New or Used (Hifi, AV Equipment)

Since many Taikos had hijacked my "Usher Speakers" forum for W.W.III fight.

I guess this is a good topic to start a debate.

Most of us will have a budget to spend on equipment.
The question is, would you spend that amount (Let say RM10K)
to buy a so so system?

Or you will rather get a used equipment but in higher range?

For me , i rather go for used equipment, because it save me a lot.
Now my home theater system as below:

a) Front : Mission 753
b) Centre : Infinity (Model i forget)
c) Sorround : Mission 752
d) Back up speaker : Tannoy Mercury
e) Sub-woofer : Yamaha YST-150
f) DVD player : Pionneer DV-969AVI
g) Surround amp : TX-SR875

All 2nd hand except the surround amp. Total cost me less than RM5K.

i prefer buying second hand goods
once im familiar of them quality
its easier to decide when to buy new

As for me, its more of a mix and match. I have more new equipments compared to used ones as I frequent to singapore to purchase my items. Its cheaper there plus so muchhhHhhHHhh choices.

Usually new but discontinued or going to discontinue models will sell at a lower price. Sometime if you're lucky the main distributor in a country gives better prices for the first unit of the new model as what I understand that the HQ in Europe or USA of a brand will give a very very good price for introduction/ first bulk order to the dealer/distributor for distributor /dealer to have a higher sales margain to give better benefit to th first few owners of a hifi gear. Hence you get people talking about it specially owners of the new model.

My 2 cents

I am all for used equipment, because of the fact that used equipment has been properly run in most of the time, and if it really goes bonker, it won't burn that much financially.

Besides, most HiFi equipment is relatively timeless, as good sound do come from older equipment nowadays, with relatively little technological upgrades, except AV Amps, which may have to cater for newer sound transfer or processing technology such as the newer DTS, HDMI interface etc.

Obviously buying a used equipment is riskly in a way that it has very limited warranty on equipment once we got it. Its a give and take afterall.

My set is mix new and used...1st choice will look for any good used
equipment n the reason is nothing else of course is the price factor

will save some money n can use for future upgrade..Only things buying
used equipment must always JAGA JAGA!!! some of the seller not sincere
enough
..I already KENA!! once..the equip not same as seller
discription...dont forget to check either the equipment in ori spec or
not,we must know if any upgrading or modification already been done on
it..

Buying used equip also good cos no need running in...the equip already in TOP form sounding...

Not to say bad buying new equipment..If got a lot of money to allocate
to ur hobby y NOT!!! because its still yours..we should proud of it!!

P/s- To all dealers,,,We all know u in this business but dont laaa POTONGGG!!! until all wait for used equipments

Fizi,

So bila new KT88??

- br@d - wrote:Fizi,

So bila new KT88??

wait 1 of Kt88 club member selling their amp hahaaahaha...still using my el34 for the moments maybe next week my ladiva arrive..ur renovation complete??

hi guys,
all those mouth-watering equipmt u dream about r at least just about affordable when they r 2nd hand but delicious brands like luxman, sonus, all those big american brands r still out of reach even if they r more than 8 yrs old.

so frust also la.

most hifi buffs would discourage u from buying 2nd hand equipmt with moving parts and that sounds like a reasonable advice but i hv a Marantz SA11S1 bought used which i absolutely love and could never have afforded new and a micro-benz ace cartridge which i also love.

but the shops i bought them from let me try them quite extensively first. so i guess u hv to really try them out first la.

mad.onenad wrote:hi guys,
all those mouth-watering equipmt u dream about r at least just about affordable when they r 2nd hand but delicious brands like luxman, sonus, all those big american brands r still out of reach even if they r more than 8 yrs old.

Buying big name brand used also have advantage, eg sonus, u can sell it later at your purchase price or make some profit..

[quote="mad.onenad"]hi guys,
all those mouth-watering equipmt u dream about r at least just about affordable when they r 2nd hand but delicious brands like luxman, sonus, all those big american brands r still out of reach even if they r more than 8 yrs old.
quote]

saw one luxman cd transport d-113d selling for 249 pound!!

hifikaki wrote:

mad.onenad wrote:hi guys,
all those
mouth-watering equipmt u dream about r at least just about affordable
when they r 2nd hand but delicious brands like luxman, sonus, all those
big american brands r still out of reach even if they r more than 8 yrs
old.

