[Grunzar]

Saw an offer for some 1989 B&W DM580's for $150.  Anybody have any thoughts?
 
I currently have an Onkyo THX 9000 home theater system, and was thinking about replacing the fronts with these.
 
1.) would the current amp work for these speakers?
2.) is it worth it?
 
Appreciate any responses.  Thanks!

 

[tjohnusa]

What are you using for mains now? I personally have never heard a bad B & W speaker.

 

[Grunzar]

Onkyos from the thx9000 setup

 

[tjohnusa]

I saw your post in avs....and the thing you have to concern yourself with a 25 yr old speaker are the surrounds on the woofer....if they are rubber check for cracking or dry rot. Even if they were unused they could still have gotten bad if stored improperly. If they are dry rotted then you have to worry about the voice coils having scale or even rust and if thats the case then pass. You can check this by pushing on the woofer cone in an even fashion and if you feel a scraping then the woofers are bad. If you do buy them then wait for a center channel replacement....your current cc may sound fine "to you"

 

[blazer78]

Other rare issues to consider maybe oxidisation of coils and weakening of magnets (being 25 years of heavy use presumably?)
 
In anycase, it would be safer to negotiate a few days - 1 week grace period in order for you to trial the speakers and determine whether they sound "fine" to your ears.

 

[tjohnusa]

Good point blazer