What to ask when buying used speakers?

Some manufacturers such as Von Schweikert Audio have used speakers that have been traded in for upgraded models. They are often been lovingly owned, gone over carefully by the manufacturer and can be trusted to be of excellent value. Or the manufacturers may  refer you to clients they know well to be honest and take care of their equipment well that have speakers for sale direct.

@zlone 

Excellent. Good to hear. I have purchased speaker without hearing them, but I was very familiar with their sound and knew exactly what to expect. A trip to weed through them is exactly the right thing to do.

I’ve bought 5 pairs of speakers used, 2 Monitor Audio (1 Gold/1 Silver), 1 Zu Audio, 1 Vintage Cerwin Vega, 1 Vintage Sony, no problems whatsoever.  Asked if there were ANY imperfections in the cabinets or drivers, ANY issues with the sound, ANY problems with being driven hard.  Everyone said they were never driven hard except for the Cerwin Vega guy, he said never any problems at all, had just put new surrounds on the woofers, told me the speakers were made to be played loud with no problems.  He was right, they were perfect and actually sound much better than I expected.  The non-vintage speaker values were checked in the Audio Bluebook so I was sure I was getting fair deals on them.  I would buy used again in a heartbeat.  Oh, and all the non-vintage speakers were purchased through US Audio Mart’s website.

I prefer sealed enclosure speakers because of possible insect or rodent damage through the speaker port.     Also, more common brands where it is possible to get replacement parts.

You hit the main issues right on the head.... age for decaying caps and speaker foam.... both of those issues can be addressed though if the price is right and you know what you are doing. High end speakers around 15 years old may start having issues but not necessarily. Ask about cosmetics, distortion, and If they are the original owners. I've bought several used sets of speakers and had to refoam one pair after a short period of time but the seller wouldn't have known it would happen. Some people want to know if the seller was a smoker or not.