Buying big name brand used also have
advantage, eg sonus, u can sell it later at your purchase price or make
some profit..

I agree with u la hifikaki...because buying famous brand also got very
good 2nd value..i got expirience buying used B&W CDM 1 speaker
for RM1.5k at 1 hifi shop and after 3 months the seller call n
told somebody looking for CDM 1 and will offer RM2k ..i sell the speaker and give RM100 Duit kopi!! to the dealer for the recomendation...heheehehehehe

lucky u lah fizi, me not so luckylah, 5 year ago someone offer me sf guaneri for 12k, but i took another speaker, today the sf still selling for that price..

Come on lah you guys! Why buy old stuff? Buy new stufflah? Give hifi shop some businesslah, move up the economy.

All this old stuff keep on changing hands in Malaysia, poor equipment fully molested by us all kau-kau...not to mention heart transplant, liver transplant... you name it..

If you wanna keep old equipment for sentiment value, or you dream of that equipment when you are younger( cannot afford) Ok lah i understand. But to get good sound from old equipment without changing the innards....it is truly ridicolous... Speaker driver after long time will harden, capacitor will dry up and change value or characteristic. Imagine when new 220UF after a long time measure reading is only 47uF. What will happen the crossover frequency will change.

Same applies to amplifier, deterioted caps will change the frequency response, semiconductor after some time will leak, causing poping sound and if not careful willl kill you speaker immediately. The connectors and switches corroded badly in our climate. How? Change, better buy new one, one will say.

For the same amount money in buying used equipment, sometime new budget equipment will trample it anytime. Technologies advance as times goes by. Newer things has better performance but only downside is reliability is not good as old.

That is what our world is nowadys, equipment rosak, change buy new one not worth to fix it...

If you think otherwise, no need to argue, buy my old radios, it is old equipment and built tough survive till date.

hoyhoysum wrote:Come on lah you guys! Why buy old stuff? Buy new stufflah? Give hifi shop some businesslah, move up the economy.

All this old stuff keep on changing hands in Malaysia, poor equipment fully molested by us all kau-kau...not to mention heart transplant, liver transplant... you name it..

If you wanna keep old equipment for sentiment value, or you dream of that equipment when you are younger( cannot afford) Ok lah i understand. But to get good sound from old equipment without changing the innards....it is truly ridicolous... Speaker driver after long time will harden, capacitor will dry up and change value or characteristic. Imagine when new 220UF after a long time measure reading is only 47uF. What will happen the crossover frequency will change.

Same applies to amplifier, deterioted caps will change the frequency response, semiconductor after some time will leak, causing poping sound and if not careful willl kill you speaker immediately. The connectors and switches corroded badly in our climate. How? Change, better buy new one, one will say.

For the same amount money in buying used equipment, sometime new budget equipment will trample it anytime. Technologies advance as times goes by. Newer things has better performance but only downside is reliability is not good as old.

That is what our world is nowadys, equipment rosak, change buy new one not worth to fix it...

If you think otherwise, no need to argue, buy my old radios, it is old equipment and built tough survive till date.

Hi Hoy Hoy Sum

I can respect your opinion which seems to be you prefer to buy new.

I would like however to share my thoughts on what you say for the benefit of others that may be considering this question.

In terms of us hurting our economy by buying used items, I have different thoughts from you on this. If I buy any used gear from a fellow Malaysian, ( the majority of posters here are ), then our currency stays in the country. This is good. If we buy new foreign made gear via a dealer, part of our currency leaves. This is bad. Near all the stuff sold here today is foreign.

There are quite a few dealers and or shops who are selling their used items here. By doing this, they would be making some money, so by buying second hand, it does not seem that they are being deprived to me as you indicate.

But, your idea of helping our economy is a good one. What should be done on this front is the promotion of locally made hifi products. And there are some good ones out there. This can be a whole topic of discussion best done another time.

It is true what you say that there are many technicians here who can and do "molest" and screw up and butcher audio gear as you say. But that does not mean that all those of us who can fix these things are like this ( or perhaps yourself? as you admit )

Some gear, I agree with you, would be a waste of time to rebuild.
But one should look at a bigger picture. I for one can rebuild things, depending on the specifics, close to factory performance and appearance. Sometimes I can even exceed it. With regards to parts...these days we have better access to quality parts then the manufacturers may have had twenty to thirty years ago.

And so, if one chooses a "high quality" audio item from twenty years ago, sometimes one would be better off rebuilding it than buying new. Naim stuff would certainly come to mind here. Many people armed with the knowledge we have today can take one of the older or "lesser" Naim preamps and bring them quite close performance wise to their more recent offerings and enjoy huge cost savings.

There is no hard and fast rule. It has to be on a case per case basis as to what to buy new, what to buy second hand, what to buy secondhand and service and finally what to buy second hand and restore / rebuild.

This is where prospective buyers can benefit greatly by being well advised as to what they should do /select. Sadly it's very hard to get good competent unbiased advice... and so all sorts of regretted purchases and mistakes are made. Again... a topic of its own!


Regards

If you buy new, you will lose at least 40% of the value when you want to sell it within months.

If you buy used, you might recuperate 95% of yr cost or even make some money when you want to sell it.

Go figure.

Actually I think you guys have got it backwards. But it is quite common actually, as in "I want to buy brand XXX amplifier because reviews say it is so good" always comes first. THEN only "but after buying, I actually find the sound is a bit bright, how can I mod it to get it to what I like"?

It should always be the reverse. I like the sound, therefore I buy the equipment.

The same logic applies to buying new vs old. You enjoy auditioning various equipment. Then you find 1 which you like very much and within your budget. Now you see if there are used ones around. But sometimes, since you audition at the hifi shop and if the owner gives you good service and also good price and terms, what is wrong buying from him/her ?

There are advantages (and disadvantages) from buying new vs old (and vice versa of course). One of the most important advantage which newer hifi enthusiasts do not consider is the issue of setting up and tuning. I have heard all sorts of system, some costing several years of my salary. And I have heard numerous times how a relatively modest system sounds far far better than another one costing 10 times more. The reason is two prong : components matching, and system setup. These are the services a hifi dealer can offer to us and often, it is something we as enthusiasts might not be able to duplicate. I have seen first-hand how my friend (hiffi dealer) caused a whole row of unsuspecting listener to drop their jaws, just from fine-tuning the position of the speakers.

Consider this also. If everyone buys used/old only and no one buys new. Eventually who will have anything used to sell off ?

So (my personal/humble opinion) the best approach is usually to first decide what equipment you want. Then if there is a used option, it of course makes sense to go for it. But also carefully consider the alternative of paying more for the new one, especially if systems set-up is something very critical (like turntables, speakers, projector, etc). Sometimes, if you are lucky, the hifi dealer might even have a used unit, traded-in by his customer who was upgrading, and he can offer that to you (good hifi dealers will always do that). Then you get the best of both worlds.

aiyah hoysum, all those stuff can always be rebuilt, the aura remains
some speakers were still selling high becoz of the built quality like tannoy dmt, arden
where to find meh? 15inc dual concentric, pasang kow2
the next thing police come knocking on ur door heheh

tannoy arden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fiCcuXCO38

i feel sorry for his neighbour haha

WongKN wrote:Actually I think you guys have got it backwards. But it is quite common actually, as in "I want to buy brand XXX amplifier because reviews say it is so good" always comes first. THEN only "but after buying, I actually find the sound is a bit bright, how can I mod it to get it to what I like"?

It should always be the reverse. I like the sound, therefore I buy the equipment.

The same logic applies to buying new vs old. You enjoy auditioning various equipment. Then you find 1 which you like very much and within your budget. Now you see if there are used ones around. But sometimes, since you audition at the hifi shop and if the owner gives you good service and also good price and terms, what is wrong buying from him/her ?

