SDA CRS+, Was This A Good Deal?

DarqueKnight

You may recall from some of my earlier posts that I took my SDA CRS+'s out of my home office system to use as center channel speakers in my HT system. Since then I've been "getting by" with a pair of RT55i's.

By the way, in the home office system, I replaced the Sony STRV333ES receiver with a Yamaha T-80 tuner, Yamaha CX-1 Preamp, and an Adcom GFA-555 Mk II (200 watts/channel) power amp. I must say, the RT55i's sounded like a totally different speaker with the Yamaha/Adcom driving them. The sound was drastically improved in every way. However, even though I was pleasantly surprised at finding a new level of performance in speakers I have owned and listened to for almost a year, I still longed to return to the clarity, detail, and special imaging properties of the CRS+. Sure, I could have dug my SDA 2B's out of the closet and set them up, but they are a little too big for the mimimalist, contemporary decor I have going on in my home office. I needed to find another pair of CRS+'s, and I did just that.

The Force guided me to a pair of 1989 vintage CRS+'s in excellent condition being sold by the original owner with original boxes, receipts, manual, stands, SDA cable, and even some vintage Polk brochures thrown in for 500 bucks. At first, my feelings told me I should try to talk him down to $200, but I realized it was the "dark side" of the dark side tempting me to error. While $200 may have been borderline insulting, maybe I should have tried to haggle him down to $450 or $400. Darth Hoosier, Darth DiComo, Darth Rskarvan, did I do good?:cool:

I'll put them up in the Showcase as soon as I finish all my system upgrades and reconfigurations (hopefully by the end of March '02).:)

rskarvan

Dude... I'd have to say it all depends on the quality of the speaker. For $500, I would expect perfection - no dings or scratches in the cabinets and every driver looking and working like new. I arranged to pay $400 for mine. They were shipped to me in advance to evaluate (inspect). I never send $ out without inspecting the goods first. When I received them, I immediately noticed that the right tweeter was cutting out at very moderate volumes. I immediately called the seller and offered to return the speakers to his parents house (they live about an hour away). We agreed to replace the tweeter set with a set of genuine Polk replacement parts (new) and I would return the old tweeters to him - which I did. I deducted the cost of the old tweeters and sent a check for the approximately $300 along with the old tweeters to the seller. It wasn't a best case scenario for the seller - obviously. But, in the end, I was a satisfied buyer and I have a set of fully working speakers - as promised.

Be careful with your purchase. Don't buy blind. In my particular situation, I honestly believe the seller when he said that he had no idea that a tweeter was bad. The cutting out was intermittant and it took me a good 15 minutes of critical listening to figure out what exactly was wrong. Now, the set of CRS+'s sound absolutely fabulous.

hoosier21

All original boxes manuals stands cable .... from the original owner, not a bad deal, maybe a little more than we have seen (400-450) but only by 50.00 or so, and you got all the little goodies. I am the worst one to pay too much when I find something I want.

Man that makes like 5 pairs of SDA's now, nice collection.

DarqueKnight

hoosier,

Actually, I'm up to seven pairs:

1. 1.2TL
2. and 3. Two pairs of 1C's
4. 1B
5. and 6. Two pairs of CRS+'s
7. 2B

Still looking for a pair of 1.2's and 2.3's (not the TL versions).

madmax

If they are in good condition I wouldn't complain. I paid $400 + shipping for mine. Basicly new in the original box with stands, manual, cable. I thought that was pretty close to stealing. Remember that these went for over a thousand with stands. It would certainly be worth 50% of the original selling price. Besides, look at your other choices for $500!
madmax

rskarvan

I just noticed a set of CRS+'s that went up for sale today on e-bay. Location - Indy (home). Tempting. No stands though.