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New speakers delivered to me were manufactured 4.4 years ago?

JSanders2056

JSanders2056

My Life Has Gone to the Dogs
Subscriber
So, I order some speakers from a well-known retailer, last week. They have been in the "unavailable until Jan. of 2027" slot for quite a while.

Well, they arrived today on 10-2-2026. Almost a full 90 days ahead of time. That is fine, even though I was still researching units that I could place close to a wall if not mounted on one with some decent down low reach.

As I was unpacking speaker #2, I was taken aback at the manufacture date of June of 2022. These are already 4 years and 4 months old. I'm disappointed and wonder if I should be. I hate the hassle and the COST to return these for a more recent built pair, something that might not even matter all that much

I am very interested in the group consensus on this. I really don't know what to think, but my initial emotions were surprise, disappointment and a mild bit of being pissed.
Should I be feeling this way?

The speakers are a pair of GoldenEar Aon 3. I've got them going in a bigger room than I am going to use them in and holy crap do they sound bad. They are sitting on top of my Yamaha NS-1000M's. The D.A. is out of town so I can run them nonstop until at least Sunday to see if they "loosen up". For bad sound I would definitely return them without a second thought, but for a stale date, is that a real reason to take a flyer on them?

Build quality is very nice, thought I would add that

Jeff
 
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@Tom Brennan My ears may be accustomed to the Yamaha and Lintons for the last 2-3 years. So likely it is me. My concrete walled basement room is where I was going to use these and they may be good enough for that. I was let down, at first, by the Yamaha's but grew to like them almost as much as the Linton's

@loudnoises - Thanks for the order information. I had not thought of that angle and it makes 100% sense
 
This sort of result is intriguing.

Bad speaker, bad room, bad system? I dunno!

The reviews are good:

www.tonepublications.com

GoldenEar Aon 3 Bookshelf Monitors

Small speakers and small rooms usually mean not much bass. A well-thought-out subwoofer will usually add LF content, but it also lightens your wallet. If you’re looking to outfit a small listening space with a pair of compact speakers that combine the imaging of a mini monitor with bass you’d...
www.tonepublications.com www.tonepublications.com

headfonics.com

Goldenear AON 3 Review — Headfonics

The Goldenear Aon 3 are a compact, ultra-high-performance speaker that were developed for use as nearfield monitors in professional mixing applications.
headfonics.com headfonics.com

SoundStage! Hi-Fi | SoundStageHiFi.com - GoldenEar Technology Aon 3 Loudspeakers

www.soundstagehifi.com www.soundstagehifi.com


But, then, here's one more in line with your impression...(It's not "Holy crap, do they sound bad," but not glowing.)


I wouldn't sweat the "age," the 2023 Napa cabernets are just hitting the market. :banana:

Sometimes it just comes down to 'horses for courses.'

As a consumer, anything that fails to live up to expectations should be freely returnable.
 
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I thought my Triton 2+'s didn't sound as good as the Polk Audio SDA 1A's they replaced. Then I moved them out from the wall and wow!, what a difference in the way they sound. Much, much better. A year after the warranty expired I had an issue with the sub amp, and they (GoldenEar) responded quickly and very professionally. To me, the age would be an issue if there was a tweek done since 2022. Maybe a call to GoldenEar? Good luck!
 
I've moved them about and I am playing music I know and driving them a bit harder. They sound a lot better, or is it me and my ears? Doesn't matter. As they say in British motorcycle racing, they are coming on full song and sound good.
Next up after some grilling I'll go with the TT and my first love. Records.
@coonmanx and @Enophile thanks for the answers to my question. I'm leaning that way, now that I am enjoying them more

I guess I will just relax in regards to the born on date and see if these can complete the mission. :beerchug:
speaker.jpeg Yamaha speaker stands
 
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JSanders2056 said:
but for a stale date, is that a real reason to take a flyer on them?
Click to expand...
Stale date on a vintage audio forum with gear 40 years old or so?

1) the pair needs to be made in the same period of time
2) call and ask GoldenEar to see if the speaker is up to current production standards
3) contact retailer and see what they say.

Of course this if you don’t send em back because of sound quality.
 
Blue Shadow said:
How on earth could that ever be a possibility? This forum is the land of recapping. Nothing happens until the new owner of the chunk of gear posts about doing his first recap.
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Not usually on new stuff. Did the capacitor manufacturer used change in those 4.5 years?
 
JSanders2056 said:
So, I order some speakers from a well-known retailer, last week. They have been in the "unavailable until Jan. of 2027" slot for quite a while.

Well, they arrived today on 10-2-2026. Almost a full 90 days ahead of time. That is fine, even though I was still researching units that I could place close to a wall if not mounted on one with some decent down low reach.

As I was unpacking speaker #2, I was taken aback at the manufacture date of June of 2022. These are already 4 years and 4 months old. I'm disappointed and wonder if I should be. I hate the hassle and the COST to return these for a more recent built pair, something that might not even matter all that much

I am very interested in the group consensus on this. I really don't know what to think, but my initial emotions were surprise, disappointment and a mild bit of being pissed.
Should I be feeling this way?

The speakers are a pair of GoldenEar Aon 3. I've got them going in a bigger room than I am going to use them in and holy crap do they sound bad. They are sitting on top of my Yamaha NS-1000M's. The D.A. is out of town so I can run them nonstop until at least Sunday to see if they "loosen up". For bad sound I would definitely return them without a second thought, but for a stale date, is that a real reason to take a flyer on them?

Build quality is very nice, thought I would add that

Jeff
Click to expand...

I’d be pissed too; and I’d send them back. Especially if they sound bad.
 
This is a great comment:

Thorsten R. said:
Do I get this right? You compare near-field toys with Yamaha NS-1000M? In a bigger room?
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I would not be happy about an old pair of speakers shipped to me, but I’m obsessive so I’d return them.

On SQ though, speaker suspensions are the only thing in audio that legitimately need to break-in, leave them playing for a few days and see if they sound better. A good friend of mine who is a pro-audio dealer/installer likes to put pairs face-to-face and out of phase playing white noise overnight or for a few days to let them break in before installing and measuring/EQing them.

It sounds like you weren’t committed to them when they arrived based on your comments that you were “still researching units …”, so buyer’s remorse is a likely component of what you’re hearing also, probably should have completed your research before ordering speakers.
 
SaturationPt said:
This is a great comment:



I would not be happy about an old pair of speakers shipped to me, but I’m obsessive so I’d return them.

On SQ though, speaker suspensions are the only thing in audio that legitimately need to break-in, leave them playing for a few days and see if they sound better. A good friend of mine who is a pro-audio dealer/installer likes to put pairs face-to-face and out of phase playing white noise overnight or for a few days to let them break in before installing and measuring/EQing them.

It sounds like you weren’t committed to them when they arrived based on your comments that you were “still researching units …”, so buyer’s remorse is a likely component of what you’re hearing also, probably should have completed your research before ordering speakers.
Click to expand...
I was going to post about spiders needing a little break in time. How many hohrs?, thats kind of up for debate. I've read posts about people leaving some speakers, mostly full range speakers, having music played through them 24/7 for around 200 hours or more to break them in. Maybe thats true for some speakers? I dunno.
 
The info included with the Aon says about 60 hours for "break in time". No debate from me on this, it is what the mfgr. say's. They have been working for about 18 hours ATM

@Thorsten R. yes, the initial S/U is in a larger room than intended to work in, and I was hasty in my initial response. They sound pretty good
 
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