2. speakers
  3. 185351-178346

The Snob Appeal Premium

I have learned that speakers are a typical victim of "Designer Label Syndrome".  Supposedly an $8 billion a year market (hard to believe) speakers are fairly simple beasts with little substantive improvements over the last 50 years. Ever since Paul Klipsch ( a character in his own right) read the Bell Labs 1934 papers and revolutionized speaker technology there have been few similar revolutionary improvements to the speaker. So- if you are an enterprising manufacturer of speakers (which are relatively cheap to build) how do you extract more and more money from the consumer ?  Answer: Synthetic demand driven by cachet' !  Like a pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers @ $650 a pair vs. New Balance runners @ 60/pr. It's snobby bragging rights stuff I'm describing here- perceived vs. actual value in a product. 

Here's an anecdotal example: 

I recently set out to build a high end mid-fi system (ARC preamp, power amp, Dac 9) for a large room "main house" (not a listening room) system. The goal was big, full, rich sound in a room full of furniture, chow dogs, kids and untreatable other things like 20 foot ceilings, multiple openings such as a balcony to the upstairs bedrooms, etc. Basically an audiophile's nightmare. 

I auditioned a number of speakers- Perlistens supported by JL Fathom subs, B&W Signatures, