JBL 4410 Worth?

[WM826]

I'm going to a school surplus auction Saturday which has these speakers among other audio stuff supposedly and I am curious as to going price. I have no idea of condition yet.

Wes

 

[sancho22]

I have seen them on eby for around $400-500 plus shipping. I guess if in good condition
$200 -250 would be a reasonable rice. But I might be off. Let's see what others say.

 

[BMWCCA]

4410 in the wood-veneer box usually brings more than the later 4410A in the black/gray vinyl veneer. Both sound great. The "A" version does away with the L-pads and uses different tweeters but they sound similar. A good deal on either would be anything under $200 for the pair in good condition. Obviously less if the wood is beat or the speakers have broken grille pegs, torn fabric, pushed in dust domes, or smashed tweeters. Expect them to need re-surrounds, if not now, then later. The 4410 is given high marks within the JBL community and some say it's superior even to its bigger brother the 4412, if that helps you decide whether or not to pull the trigger! :yes:

 

[MOPAR3]

I paid 250 plus shipping for my 4410a's well worth it. They have a nice clean mid range and sound very realistic especially with drums. They do drum hits at high volume very well. Anything under 200.00 would be a great deal if in good shape.

 

[Yggdrasill]

I sold a pair in mint condition in their original boxes for $500, to a local guy who collects JBL. These were honestly in mint condition, after having been in storage for 10 years. No dings, no scratches, no wear of any kind. They looked like they had just come out of the boxes for the first time.

 

[BMWCCA]

Yep, the definition of "good deal" depends a lot on what side of the deal you happen to be. Were those 4410 or 4410As?

 

[soundmotor]

I'm going to a school surplus auction Saturday which has these speakers among other audio stuff supposedly and I am curious as to going price. I have no idea of condition yet.

Wes

Every school auction I've been to, most items have gone in the $5-20 range. At least around me (New England), these auctions tend to be poorly promoted and never get a crowd. I think once I had someone bidding against me on audio gear. Hopefully you will have the same experience.

 

[WM826]

Yes, that's also why I didn't post the link to pics and list. Will be fun. It's going to be my first live auction.

 

[tensleep]

I have a pair of 4410 Studio Monitors. They are excellent speakers, especially when listened to near field. Make sure you check the titanium tweeters for damage and give them a listen. The tweeters a becoming hard to find and are expensive, over $100 per tweeter minimum.

If you are buying to keep, you will have a hard time finding a better speaker for $250-$300. If you are buying to flip, you should probably stop around $175. Even then, with shipping costs, you would probably only break even. Parted out, which I would hate to see you do, the tweeters are the most valuable drivers, but the others will fetch a fair price, too.

 

[WM826]

Every school auction I've been to, most items have gone in the $5-20 range. At least around me (New England), these auctions tend to be poorly promoted and never get a crowd. I think once I had someone bidding against me on audio gear. Hopefully you will have the same experience.

Wish it would have been this way but it seems all the ebay guys were out in full force today. I waited around for a few hours because the two items I had interest in were after over 100 lots. The auctioneer told everyone how quick it was going to go and how when we got to the actual warehouse (there was stuff outside too) it would be over in about 30 minutes..WRONG. More like 3 hours and HOT too. No fan, nothing. Surprised no one fainted.

But finally he got to the electronics. The Dell laptops went for about $60-80, Infocus, Sharp and other projecter about same price range, s-vhs vcr like $7, some big lots including Yamaha cdx-930, kx-930, Bogen SS amp, etc. I could have gotten some great deals on the electronic items people weren't really bidding on but I was on a limited budget and wanted the JBL's on top of anything else. Finally he got to the large University speaker (single, very old & large), a few bids back and forth, guy won it for $50. Probably flip it for considerably more. Then a few more odd lots before the 4410's. Here goes nothing. I figure I would wait it out, feel where it's going, how high. Well it just kept climbing all the way up to $110. My max was $55, I just didn't have any more to spend. I was upset, especially after such a long wait. The speakers were absolutely mint too. Only one woofer had rotted surround. Cabinets were absolutely pristine, grills, fronts, even bottoms.

