Quote Originally Posted by zoltar
I am thinking of buying some used speakers that are about 5 years old. I am not talking about blowing speakers out, but how many years it would take them to age to the point where the sound would be degraded. I have have heard about surrounds becoming dry and cracking, but this is like after 20 years. I have noticed that speakers depreciate quite a bit if they're only a few years old, like a previous model, and you can pick them up for a lot less.
Foam surrounds are by far the most common failure in older speakers. 20 years is fair benchmark, (I had a pair bought in 1983 that failed in 2002 after being moved 1200 miles across country). But I would avoid foam surrounds if over 10 years old or showing damaged.