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Misconceptions of Speakers

I went to a number of audio shops recently and auditioned speakers from companies such as Proac, Acoustic Energy, PSB, Paradigm, Magnepan, B&W, Mission and the list goes on.

Anyways, prior to my auditioning of these speakers, I thought that'd I'd see a direct correlation between high price and performance, but that certainly hasn't been the case thus far!

There just seems to be SO many overpriced speakers on the market today. It has become obvious that a speaker manufacturer must spend a lot on advertising to generate reviews in many magazines and thus he has to jack up the price of his speaker to exorbitant price levels.

I’m going to leave out the brands below for fear of offending anybody who got caught up in the hyping of these speakers, and to not risk a lawsuit by the speaker manufacturer.

I had the opportunity today to listen to an overhyped ~$3500 pair of speakers, and I have to say that they sounded decent. However, I didn’t feel they're worth anywhere near their asking price! In fact, that was confirmed when the owner of the store that sold the $3,500 pair accidentally made a comment regarding their sound quality vs. a "Much" cheaper pair of speakers.

I had been auditioning these expensive speakers for about 2 hours and I noticed that in the corner of this store was sitting a small, obscure brand floorstander . I quickly asked that owner if I could audition those speakers and he said yes. I was immediately impressed with the sound coming from the small boxes. Well, after about 10 minutes of listening the store owner abruptly stopped the music and said, "there really is a difference between the $3,500 speakers and the $700 speakers." I instantly got a smile on my face upon hearing him trying to defend the much overrated $3,500 speakers.

The owner, for the next hour or so, tried to defend his $3,500 speakers but he knew that I knew they were grossly overpriced and a perfect example of how overpriced many speakers are. I’m now going to be searching for a speaker that doesn’t advertise at all and who’s relying on the great sound of the speaker to generate interest amongst consumers and NOT skewed media reviews!!
bobjohnston
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I need more information. A $700 pair of speakers will sound better than a $3500 pair connected to lower end and some mid-fi electronics. In my example the better speakers will sound worse because they are more revealing. The inadequate sound being heard is the deficiency in the electronics being perfectly reproduced by the $3500 speakers. The $700 pair mask the distortion in the electionics.


There is a B&W dealer in my area that has the Nautilus speakers connected to the typical Adcom amps. They sound like crap. I am not surprised.

tireguy
1,964 posts
 
What audio "store" where you in best buy or circuit city?
bobjohnston OP
2 posts
 
Sugarbrie, you aren't going to believe this but the $3,500 speakers were hooked up to an Audio Research VT100MKIII and the cheaper speakers were hooked up to an Arcam AVR100 Receiver!!
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,558 posts
 
Maybe it was the Arcam then and not the speakers? LOL. I own a pair of speakers that retail for $845 and to me (my own taste) they outperform anything under approx $2500 (retail) that I have auditioned with the exception of the Silverline SR-17's. Stuff like this does happen and it is (as always) dependent on one's taste. Proper setup, system matching and the room also contributes a huge percentage to the overall sound. Something can sound great at a shop, but flunk horribly once at home and visa versa.
bliptrip
10 posts
 
Bobjohnston drives a great point home perfectly. It doesn't matter HOW much a speaker or component costs or WHO makes it. What matters is how much YOU like the music it makes, not the salesman or HP in the Absolute Sound or whoever.

As an example, I had a friend come over and listen to my modest (about $10k) system for an evening. At the end, he said he prefered the sound of his Cerwin-Vega speakers driven by a Pioneer AV reciever. You know what? More power to him! He gets more enjoyment from the visceral boom and raw power of his system rather than the great imaging and reasonably flat frequency response provided by mine. And I respect him for that. Maybe his ears aren't "trained" to recognize what most high-enders consider the ideal, but so what. He purchased his system on the basis of what HE liked the sound of. Not what some salesman said was superior, not what Stereophile rated an "A" component, but instead what make him happy.

So many people seem to forget what it's all about..
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