Okay, I got myself the Yamaha s501 with cd300 for 200. Im pleased with the purchased, yet didn't manage to get the zensor 3. Im still on a lookout for the speakers. I was able to test out the amp with a pair of my brothers BR2s and they sound clearer on Yamaha 501 than Denon 37dab for sure. yamaha is whole another league from what I can tell from listening.
Anyway, I came across some KEF Concerto One SP3309, yet not sure how would they perform. The only thing I found on them is they were sold between 1999-2000. Did anyone come across them as someone is selling them cheaply for 30
As long as they're in decent physical condition then for £30 they're a no-brainer. Get 'em!
Even if ultimately you don't like them, for £30 they're very undervalued (read as:
stupidly cheap ) for decent floorstanders from any of the good British brands, and they'll do you just fine as a stop gap set of speakers until you can find something that better suits your tastes.
If you turn up and find that they're missing the floor spikes or the bridging links at the back then I'd still go ahead with the purchase. New spikes can be bought. Small pieces of speaker wire can be used to replace the bridging links. These are not major issues, and certainly not at that price.
Finding that the speaker grilles are missing is more of a cosmetic issue but expensive to replace like-for-like. Again though, the daft asking price overrides this concern in my book.
Reasons to walk away would be cabinet beyond the odd minor scuff or chip, and also driver damage. The soft dome tweeters can't be pushed in and buckled like metal domes often are, so that's a plus point. If the bass driver has obvious rips/cuts or the rubber surround joint the cone to the flange is ripped or cracked then I'd give them a miss even at £30 unless you know that (a) everything else is perfect and complete (inc grilles and links), and (b) you know for certain that you can get hold of a replacement woofer for under £30.
When push comes to shove, the fundamentals of these speakers are all good:
Well known British brand [tick]
All wood cabinet [tick]
From a time before everything went to Chinese production [tick]
No larger than bookshelf speakers on floor stands [tick]
Original RRP somewhere in the £500-£600 range [tick]
They come from a time when things were a bit turbulent for KEF. Home cinema was all the rage so two-channel was suffering a bit. KEF itself was going through some upheaval too. It had been purchased by a holding company in the mid 90's along with the Celestion brand. For quite a while the product ranges seemed to lack mass market appeal. The Celestion brand was killed off and it's taken a while for KEF to re-establish itself. The Concerto One (SP3309) and Two (SP3310) were born in the middle of all that upheaval. They didn't set the world alight because some other brands were making floorstanders cheaper using chipboard/MDF cabinets covered in vinyl/wood veneer but that sounds as good for 70% of the price. Having said all that, the Concerto One should really be valued at £150/pr used all day long for their performance.