To upgrade and keep or upgrade and sell?
jdmccall
Posts: 3
I stumbled across some Polk 10Bs on Facebook for $25 and snapped them up after seeing the asking prices for Monitor 10s being sold on the well-known auction site. I don't think these people knew what they had since they were paired with a crummy Zenith all-in-one stereo with a cheap BSR changer built into the top . Anyway, they had been sitting in a barn for sometime and then in a storage shed, but surprisingly, the cabinets looked as good or better than the ones I saw put up for sale at $200-400. Even the grills were perfect. The drivers looked good, with the exception of one of the passive radiators which had a small hole punched in it from where they had tried to remove a mud dauber nest. I fixed the hole with a bit of diluted Elmers and it doesn't readily show unless you look closely. I also glued the magnets as recommended.
Originally I bought these just to clean up and turn them over for a quick profit, but since I had them, I needed to test them out to make certain they worked. I found them lacking in clarity in both the bass and mid-range frequencies compared to my present speakers, so I really have in mind to sell them. Being I am a bit of a perfectionist and hate to sell to someone if they aren't almost like new, I bought an inexpensive used Polk passive radiator to replace the one I fixed, although I couldn't tell that the repair job in any way affected the sound quality.
In reading up on these speakers, I see all kinds of upgrades that are said to make them sound better. My dilemma is this: should I just sell them as they are, take the money and run, or should I do the upgrades and then sell them? Would they be worth any more after the upgrades, enough so that I would recover most of my money? Another fear is that will the upgrades make such a resounding difference in their clarity that I won't want to part with them. I only have room for one set of speakers and I just spend a lot of money replacing the drivers in my present speakers and think they sound better than the 10Bs.
What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Originally I bought these just to clean up and turn them over for a quick profit, but since I had them, I needed to test them out to make certain they worked. I found them lacking in clarity in both the bass and mid-range frequencies compared to my present speakers, so I really have in mind to sell them. Being I am a bit of a perfectionist and hate to sell to someone if they aren't almost like new, I bought an inexpensive used Polk passive radiator to replace the one I fixed, although I couldn't tell that the repair job in any way affected the sound quality.
In reading up on these speakers, I see all kinds of upgrades that are said to make them sound better. My dilemma is this: should I just sell them as they are, take the money and run, or should I do the upgrades and then sell them? Would they be worth any more after the upgrades, enough so that I would recover most of my money? Another fear is that will the upgrades make such a resounding difference in their clarity that I won't want to part with them. I only have room for one set of speakers and I just spend a lot of money replacing the drivers in my present speakers and think they sound better than the 10Bs.
What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Comments
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Upgrades add some value, but not enough to recover what you spend to upgrade them.
If you keep them to upgrade them, its because you are looking for a return in sound, not a return in value. Most people wont pay more for them just because they are upgraded (this forum is the exception, not the rule, especially if your talking about putting them on Craigslist or eBay)
Monitor 10's can sell for decent money, but personally I tend to see them in the 125 range here locally in Indy, and thats in fairly good condition."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
IMHO upgrading anything for resale is a waste of your time and money. I don't know what you are comparing them to but if its vintage vs vintage I'd flip them. If you're comparing them to something newer you're not comparing apples to apples.Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Belles 21A Pre modded with Mundorf Supreme caps
B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)
There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus -
EndersShadow wrote: »Upgrades add some value, but not enough to recover what you spend to upgrade them.
If you keep them to upgrade them, its because you are looking for a return in sound, not a return in value. Most people wont pay more for them just because they are upgraded (this forum is the exception, not the rule, especially if your talking about putting them on Craigslist or eBay)
Monitor 10's can sell for decent money, but personally I tend to see them in the 125 range here locally in Indy, and thats in fairly good condition.
That answers a good part of the equation for me. Now I gotta wonder how much better they sound with the upgrade, since that would be a commitment on my part to keep them. Would I think they were so much improved that I would find them better than what I have? Not sure anyone can answer that question with any certainty. -
Don’t know, what do you have currently speaker wise"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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IMO best to spend some time listening to them to get a feel for how they sound stock compared to what you have then decide if they warrant putting money into them for yourself. Otherwise flip for a profit as-is and upgrade something else in your current system.____________________________________________________________
polkaudio Fully Modded SDA SRS 1.2TLs + Dreadnaught, LSiM706c, 4 X Polk Surrounds + 4 X ATMOS, SVS PB13 Ultra X 2, Pass Labs X1, Marantz 7704, Bob Carver Crimson Beauty 350 Tube Mono Blocks, Carver Sunfire Signature Cinema Grande 400x5, ADCOM GFA 7807, Panasonic UB420, Moon 380D DAC, EPSON Pro Cinema 6050 -
You dont have to spend a ton on a cap refresh. Bennic and Dayton have good products that wont break the bank.
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EndersShadow wrote: »Don’t know, what do you have currently speaker wise
Sonic. Nothing most people probably heard of. It was an upstart company out of Portland which a lot of people dismissed as "white van" speakers. They had a catalog with their product line. I ordered their best ones and they were shipped to me direct by truck. Great sounding speakers but over the 40 years I had them, kids and animals poked holes in some of the drivers so I replaced all of them. They sound even better now. The clarity is far better (in my opinion) than the 10s.
