues that have developed in our family we’re starting to look at moving to a 1-story house that would be more accessible. Anything AV is on the back burner for now but it might be good for planning if we end up building something.