The new dynamic in speaker pricing

@fleschler  Your friend is very typical of a number of a'philes who much prefer putting their money into gear than into the room acoustics! Crazy to do this, IME.

The benefit he would get with going to similar lengths as you did to treat his room would far off-set the differences he likely got from lowering the far too high YG tweeters. Windows behind speakers is also never a great thing, IMO. That, plus his room is basically a square results in the sound you describe.

@fleschler   Sounds like you heard a classic mismatch of gear that had little synergy. When i heard the Alexx V's, they were in a huge room ( 45'X30'!) partnered with D'agostino amps/ preamp and a MSB Select 2 DAC. Superb sound with a huge soundstage and amazing dynamic impact/scale. However, whenever I have heard McIntosh amps, I hear what you describe, so that is where I would expect  the results you heard.

How big was the room you heard the Alexx V's in? I think anything smaller than about 25' x30' would be a limiting factor for these large speakers!

Take a look at the new issue of The Absolute Sound, you will see offerings from, among others, Magico, Wilson, Tidal, Kharma. Plus a larger number of manufacturer's with speakers in the $150-$500K arena.

While I appreciate the attempts at humor, the question that maybe should be asked is how superior are these speakers to the more common place offerings that most of us have heard? Is it possible that these ultra speakers can bring the very well heeled audiophile a lot closer to the sound of the ‘real’?

@drbarney1 I see you had a purpose built room built for your system, or was it a system built for your room design!! ...;0)

Either way, your room is certainly "unique"!!!!

There is a good question as to whether a speaker design that would be tiny, have zero aesthetics and yet be a ’world beater’, would actually have any traction regardless of pricing. Most manufacturers ( maybe all?) are cognizant of the fact that folks in this hobby tend to buy using their eyes more than their ears. As such, a ultra pricey offering had better have some serious bling to it, or be large enough to create a sense of awe. A tiny speaker, like in my above example, would have little chance at the price points we are talking about---even if it was the best sounding speaker ever made! Interesting point.

A few months back i heard the new Wilson Alexx Vs. These are a very impressive speaker. What struck me was that at this level, and room dependent, the speaker can portray the sense of ’scale’ of a large ’live’ event! That is something that I think only larger speakers can accomplish. ( plus the room has to be large enough to allow for this portrayal!). What the multi kilo buck ( $700K+) speaker brings over this is not obvious to me. The Wilsons’ retail for about $135K and require a stout amp upstream and a very large room, but give them this...and I think most of us would be happy. OTOH, maybe the top of the line Magico’s and the others mentioned above do offer something in addition...question in my mind is what that is? I would like to hear for myself if the additional large $$ is easily heard, or if the law of diminishing returns is so great at this price point that all you are buying is ’bragging rights’??

@blisshifi Some good points. However, historically there have been a number of ultra priced speakers that have come to the market that have really failed to not only catch the consumers attention, but have also failed in their ability to sound better than the far lower priced competition. This leaves the few that dipped into their wallet with a costly boat anchor that is now difficult to move on. As the speaker pricing factors increase, now many over $350K, not only does the value for money equation surface, but also the ’expectation’ level of the consumer. Admitedly  one could argue that at this price level, the consumer is not really that concerned about the above...and as such these points are irrelevant. Interestingly, the few folks that i know that would be able to dip into this price pool are in fact exactly the opposite...they are extremely value conscious! YMMV.

@fleschler Great point about the cost of the room. I would think that anyone who has the ability to buy the mega $$ speaker would have a room that could accommodate it. Not just from a size perspective ( although this is a given) but also from the acoustic requirements. This may be an assumption that is incorrect, as I suspect ( and I have seen a few poor room set ups with very pricey gear) that this is not always going to be the case. If one has a budget like you stated, then i would think that putting the bulk of the budget into the room and its acoustics will pay greater dividends than just about anything else. As you describe.

Question is what your friends very nice YG’s would sound like in your room?...I would guess that you would be tempted to pass on your Legacies then!

@keithr   I tend to agree that the price tag of some of these candidates tends to be off-putting, when considered against their abilities, or lack thereof! 

When I heard the big Stenheim's, I was also pretty unimpressed. I was impressed with the Alexx V's, but they require a very large room, a lot of upstream grunt and a fat wallet. Nonetheless, if you have the room and the power ( and the $$), then I would consider them a contender.

@fleschler   I would suggest that you reserve your judgement of the new Wilson Alexx V's until such time as you have the opportunity to hear them with an appropriate setting and gear. I suspect you will then have a different opinion of the presentation.