There are advantages (and disadvantages) from buying new vs old (and vice versa of course). One of the most important advantage which newer hifi enthusiasts do not consider is the issue of setting up and tuning. I have heard all sorts of system, some costing several years of my salary. And I have heard numerous times how a relatively modest system sounds far far better than another one costing 10 times more. The reason is two prong : components matching, and system setup. These are the services a hifi dealer can offer to us and often, it is something we as enthusiasts might not be able to duplicate. I have seen first-hand how my friend (hiffi dealer) caused a whole row of unsuspecting listener to drop their jaws, just from fine-tuning the position of the speakers.

Consider this also. If everyone buys used/old only and no one buys new. Eventually who will have anything used to sell off ?

So (my personal/humble opinion) the best approach is usually to first decide what equipment you want. Then if there is a used option, it of course makes sense to go for it. But also carefully consider the alternative of paying more for the new one, especially if systems set-up is something very critical (like turntables, speakers, projector, etc). Sometimes, if you are lucky, the hifi dealer might even have a used unit, traded-in by his customer who was upgrading, and he can offer that to you (good hifi dealers will always do that). Then you get the best of both worlds.

Hi Wong

Why is it you say we guys have got it "backwards"?

The original poster asks us for opinions as to the merits of buying new vs used.

Due to depreciation and other factors, he implies that we can buy better "grade and quality" gear, (but used), for "X" ringgit, or, we buy brand new gear that will not be of the same "grade and quality", also for "X" ringgit. I agree largely with him.

To offer a simplistic case for our purposes... To buy a Rega Planar 3 brand new for "X" ringgit, or, if one is lucky, to buy a used LP 12 with Ittok sold by someone who may not know its true worth also for "X" ringgit. (Many lurk in here and somewhere else for these kind of bargains I am most certain).

Which should one buy? There are pros and cons to both of course, but I know which one I, and "those in the know" would overwhelmingly buy.

I have leanings to the buy "used" approach. Hoy Hoy Sum favours the buy new approach.

When you say we have it backwards, I cant see why. We have in our own way offered an opinion as to the question asked and stated our case.

Whilst I totally agree with your experience that some very expensive systems ( more SO than should be the case unfortunately ) sound worse than many a good mid priced system, you do not mention room acoustics in your "two prong approach", something that in the real world really can't always be resolved satisfactorily both "sonically and aesthetically". Yet I would say it is the most important factor these days.

And so, whilst I agree with you that a "dealer" may be able to do wonders with the skills he or she may have for some clients systems, their actual presence and intervention really is no absolute guarantee of sonic bliss for the reason mentioned above. I'm sure you will also agree that in most likelyhood there will be a fair difference in the abilities from one dealer to another, again we have no real guarantees that we will be happy at the end of it.


You say....."Consider this also. If everyone buys used/old only and no one buys new. Eventually who will have anything used to sell off ? "

This being the case Wong, I find it strange that you wish to moderate a forum that does what you "seem" almost against.. it sells laregly used hifi !

I do agree with you in the case of some AV gear like projectors, that one would be best advised to purchase new.

Like I said earlier, no hard and fast rule.... the decision to buy new or used has to be done on a case per case basis.

Regards

What happen to my comment type so long but not listed anyway malas to retype again, further the thoughts gone with the wind.

Btw I thought new stuff also sell here....

I am nothing against used stuff or old stuff. For those hifiers who wants to hear good sound avoid old stuff, used ok not so old. If those who wants nostalgic feeling by all means get old stuff better to get old but unused stuffed. I when bitten by the nostalgic bug will uncover my old radios and play with it, tuning into our local malay program playing the 50s and 60s. What a nostalgic feeling... Those dang Germans do know how to make good tube radioset, Grundigs, Saba, Siemens, Telefunken and many more.....Really Beautiful sound...

I think I will look for old ones if the model which I like already discontinued and if the new replacement model is way too expensive.

Sometimes, very risky in buying used unit as I dont know how to check the genuine-ness of the item.

If the item is in good condition and low price, no need to think. Just grab it..

One fine example came in,

Just look at this link

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1082477

That is what you might get when buying used...

hoyhoysum wrote:One fine example came in,

Just look at this link

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1082477

That is what you might get when buying used...

I saw the ad here a few days ago. At least the present owner is honest, and I am sure there are many others who are likewise.

hoyhoysum wrote:One fine example came in,

Just look at this link

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1082477

That is what you might get when buying used...

Thats y we must really check the item and term condition with the seller b4 buying,,we can blacklist the seller in the blog..kita kasi malu sama semua penipu!!!

Mr admin can we post the AWAS!! topics?? All seller will beware before post the equipment for sale..

vifa/peerless drivers used in mission are easy to get,
i can direct that buyer easily where & how to get them.
if im that seller, i'll keep that, & replace the drivers. too easy

to me buying secondhand makes me learn a lot of hifi brands.
at least, im able to tell diff in sound quality between denon, yamaha, technics, marantz, pioneer, rotel, sansui & other good quality amp manufacturer.

the problem with selling in forums, theres no guarantees the seller is accountable
thats why in australia, us & uk, ebay make happen to be a reliable place to sell & buy
sellers are really afraid of being blacklist & reported to internet crime busters
there was a case of seller trying to rip of buyers & end up being caught
& this came up on the tv news, somebody from mainland

its a shame becoz in malaysia, the situation is vice versa
paypal is also like not happening, i wonder when will this change??

Nicely said azri! Syabas.

Apa hang buat di australia asyik di forum in sahaja. takde ke kejar kangarooo melambak di sana ataupun belajar boxing sama mereka. Rinduke Malaysia.

That is the reason why i insist my friends to get new equipment or not that old items. Or else they will leave all their old junks for me to repair. I pulak scared to power the set, takut letup capacitor or transistor. Yang kawan saya pulak, ignorant pulak pull out here, turn here turn there. Saya pulak watch a distant takut mati. Sometime ignorant is better, to much knowldge makes you scared.

If for me, old equipment i will dismantle whole unit and start from scratch check and replace faulty parts. Mostly non are being spared. I can trouble shoot the defective parts, few weeks or if i am lucky a few months will be back at my repair bench another component fails.

My friends also have herd mentality, last time equipment sounds better. Come on lah 3 to 5 years ok lah. 30 to 40 years old equipment aduh and they make me to repair budget at RM50 or less.
How lah? I have to sing this song to them every time i meet them, "Tolonglah beli barang baru, jangan beli barang lama, lain kali saya naik pitam, Lah, lah!" Jangan Bohong, jangan temberang lain kali saya naik gila...Lah, lah" ala P Ramlee song...

aiyah, like beli kereta lah, some will pay $X to buy brand 'P' new, some prefer 3-4year 'H' or 'T', some would buy 10 year 'B' for same amount of money. A well maintain 'B' will definately outperform 'P' lah..

hifikaki wrote:aiyah, like beli kereta lah, some will pay $X to buy brand 'P' new, some prefer 3-4year 'H' or 'T', some would buy 10 year 'B' for same amount of money. A well maintain 'B' will definately outperform 'P' lah..

hifi kaki,no need to hints laaa just type straight-
P-Proton
H-Honda
T-Toyota
B-B&W

hhehehehheheeh

Fizi,

As far as i know,

the B - B&W did not launched any car yet!!
BMW ada.

he he he ehhehehe . Joke la bro. (Let make this forum happy to read)

You got wronglah

B stand for Bas Mini Wilayah, since they are scarce now, the nearest equivalent is Benzlah....

Used equipment, old equipment or 'veteran' gears have some shelf life expired. Depending on the gears, hifi equipment should not differ too much from the design.

I dont see a problem in buying them, provided the design / component is alright.

It is a risk vs reward. This is business driven. gems await the discerning eye. Gears await the discerning ears.

yew_jeff wrote:Fizi,

As far as i know,

the B - B&W did not launched any car yet!!
BMW ada.

he he he ehhehehe . Joke la bro. (Let make this forum happy to read)

yew,, ur joke accepted heheheheh

hoyhoysum, u r so funny commenting on azri. for someone who makes good the old equioment sent to u for repairs u r certainly not helping ur own bzness, heh. but in ur expert opinion may i ask if the luxman sq-38 adv in these pages worth considering, or the soros es, and the plinius sa-50? but i don't think u can answer the question without angering the advertisers ya? sorry. mebbe u can hint, hint...

