audiotroy2,
You must be a dealer. When I was looking for speakers, I thought Focal, B&W and Keff's were some of the worst out there. Focal's aria line is one of the worst (look at the reviews). When I heard them I asked the dealer, "Where's The Bass?" There responded Focal was the only audiophile speaker out there. I then told him audiophiles must be allergic to bass. I was not impressed with either B&W 804's or Diamond series. The first thing I thought of you got to be kidding these speakers sell for $17,000 and $30,000 per pair. You've got to be kidding me.
You must be a dealer who sells these brands?
I listened to Martin Logan Motion 60's, B&W CM10 and 804's, Golden Ear, Definitive technologies, Vienna Acoustic's, Monitor Audio Silver 8, 10 and Gold series and ended up with my Paradigm Prestige 85F's. After purchasing them, I went back to listen to the all the B&W's and couldn't believe I liked Paradigm better. Shortly after I purchased them an ex-friend sent me an article discussing how 3 way are better than 2 1/2 way speakers. He turned around and purchased a pair of SALK Song Encore's at the RMAF knowing they were 3 way. He always made sure he was one up on me and I finally came to my senses and told him to go pound sand. I think there are a lot of snobby audiophiles that love doing this.
After this discussion, I think dealers should not be allowed to participate. They slyly pretend to be consumers only to sell their own stuff.
After reading your responses I would imagine many of us feel you should be banned from participating.
Just telling it like it is. I am sure this will fire up further discussions.
If you looked at the reviews and looked at their performance numbers, they lived up to what they sounded like to me. I always wonder why Paradigm gets left out. They are certainly better many of their competitors in that price range. Chris Spies is by far also one of the best manufacturer reps in the industry. Can't find a better sales person. He explained how they developed a corrugated material inside the cabinet walls and the 2 1/2 way cross over to make them a 93 db efficient speaker to boost an extra 3 db. This in turn allows the Prestige series to distort music less.
SALK manufactures high end speakers with active bass woofers and they can certainly fill a room. However, the retailers don't want to hear anything about how great SALK speakers are because Jim sells them direct so he doesn't have to sacrifice the quality of his cabinets and drivers.
I think it might be interesting for someone to lead a discussion asking those of us who are dealers. We will then be able to put two and two together.