One thing that does really tick me off aside from not getting the JBL's is earlier when I first viewed them and saw their great condition the other woofer surround was perfect, not a thing wrong. I walked around the warehouse a few times, came back to look once more and the friggin surround had a big hole in it. I tried to understand why someone would do such a thing. It had to be intentional and they left the grills off so both woofers would be seen. It really annoyed me someone needs to do that so they can have a better chance of winning an auction. I even noticed later that someone moved one of the grills to the side hidden behind something to make it look like one was missing, almost so that someone would say, oh no that grill is gone, I'm not going to bid giving the jerk who moved it a better chance of winning.

Overall though an interesting and fun experience and I did meet some ebay sellers. One guy whom I always see his auctions on ebay, lots of good vintage stuff. In fact he won the University speaker.

 

[BMWCCA]

If you want to know the condition of the surrounds, you touch them. If they fall apart, then they're in need of re-surrounding. It could have been the natural disintegration of the foam helped by a probing finger. Or it could have been malicious. Either way, if the surrounds were original, they needed it anyway, judging from your description of a "big hole" regardless of how it happened. I'd like to think that any prospective purchasers who might be fooled by "helping" the surround disintegrate as an auction tactic, would probably be just the bottom-bidders anyway and the ultimate price was driven by those who really knew the value . . . which was, by the way, far more than they went for in the end. Anybody that wasn't already expecting them to need surrounds was probably unlikely to bid them beyond $100 anyway—holes or not.

As a former car dealer, I can tell you I've had cars I was selling at auction turn up in arbitration with holes in the floor they never had before they went across the block. I wish they'd check the car dealers for picks and hammers before they let them on-grounds! A simple engine miss from fiddling with plug wires is so old-school today. The shysters are reading the fine print about what can be arbitrated and what can't, then expecting a discount to drop arbitration. Did you check to see if there were any car dealers at your JBL auction?

 

[WM826]

I don't think so as all they had were a couple trucks. One was an old ambulance that went for $40, another an ambulance converted to a box truck (painted white) for school use went for $500. Some other interesting auctions were commercial upright vacuum cleaners (about 12) that went for $500. I think it was the second highest auction. Also, large wood bleachers (which some bidders sat on) for $1. There was also 3 or 4 oscilloscopes but they were to come after the JBL's and by that time I had had enough and left. There was also a Yamaha R-1000 reverb, Tascam mixer, Shure AMS8000, Orban stereo synthesizer, old crt monitors (some professional), etc.

I'm looking forward to the next local auction and hope I will have more cash available and less competition.

 

[WM826]

And I'm sure the surround was not that weak. I rubbed my finger over the good one with moderate pressure and it didn't show any sign of damage or disintegration. It likely wasn't a replacement as the other was totally rotted, but they would have had to push them in on purpose to do that damage I feel.

 

[70salesguy]

I don't want this to sound preachy, but you need to build up your "war chest". Going to an auction like this with only very limited funds would have to be an exercise in frustration.

Find some creative ways to build up your "war chest" and be better prepared for whatever audio bargain that might appear at GW, SA, CL, auctions, yard sales or whatever!

I have picked up some excellent bargains through the years because I could do the "cash flash". From firearms to car parts, it pays to be ready!

 

[WM826]

Good advice, thank you!

 

[Tropical]

I guess you didn't read the last post before you went off to the auction, as someone gave you excellent opinions. I sold a pair couple years ago for $400. BTW the foam is pretty weak as I had to refoam mine which was very easy to do. I remember one time I went to a garage sale and there were couple guys pondering at a beautiful pair of AR91's. Then one guy touched the foam and it fell like dust made them run for their lives

 

[WM826]

huh, didn't have enough money, nothing i could do about that buddy!

and foam was not that weak. i have been around audio long enough, and check out enough used speakers. it was a forceful push that damaged it, possibly even the other woofer before I arrived.