I agree with David double 9. When I was selling Paradigm a dealer down the road sold NHT. I lost count of how many people traded in their NHTs for Paradigm.I was underwelmed by the first series Reference, The series 2 was a whole different animal..They were a product that really sold themselves. You could put the Studio 100s up against speakers costing 4-5 grand...and we did. 70% bought the Paradigms. And almost all of them were looking for speakers in the 4-5grand range.
Biggest bucks = Satifaction? Hmmmmm...
With a self-classification as "rookie", "newbie", or, best yet, "audio ignoramus", I ponder the signifigant satisfaction fellow members have enjoyed (or failed such) with their highest dollar acquisitions.
Before "The Fever" got me, my biggest buy was a $1k Kenwood rack system bought from Circuit City (jeez, I hated that salesman...but it was Circuit City or Sears, can you blame me?) 10 years ago. That system was fine until I heard a MacIntosh at the local high end shop (just by chance - I buy my CDs there). I was blown away, not just by the sound, but by the cost factor as well. I knew I had to start upgrading, so over the past two years I have, in my humble opinion, built a fine beginner system. My highest dollar buy has been a pair of B&W CDM9NTs, and even though I paid full retail for them, they have rewarded my expenditure twenty-fold, delight to the point that they rank very low on my near-future upgrade list.
How about you? What single audio component most severely damaged your pocketbook, and was it worth it?
Cheers, Steve...
Before "The Fever" got me, my biggest buy was a $1k Kenwood rack system bought from Circuit City (jeez, I hated that salesman...but it was Circuit City or Sears, can you blame me?) 10 years ago. That system was fine until I heard a MacIntosh at the local high end shop (just by chance - I buy my CDs there). I was blown away, not just by the sound, but by the cost factor as well. I knew I had to start upgrading, so over the past two years I have, in my humble opinion, built a fine beginner system. My highest dollar buy has been a pair of B&W CDM9NTs, and even though I paid full retail for them, they have rewarded my expenditure twenty-fold, delight to the point that they rank very low on my near-future upgrade list.
How about you? What single audio component most severely damaged your pocketbook, and was it worth it?
Cheers, Steve...