I purchased a used integrated amp last month and last night I noticed the chassis has been opened. How do I know? The star screw on the chassis is spoilt!!! And one of it is not fully screwed! Man I am afraid that the screw will get stucked inside and I cant open it. Or worse there are components burnt inside. Anyway I will be getting the allen key tomorrow. Finger crossed........

Other than that the amp is performing well...

alex wrote:I purchased a used integrated amp last month and last night I noticed the chassis has been opened. How do I know? The star screw on the chassis is spoilt!!! And one of it is not fully screwed! Man I am afraid that the screw will get stucked inside and I cant open it. Or worse there are components burnt inside. Anyway I will be getting the allen key tomorrow. Finger crossed........

Other than that the amp is performing well...

If the amp is performing well, why would you be suspecting there are burnt components inside?

In my opinion, few points u need to concern before get the used item, as stated below,make sure you still can get those parts from service center, dealer or internet:

a) CD or DVD player
i - laser head / pick-up
ii - loading gear (These plastic gear easily get "kaput" due to age).
iii - rubber belt (If any)

b) Amplifier
Not much i guess. May be few original spare fuse just in case blow off.
So far i haven't heard someone buy those transistor or capacitor for spare part yet.

c) Loudspeaker
Those woofer with paper cone, beware! The surround made by paper are easily get spoiled due to high humid & temperature in Malaysia.

Is advisable to get those spare part first before obsolete, i guess you next buyer also be happy to pay u higher if spare parts together as a package.

Anyone want to add their idea, u are most welcome...

tycham wrote:If the amp is performing well, why would you be suspecting there are burnt components inside?

It is just my mind running wild, plus my friend teased me by saying that. "Burnt pcb! Burnt pcb!" Initially the guy said the unit has never been opened, thus the thought. The only reason I can think of someone open an amp is to repair or clean the dust. Oh, I hope it is the latter one.

hoysum, just arrived LCCT yesterday. crowded with people coming in & out of malaysia. the bolehland, where anything is possible, eventhough you stay corrupted you can still live like a king!!

only experinced one burnt ic from a technics SU-V2. The cost is just au30 plus labour. that happens when i tried to hook up a 4 ohm speakers to a "8 to 16ohm" speaker load amplifier. Not even 5 minutes, kaput. Nasib not brand new. fewh.. the good thing of buying second hand.. less painfull if something went wrong plus get to learn by mistake heheh. love the burning smell though.. sniff sniff

Refer to mad.onenad comments,

Frankly, i am not actively into this hifi repairing unless one or two will contact me and i obliged to repair for them. I help my dad as an apperientise way back in 1980s. In kedai baiki radio & TV business you will never progress nor regress. You stay mundane. Everyday see, smell solder everyday and worst stay put in the little workshop. Makan minum pun sana. Not sure if termakan diodes or resistor. They also look like ikan bilis in our nasi. Untill you naik muak!(not the nasi...the profession). Now my main profession is an AV contractor, i got to travel nationwide!. Restoration of old equipment is my hobby. If i chance upon any equipment that might intrest me then i buy it. After thinker with it for some time, i sell it...

There is no harm to my business but i cucuk other people business, i am in great trouble actually. Most dealer will prefer you to buy new...Repairing very old equipment is very frustrating, if you need to repair fast and economical for customer or else the equipment will be back into your bench again. If you warrant your job, sure rugi case punya. One time never mind, few times habis finish. end of the month makan tahi!

Sorry for the late response.

When I type 'I think you guys got it backwards', it was of course an expression based on how I see the approach, compared to my own approach. It is not meant to be a judgement of what is right or what is wrong. Got it backwards in this case, means that I feel one should not start with a decision to buy new or used. Rather one should decide on the equipment to buy first and foremost. Then when the decision is made, or when a suitable shortlist is compiled, then the next decision for purchase, would include whether to consider new only or used only, or the best : whichever is available and is reasonable priced.

