are refurbished denon worth the risk?

[Mark Hing]

Is it worth trying to save some bucks by getting a refurbished Denon DVD player (from an authorized dealer, of course) rather than a new one? The Denon warranty is only 90 days vs. 1 year but the savings can be significant. While I know there is no promise that even a brand new unit won't have problems, do you think that with the fragile nature of electronic equipment and the fact that it's refurbished mean I should stay away? I'm sure there a few horror stories out there.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Actually, electronics are pretty robust. It's the mechanical parts like the transport you have to worry about.

Even so, if nothing fails in the first 90 days it'll probably have a long life. I say it's worth the slight risk. I am considering a refurb receiver myself.

 

[Leprkon]

not knowing the value of the item you are discussing, I would say to go with the 70 % rule... if it's 70 % of the original price, or less, it's worth taking a shot. the companies who rebuild these pay alot more for labor (US repair labor versus overseas assembly labor) than they do for pieceparts, so a refurb unit will generally (not always but generally) be opened up, the troublesome piecepart completely replaced, and then bolted back together for re-sale. they simply can;t afford to troubleshoot down at the piecepart level.

the odds are your unit would be as good as new. keep in mind that good as new is subjective ( a bad production run of a specific piecepart can go a long way, even into the rebuild part of unit life), so check a few of the posting boards to see if there is an ongoing theme of customer complaints about your unit. if there's not alot of whining going on, the problem with a rebuilt unit is very likely a freak and the surgery would probably be a success. if there are a number of specific complaints, you might want to reconsider, as there's no guarantee either a rebuild or new unit would be worth much.

if there is a secondary cause to the primary problem or if they had a bad batch of the given piecepart, it will be very likely to occur again within the 90 day window.

 

[Duffinator]

I've purchased many refurbished pieces of A/V equipment including a Denon 3805 from DAKMART this month and have had no problems. It's possible there could be slight cosmetic blemishes that will give away that it's now completely brand new but once it's in your rack you'll never see it. Usually if there's a problem with electronics it's right out of the box.

I have not purchased a refurbished DVD player yet but am considering it.

Good Luck!

 

[toquemon]

I bought a refurbished Nakamichi AV-10 about 2 and a half years ago. it's original price was $1,300; it cost me $700. The thing sounded very good until one channel died just one week after the warranty period (90day) finished; i took it to service and it cost me another $200. Then it was functional for about another 3 months and the thing just died again, this time completely. it cost me another $200 to fix it. So, after spending $400 trying to get this thing to work, i sold it to an engieneer friend. He fixed it and now it works ok (according to him). We recently performed a test between receivers and the Nak seems to work fine, my friend told me that there was a problem with the potenciometer (i don't know this word in english i may be wrong) and the fan, he spend another $200 (more or less) to fix it completely. So the moral of this story is:

1. Don't buy refurbished equipment. The warranty period is based on a probability analysis and it calculates the maximum probability of fail. So, if the warranty period is up to 3 months, there's a higher probability that your equipment will fail within one more month.

2. Nakamichi is not what it used to be.

 

[Mark Hing]

Thanks toquemon. Sorry you had a bad experience with refurbs. That's the horror story I'm looking for. I'm not into taking equipment in for service and I don't have any engineer-type audiophile friends like you do. I will probably just pay up and buy the new Denon 2910 DVD player when it comes out. I was kinda hoping to hear some denon horror stories but they never materialized. That's good I guess.

Also thanks to Rip, Leprkon and Duff for taking the time out to answer my question. I didn't mean to take so long to acknowledge you guys...

 

[markw]

I dunno but only having that 90 day warranty would bother me.

They are supposed to be functionaly as good as new, aren't they? Now, if they gave the same warranty as they would a new piece of gear, then that would be another story.

 

[toquemon]

Well, my friends are not "audiophiles". My engineer friend is just the "i can fix it" type of person. Yes, all of my friends love music, but they're far from being "audiophiles". We used to have a rock band in highschool, that's all.

 

[JVC]

Refurbs are supposed to have the bugs and problems fixed. Should be as good as new. Check out www.overstock.com
They have refurbed JVC, Yamahas and Denons. They come with warranty, and you can add two more yrs. for about $30.

 

[bohunk]

Denon Refurb OK by me

About 18 months ago I purchased a Denon CD player from an authorized dealer on eBay. Paid $109 for a $399 machine, with the thought that "if it breaks within a year, I still got my money's worth." Here we are, a year-and-a-half later and the things still performing, flawlessly.

Granted, Denon ain't hi-end anymore, and appeals to the budget-minded. If you're looking at Denon, answer the question "why". If the answer is cost, then you almost have to consider (not necessarily buy) a refurb. I think Leprkon's 70% rule is a good starting point (I like to stay in the 50% range, but that's just me). If you're shopping for quality, there's a whole other discussion...