Buying Dealer Demos

Your concerns would in theory apply equally to any used product, not just dealer demo's, so maybe we should be surprised to find you on the A-Gon! Seriously though, if they sound fine (with an ear to each driver) and look fine (with the grilles off), and you have a manufacturer's warranty, stop worrying and enjoy your new speakers. I bought both my Thiel speakers and my C-J amp as demo's with warranties from different dealers, was able to audition them both at home with return privileges, saved a lot of money, got wonderful performance, and when service was needed down the road, got it covered at no charge by the manufacturers (and this even though the problems, strictly speaking, were in all probability not the results of manufacturing defects) . What's not to like?

Also worked in a shop once upon a time, definitely agree with Mar00 on the playing time issue (not that I think this really matters very much) - my speakers at home get a lot more daily playing time on average than any one thing did back in the store.

Dennis refers to demo gear being 5 years old as a "nightmare" - again, I don't see anything shockingly different between this and a typical item purchased used here on the 'Gon. Just like asking a fellow member how old the unit they're selling is (which is sometimes unknown due to multiple owners), the dealer should make no big secret of a component's age. Demo's are usually first received when a new product is introduced, and often aren't sold until it's been discontinued or upgraded (or the dealer drops the line), so the average demo is often as old as is possible for any given model, i.e. year of first introduction. This should be reflected in the price. One more time: If the item looks good and sounds good, then one can assume that it is good - and if it's not, you've got a warranty.