Help needed to decide which pair of ELACs DBR62 to keep!

[Aural]

Hi ASR community!

First off I'd like to thank you all, specially Amir, for creating and maintaining this outstanding gem of a forum! I've been lurking for some weeks now after finding it (bless googles algo also, sometimes it just works) and I have decided after reading some reviews that I would get myself a pair of DBR62s to start my (budget) decent HiFi system.

So here is my situation:

I can choose between two pairs of DBR62s sold as new ( B stock) . Price is 315 and 295 euros.

315 euro are as described:
Packaging: oiginal packaging (barely damaged) and they looked like they came straight from the factory.
Condition: Not a visible scratch or dent.
Function: because I am a bit of a noob I only can say they sound way better (you guys are going to laugh but I'd describe the way they sound as "tighter" and less tiny ) than my old technics from the 90s.... found literally on the street (quite a jump I know haha)

The 295 ones

Packaging: Factory packaging gone, came in a smaller box without white hard foam, only paper and one layer of bubble wrap (!)
Condition: Couple visible dents on corners. Abrasions on the plastic lower part as if they were dragged around a bit. The surround of both 6.5 drivers had a discoloration in the middle (see pics)
Function: sound fantastic also.

1) Though I am inclined to keep the slightly more expensive ones, could it be that the impeccable, brand new looking ones were faulty (maybe still are a bit) and are too good to be true, so I better keep the obviously B stock looking ones? (it is clear why the chipped ones were sent back, impeccable ones looks like it could have been a technical issue)

2) Is there a way that i could check the sound of the ones I want to keep to make absolutely sure they are not faulty? I have checked them with Sinatras "It was a very good year" in mono with Fubar2000 at 320 kb/s over bluetooth.

3) Should I use better straight wire and flac files?

4) Any other songs reccomended to test them?

5) What other kinds of tests could I perform to see (without a mic) if they are faulty?

6) Most probably this will sound even more ridiculous than all this affair of mine is already sounding, but I have a rode usb mic, could i test them with some some opensource software to check for faults?

Please help guys! Sorry for the rant and thanks a lot in advance!

 

[delta76]

is it possible for you to order a new pair, try it and return? a lot of retailers would allow that, maybe with a small fee

 

[Triliza]

Keep them both, add a center speaker and an avr in there, and you got yourself a multichannel setup

Joking aside, something to think about the most expensive ones is that if they had some obvious flaw in them (sound-wise), how would the first owner would detect that, I doubt that he/she would have understood that by performing measurements, although with the rise of ASR that is a possibility also. So if they are faulty, the owner would have detect that by listening to them, if you are not detecting something is amiss, probably there isn't any problem with them. Just to be sure, listen to some of the tracks Amir and other use for speakers evaluation, there is a thread around here about it. Good luck.

 

[Aural]

is it possible for you to order a new pair, try it and return? a lot of retailers would allow that, maybe with a small fee

You think it would help to have new ones to compare? Lets say I order a new pair and then compare them with the 2 pairs I have, what are some tests that I could do to check and look for performance differences and technical faults?

Forgot to mention these Elacs are all assembled in China.

Maybe I should just stop worrying and just keep the slighty more expensive ones...

Keep them both, add a center speaker and an avr in there, and you got yourself a multichannel setup

Joking aside, something to think about the most expensive ones is that if they had some obvious flaw in them (sound-wise), how would the first owner would detect that, I doubt that he/she would have understood that by performing measurements, although with the rise of ASR that is a possibility also. So if they are faulty, the owner would have detect that by listening to them, if you are not detecting something is amiss, probably there isn't any problem with them. Just to be sure, listen to some of the tracks Amir and other use for speakers evaluation, there is a thread around here about it. Good luck.

Haha I wish. Anyway thanks for the tip I have found two threads of test tracks and I will include them here for future visitors to this thread, first one is Amir's FWIW.

Critical (Best) Music Tracks for Speaker and Room EQ Testing

I post the list of tracks Harman uses after literally decades of research to detect fidelity of speakers and room Auto Equalizers in another thread but thought it deserves its own thread. I have had the fortunate luck of sitting through a couple of their blind tests and can attest to the...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Your Top 5 Demo / Test Tracks

You have to evaluate a set of speakers in an unfamiliar environment (dealer, RMAF, whatever) for consideration of purchase. But you can only use 5 tracks. What 5 tracks do you pick?

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[delta76]

Yes because if I read it right you were not sure which ones are sounding as they should. For 20eur difference I would keep the 315 ones.

 

[telemike]

How do they sound different?

 

[Aural]

How do they sound different?

Well honestly I think both pairs sound the same, I am just inclined to keep the ones in better condition just in case in two months I have to resell them cause I do not like them anymore or I've discovered some flaw etc.

 

[DMill]

You’ll have a hard time selling damaged speakers if you ever decide to part with them. $20 euros does not seem like much but I’m not your accountant. Besides dinged up speakers would drive my OCD personality crazy.

 

[TheBatsEar]

May i ask what happened next?
The suspense is killing me!