This happens literally EVERY time I try to save a buck. Being cheap works for some people, not for me.
Every time I try to buy something used, or open box, or I see something and think “that looks like exactly the same thing as _____ but $100 less…” I get hosed. It never works out. Ever. I need to stop trying.
I learned it with guitars a long time ago. Just pony up, take the hit, and get the one you really want. Otherwise you’ll end up buying and modding ten of them trying to get to where you really wanna be, and by the time you do that, you’ve spent more by far than you would have just getting the real deal. And you still won’t be there.
I could have bought one of these speakers for $105 plus tax. Instead, I scoured the net looking for a less expensive example, and found an open box model listed as “mint condition” for $91 shipped. Setting aside the fact that it is not what I would consider mint condition at all, I was willing to accept it if it worked well. It doesn’t. I’ve shot myself in the foot again, over $14.