When one points out the virtues of buying new, it does not mean that the reverse; buying used is condemned. Furthermore, the moderators and admin here would also sometimes like to contribute to a good discussion. But it doesn't meant if we disagree with something, or if we point out the virtues of the other alternatives, that it becomes an official 'decree' of his forum, or a regulation of the hifi4sale forum.

So, for my case, buying new or used, from private seller or from dealer, or reseller/trader, all of these alternatives have their own merits. I think various members have covered them very well already. In my case, I have tried to explain the advantages of buying from different type of sellers when I made the announcement for a re-classification of members as owners/dealer/resller/etc in the 'for-sale' forum.

As for buying new vs used, as some have pointed out, once we have made a decision as to what is the equipment we would like to buy (e.g. an Audio Research Classic 60 power amp), sometimes that decision determins if we buy new or used (ARC CL60 is no longer sold so must buy used). But other times, there -IS- a choice of new vs old. Then it becomes important to understand the advantage/disadvantage of buying new vs old. Hoyhoysum has managed to explain them quite well. Buying a used equipment always have some risk. This risk is mitigated in some way when you buy from an authorized dealer. Buying new almost always means buying from an authorized dealer which means if the equipment is faulty, you get full warantty coverage (this also means that I feel if one buys new, it makes sense to always buy from authorized dealer, not from parallel importers). Sometimes buying used, in the example of the ARC CL60 above, also means we need to worry about the age of some of the components, i.e. the tubes/valves in this case. New amp of course comes with brand new tubes, used ones the tubes may well be about to expire (but buy from a private seller and you should be able to know how new/old the tubes are which becomes an important advantage).

Some authorized dealers even allow some form of return, or low-loss trade-in for cases where the equipment bought does not perform as expected, or does not work well with the system or the room.

Talking about the room. There is no doubt it is one of the biggest limitation of the sound from a system. But usually we are more or less stuck with our room and sometimes we are even limited to how much we can treat it. However, some knowledgeable dealers I know are actually able to get a system to work well, even in a less than ideal room.

I like this discussion personally, because I can see everyone is contributing and all are courteous to each other. This will bode well for a strong hifi community in Malaysia. Eventually as our reputation and influence grows, hopefully we can be taken seriously by all the dealers in the country where we can work together for the benefit of everyone.

just my little experience with second-hand stuff.
first of all, the buyer bears the risk if the component goes kaput and there are no spare parts to be found or if nobody knows how to fix it.
sure you save money but you may end up spending more if it goes kaput.
just to share my experience for the benefit of other audiophiles.
i bought a mccormack dna-1 used and it sounded really good with the mission floorstanders i was using then.
one day, one channel blew and (ok i was playing real loud) blew the tweeter and midrange of the right speaker.
the speaker was already discontinued by then and mission had split into cyrus amps and mission speakers. via e-mail, we managed to contact the mission guys who said they will check the store and see if they can find replacement tweeter and mid. they found them, couriered over and the speaker was repaired, but cost $$$ cos everything was in pounds.
as for the mccormack, some of the transistors were proprietary and cannot be bought off-the-shelf.
the repairer had to surf around to source for parts from uk and usa.
it was fixed and played beautifully and then....it blew again.
so the beautiful and cheap amp is still in hospital-lah.
my advice is to buy second-hand components that don't break down like interconnects, speaker cables, power cords, etc.
as for amps and cd players, buy the newer models or check if there are still spare parts in the market.
as they say, you have to pay to learn....

would like to add on that , buying second hand from a reputable hifi shop would have its advantages. Usually, if the s/hand audio shop stands by its goods sold and also its after-sales service to the customer. Then there is an extra safety net when buying s/hand stuff.

Of course buying new has is plus points, like u get mfg warranty and all, but the entry costs are still a real premium. S/hand is a very viable alternative for people who do not have unlimited budget, to still enjoy high end audio equipment. The big difference is how and where the s/hand equipment is bought from.