Keep or return discount damaged CSI A6?

bartz

Hi all, new here. I recently purchased a CSI A6 on eBay for $250 delivered. The seller did not have the original box, so he shipped the speaker in his own packaging. He wrapped it in bubble wrap, affixed some bubble wrap on the ends, and finished by filling the box with a ton of packing peanuts. He didn't do a great job because the bubble wrap on the ends shifted away from the speaker, and due to wiggle room afforded by packing peanuts, the speaker seems to have eventually bottomed out and bore impact. The corner post on the grill snapped, and the cabinet clearly bore impact, but seems to be only cosmetically damaged by my aural and visual evaluation. See the pictures below.

After some back and forth, the seller agreed to take the return and give me a $250 refund or to give me a $125 refund if I keep the speaker, leaving me with effectively two options:
1) Keep this speaker, paying $125 total. Go without the original box or warranty. Replace the grill for $30 delivered
2) Return this speaker, paying ~$30 in return shipping. Buy an open box from OneCall or Amazon for $330 delivered or buy a new one for $350 delivered. Get an original box and 5-year warranty. Total cost is $360 or $380.

Which would you choose?

My instinct is option 1 because it's a great deal, and I think I could sell this speaker for more than $125. The reason I am considering option 2 is because this is my first time purchasing speakers in this price range, and I'm not sure I trust my own assessment that the speaker is not impacted by the damage given my lack of experience. The more I think about it, the more I realize how small the damage is, but I normally keep my electronics in pristine condition, so it kind of irks me to know the speaker has damage, but the monetary savings helps me forget. The Polk CSR assured me that performance would only be impacted if the chamber is visibly modified.

When I look at the pictures again, I feel silly for thinking this will affect performance because of relative size, but I'm a bit OCD and curious to hear your thoughts.





Also, this is probably not needed in this decision, but FYI my system plan is:
Room: 18' x 13' x 9'
Receiver: Denon AVR-2113CI
Center: CSi A6
Fronts: RTi A5
Surrounds: FXi A4/6
Rear surrounds: None for now
Subwoofer: PSW505
Video: 1080p projector
Screen: 100" fixed frame HC gray (on small wall)
Listening position: 10' from screen (approx. center of the room)

Thanks for your help.

chumlie

Keep it.

Toolfan66

Yeah $125 CSiA6 buy the grill and keep it. I am all to familiar with OCD as well but I would keep it for that price..

jbooker82

Wonder what polk would charge for a new cabnet if your ultra worried about it.

KiTsuNe

From those picks take the partial refund and keep it! when i bought mine used one bay the grip posts were broken but the speaker was fine. Doesnt bother me too much since i keep my grills off.

Drenis

I would choose option one based SOLELY that I wouldn't pay a dime in shipping costs to send back an item that someone else couldn't pack properly that endured damage.

snake1

I would just get PA to send me a new grill and be done with it. You may be able to touch it up later on even just to help cover it up. I haven't heard of anyone using paint or markers for touch-up reasons but surely someone has done it.

Upstatemax

I say keep it for the $125, grab a new grill and look at touch up options.

My kraftmade cabinets came with this "fill stick" for any scuffs of minor damage and it works great.

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=677

I did not even use heat on my scuffing, I just rubbed it on and buffed it up really well. You have. To get really close to notice it.

Upstatemax

Forget the link above...

It's this stuff that it came with, explains why I never had to use heat! Lol.

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=106

It also came with this stuff:

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=120

I think I'm going to pick up a set of those for my black A7's.

cowtrimmer

A new grill, a felt tip pen and in two days you will forget all about it.

classic carl

If the damage is minimal, i would keep it also.

bartz

Thanks everyone for the opinions and touch-up recommendations. I'm going to keep it and follow up on some of your visual remedies after I have time to enjoy my new system.

badchad

I'd also keep it.

I'd take a black sharpie to the corner. If that doesn't work, I believe the CSi is "real wood" so you could take a shot at sanding.

gdb

I dont see anything about that grille that couldn't be repaired (very carefully). Got any black shoe polish/wax ??

Thorton

That's a great speaker for the price. I have it. I'd sharpie the black and try to super glue the plastic back together. If not successful, $30 for a new grill and $155 total for the speaker is still a great price.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
AVR: Denon AVR-3805, AMP: Parasound Model 2250, Front: Polk RTIA7, Center: Polk CSIA6, Surrounds: Polk FXIA6, Sub: Polk DSW PRO660WI

dorokusai

Keep it and buy a new grill.