New or Old

Thanks for the responses and suggestions.
It looks like he has a number of ads up, so selling quite few pairs. Not sure if that is good or bad news. Is he a collector/audiophile playing with many options, does he do a lot of yard sales, is he well practiced at repairs. I asked more questions of him, waiting on the response.

I have repaired subs myself, so hopefully can spot if there is an issue, if he will take the top/bottom off for visibility
Otherwise it will be down to the audition, I am not buying them without hearing them for sure.

Yup, ferrofluid, but there is guide to refilling, so I can likely do that myself. When you say you have not heard a JBL you like, have you heard the Studio range, they do seem to get good reviews?

They are the originals, 107. Online reading suggests the 107/2 were not sold in the same numbers and are hard to find.

I guess it is going to come down to my gut feeling on meeting the seller and then the audition.

Hi Elliot, yeah that is the sale, $1100 for a pair delivered. KEFs are $1300, with another pair at $1800 for sale a little further away.
I am of course looking for a great deal and a great sound.
WAF is covered, she would prefer the all black of the JBL, but will tolerate the rosewood KEFs (especially if I let her wrap them in black cloth or vinyl), so no issues there. 
Can locate them 6-12 inches from wall, so maybe KEF would be better that close.

I think I am looking for someone to say something definitive - the KEFs are ruined because the foam is not the original, or the KEFs are reference speakers and would be $10k in today's dollars and are leagues ahead of $2k new speakers (and considering the JBLs go on sale like this once a year, are the really just $1k speakers anyway?) or that the JBLs are miles better due to new tech and design and materials, and are warrantied for 5 years, and the KEFs could fail any day now and not be repairable.
Stupid pandemic, I want to be out touring places and auditioning speakers.

I guess the JBLs seem the safer bet, as you say, a few years then move on to something else.
But will I always be wondering how good the KEFs really are?.

Noromance:- maybe, but I also love a bargain and getting $4k speakers (1985 prices) for $1300 could be a bargain, or could be a money pit. It really is a question of which will sound best in my home, and it seems the chance to audition both there is not going to be practical.

So many choices, so many hard decisions.

I will satisfy your curiosity by letting you know I went with the KEFs and have been very happy with them. 

Everything else in the system has been upgraded since the original post, but the KEFs are staying.