Yea, this was probably one of those deals where I should been more careful. Pictures on the add were low-res, and therefore didn't show any flaws and I accepted when seller offered to deliver them at my door (which was convenient since I don't have a car). I just missed an opportunity to buy the subwoofer matching my current active monitors, which is very rare, and clearly my urge for new gear got the better of me.
First of all I must say that I haven't heard the speakers yet. Im picking up an amplifier tomorrow (currently only own actives). Im posting my impressions of them as a way of describing the speakers and hope some of you will give an estimate of their worth based on this and perhaps some insight on the mid range driver issue.
On the positive side the cabinets seem to be of high building quality and finish. I do believe that the inner measurements are original (outer measurements are larger due to added damping with sand and of course the baffle is modified slightly). I would estimate that they weigh closer to 60 than the originals 47 kg. Woofers are original and looks good.
(Most positive thing right now though is honestly how I got the speakers up in my apartment. Seller and I were unable to get them up the stairs so I called my friend and long story short he had a girl over for dinner and still came to help. True friend right there, bailing his idiot friend out
)
The negatives are a slightly dented tweeter (this I knew) and more importantly that the mid range drivers are not identical, which was a big surprise. I didn't notice before seller had left when I got them up in the apartment (at closer inspection I realized that the surrounds and dust caps are clearly not the same and one is noticeable tighter). Seller claims that the speakers were a custom job ordered from a semi-professional speaker builder he knew personally and that he never noticed any difference (I called him up when I saw it). Honestly he seemed like a decent guy and Im not sure what to think of the situation. It really took away my initial joy with getting them though.
How much should I have paid for these?
(the weird hue on the pictures, especially the woofer, is just my sucky mobile camera)