Guitar Center used monitors.

[vlad335]

Bought a pair of Focal Solo6 be studio monitors at Guitar Center at great price last week. Took 7 days to get here and when I unboxed them this is one of the tweeters..

Listed as "Great Condition" and purchased from GC Syracuse NY. In the pics they had black covers (that come with the monitors) over the tweeters.

Contacted customer service and have yet to hear anything yet. Usually when I contacted them in the past I heard back the next day.

Hooked these up and played low volume and they sound great.

Question, would these be ok? I can't hear any difference between the two and since I got about $300 off from the normal price of these used, should I just keep them and look at a replacement tweeter down the road?

 

[Palmer]

Bought a pair of Focal Solo6 be studio monitors at Guitar Center at great price last week. Took 7 days to get here and when I unboxed them this is one of the tweeters..
View attachment 455100

Listed as "Great Condition" and purchased from GC Syracuse NY. In the pics they had black covers (that come with the monitors) over the tweeters.

Contacted customer service and have yet to hear anything yet. Usually when I contacted them in the past I heard back the next day.

Hooked these up and played low volume and they sound great.

Question, would these be ok? I can't hear any difference between the two and since I got about $300 off from the normal price of these used, should I just keep them and look at a replacement tweeter down the road?

Bought a used Kurzweil K2500X from them a while ago, website said it is in the store close to me, so I thought it will be great. No. It was shipped, heavy as it is - in one layer of bubble wrap and one box. Needless to say, the keyboard was damaged, side covers busted, some keys had lost the weights, etc... I ended up fixing it.

So sorry this happened to you. I would try to get my money back. The place has turned bad, some time ago. Sad.

 

[thewas]

From measurements point of view these definitely won't be ok, the question is if you can hear that.

What is problematic though is that Beryllium particles are highly toxic so Focal even includes some stickers to cover the tweeter if its broken, see exemplary:

Focal Kanta No.2 loudspeaker Beryllium

Sidebar 3: Beryllium

www.stereophile.com

 

[kemmler3D]

Bought a pair of Focal Solo6 be studio monitors at Guitar Center at great price last week. Took 7 days to get here and when I unboxed them this is one of the tweeters..
View attachment 455100

Listed as "Great Condition" and purchased from GC Syracuse NY. In the pics they had black covers (that come with the monitors) over the tweeters.

Contacted customer service and have yet to hear anything yet. Usually when I contacted them in the past I heard back the next day.

Hooked these up and played low volume and they sound great.

Question, would these be ok? I can't hear any difference between the two and since I got about $300 off from the normal price of these used, should I just keep them and look at a replacement tweeter down the road?

Tend to agree with @thewas here... I have to assume this will mess up the tweeter response somewhat. And having a damaged piece of beryllium vibrating back and forth in your living room is not ideal.

I would return them. Holes in the tweeter is not "great condition" on this planet, regardless of how it sounds.

 

[mdsimon2]

I purchased an audio interface online from guitar center that had some dead channels and I was able to return it to a local guitar center. Pretty sure I just went in and didn’t need to contact customer service.

Michael

 

[vlad335]

From measurements point of view these definitely won't be ok, the question is if you can hear that.

What is problematic though is that Beryllium particles are highly toxic so Focal even includes some stickers to cover the tweeter if its broken, see exemplary:

Focal Kanta No.2 loudspeaker Beryllium

Sidebar 3: Beryllium

www.stereophile.com

Oh boy, I forgot that it is toxic... These are being quarantined and will be returned.

I have bought some incredible deals from the used section in the past. Also, communication from GC has been really responsive in the past. Its really telling that they went dark. This is not Great Condition according to the website.

I appreciate the replies.

 

[vlad335]

I purchased an audio interface online from guitar center that had some dead channels and I was able to return it to a local guitar center. Pretty sure I just went in and didn’t need to contact customer service.

Michael

My local GC is kinda far away but FAR better than shipping these

 

[Chaconne]

It's the Julius Caesar version of that tweeter. Much pricier than the regular version.

 

[vlad335]

OMG. Listened to these again on my desk with my RME DAC and they are amazing. So crisp and such dynamic range! Best monitors I have ever heard!

Edit: Guess the coffee cup under the aforementioned tweeter may come to kill me..

 

[vlad335]

It's the Julius Caesar version of that tweeter. Much pricier than the regular version.

Yeah, someone got stabbed

 

[Philbo King]

GC has sucked ever since Bain capital bought the chain and used that equity to leverage huge loans which GC had to pay back.

The last thing I bought from GC was a (new) GR20 Roland guitar synthesizer in 2005.

All that said, a couple tiny beads of the right glue would fix that tweeter.

 

[greenmountains]

not a fan of buying anything fragile (would count speakers as that) from Guitar Center. Packing is usually done by somebody who doesn't care - at all. Literally a layer of bubble wrap around a speaker and then thrown in a box. Anything medium sized or larger and fragile is going to get some kind of damage or scuffing from my experience.

Another problem is that used items bought from GC often have something small that is wrong and went unnoticed when GC bought the items. I recently bought speakers from them where the volume knob on one of the speakers is glitchy and turning the knob - instead of a smooth progession of volume upwards -has the volume jumping all over the place. One can set the volume knobs of both speakers where the volume is fine - and then control volume from the pre-amp output - but it seems like everything I buy from GC has something small that is broken - despite claims of "great" condition. So every time, "Is this enough of a problem to return or am I getting enough of a deal to just accept it?"

OP's post is a typical example of this.

 

[Chrispy]

Meh, bought without complete pictures let alone personal inspection. I'd return it myself and keep looking....

 

[vlad335]

As a follow-up to this saga, I had finally got in touch with someone at GC and they offered me a return or a discount. I took the discount that was not too shabby and looking to replace the tweeter. Returning them wasn't too great of an option for me as I would have to drive to my "local" Guitar Center, expending time and gasoline.

Lesson learned if I ever consider something from their used inventory in the future. Will contact the store directly and ask for assurances and more detailed pictures. In the past, I have gotten some great deals on bass guitars and a REDDI tube DI.

Anyway, can't wait to get the tweeter replacement. The review of these monitors on here is dead on. They sound amazing and I can't wait to hear them at volume.