Some dealers are customer friendly, but they seem to be getting scarcer. Decades ago, when I ran one pair of B&W DM14's, I went to a well-regarded store in Miami, Audio by Caruso. The owner, a frail little man, told me that he had a really great trade in, and I could buy it and return it within a week. Despite the beautiful, sculpted wood cabinet, and overall quality, it was not what I needed. When I returned it with 30 minutes to spare, he dug through his cluttered desk and handed me the actual check I had written him.
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Thanks, I feel much better. I had shorted a preamp to the A/C outlet wiring trying to test a transformer, because the preamp was coming on slowly. I sent 110 volts through the other preamp inputs, two amps, a CD player. I shulld have just left it on all the time. I already had the little caps that triggered the input reed switches, but just had to try one more thing. Luckily, I found a good repairman and decided that my stuff was worth fixing. I listened to Mac for the first time since seeing the Dead's Wall of Sound at Miami Jai Alai. I paid about as much to fix my stuff than I had paid used, years ago, but I am happy again. It was lot less money than new Mac stuff, and I actually prefer my electronics for my speakers.
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Jump on Bose asap? I was given what is probably Bose best speakers. They are towers with powered subs and do spread out acoustic piano well. In fact, they even spread out triangles, making them sound the size of a tuba. Well, maybe not quite. He wanted them out of his house, and had already donated his Bryston electronics to me because he now needs remote control from his wheelchair. I had heard his system many times, graciously accepted the speakers, and took them home. I never hooked them up, thank you!. Wanna buy them? I also have his Grace 707 and a nice Sony tuner I don't need. Plus the aforementioned Marantz surround receiver... and a crap load (5 pairs and three orphans) of B&W speakers, and a single, painted 1950's or 60's AR three way. Holy crap: Goliath and Son of Goliath M&K subs. OMG, so to speak, I need to sell some crap.
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Whoops, pardon the dyslexia.
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In fact, I sold a GAS Thoebe for the same buddy. It was really terrible. Iheard why he upgraded to Bryston, even for his Bose towers, which I could listen to, but I would have to drop some music, and probably add some more. As GAS designer James Bongoirno said, If six audiophiles choose a Cd or LP to play on each of the six systems, each piece chosen will sound best on his own system. I like to add: We choose components to make the music we love sound the best to us, and vice versa..
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I will have to listen to those the next time I visit my dealer, who also carries B&W. Are Wilson's extra theatrical or something? Should I ask the hear them on transistors, or Audio Research's giant tube amps? You know, the ones that require a separate audio room A/C system.
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Audioguy85: Not at all. In fact, I mentioned some true crap that I currently own (Marantz 125wpc surround receiver, Bose speakers). I also have friends who have far superior systems to mine. Additionally, my pal gave me a Bryston amp and preamp which are excellent, but a bit sloppy compared to my Audire. I still really enjoy them, and am a bit surprised that there is any noticible dfference, on certain music. My XM tuner is the weak link to my system, but I still enjoy the jazz channel. It is about the music, not the latest addictoin. I would really like some better speakers, but not enough to pay for them. Not much in audio is worse than someone who insists on showing off some obscure swatch of music to prove how great his stuff is, rather than sharing a love of music.
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Someone mentioned the 1970's McIntosh triangular speakers. When I was a old enough to work summer jobs, my friend and I were shopping for stereos. We went to the Mac dealer in north Fort Lauderdale and heard them at only the second high end store I had visited Our local Boca Raton store was totally out of our price range, with its Maggies, Audio Research, and "entry level" Luxman equipment. Even with our naive ears, except for being musicians of sorts, we both agreed that those were horrible sounding speakers.
In the middle of the Summer, my buddy had decided on a Pioneer receiver that was several hundred dollars. That same Mac dealer carried them for their relatively impoverished customers. When we got paid on a Friday, we rushed to the store in our electrician boots, denim tennis shorts and tee shirts, because they were only open from 9-5 for their wealthier clientele. No one would help us. In fact, the sales people were maneuvering the few other customers away from us, while giving us dirty side glances. Finally, my buddy took out a stack of bills and started waving them around, yelling, "If you want us to leave, simply take my money and let me buy this receiver. They quickly complied, without a hint of an apology. When Advents came out, the Boca store picked them up along with Phase linear for a truly entry level product! They treated us like royalty, because that was before Boca Raton was infiltrated by people who wanted to glean some breeding, but not manners, by moving there from Fort Lauderdale.
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The biggest issue with B&W's, other than price, is that they reveal just how mediocre most electronics and recordings are. I love the B&W's with diamond tweeters, and wish I has some. Most manufacturers try to mask anomalies, but this also masks some good parts. Well, another issue is that most amps do not have adequate power supplies to run them properly, making us run subs, unless you are lucky enough to have amps (Yes, it still takes two) that were reviewed as having "Gargantuation bass", like my Audire amps. Compared to a Bryston 200 wpc amp, with its two 375 watt trannies, plus four per channel Motorola outputs and 4000 mf of filter caps per channel, my 125 wpc Audires have six outputs, a 500 watt tranny, and 4 26.000 mf per channel. I believe this is why my Bryston fades a bit at loud volumes with lots of bass. All Audire amps above mine have stacks of outputs on the same circuits used in mine, and yes, they are better, as is newer Bryston, I hear. So much for my plebeian cheering section,as it dreams of diamonds.
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Oh yeah: Any early CD player.
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Someone noted that he was surprised by the fact one of us did not like a KEF LS50 speakers. After all, reviewer Steve Gutenberg uses them as a reference. In a YouTube video. Nelson Pass shows his reference speakers, stating that they are not his best speakers, but are the best he has to show the differences between electronics. Steve G did not say they are great. He said that with the right sub, someone might be happy with them. That is not a great endorsement.
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Auditioning for "pirates..." counts on any of my worst lists, even bicycles.
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RE; Mismatched components. Yes, if an amp is such a cheap design that the power supply will not driver certain speakers, thent it is mismatched to all but efficient speakers. I'll give an example of the difference power supplies: The very nice, early Bryston 4B is 200 watts per channel. The contemporary Audire Forte is 125 wpc, but has a two ohm rating of 400 wpc full range. The Bryston uses 4 output transistors per channel, and is not rated for 2 ohms. if I remember correctly (I have a 3B.). The Audire, 6 outputs per channel. (Later Audire's use many more), but I think the much bigger difference is in the power supplies. Each channel has: Audire 500 watt tranformer and 4 x 26,000 mf's of filter capacitance; Bryston, 375 and 2 x 4000. My old Polaris Sumo got great reviews. It had practically no bass on my B&W 803's, and was even weak on my 38 year old B&W's. It's new owner loves it and says it sounds the same as the one he already owns. James Bongiorno (of Ampzilla fame), who designed some Polaris pieces, wanted no credit for the Sumo. Nice name thought. Reverse psychology, I guess. Yes, it has a small power supply. Even my old Phase Linear 400 lost bass at high volumes; Power supply, OK for 8 ohm speakers, but weaker than my less powerful Audire's in the bass. WEIGHT MATTERS!
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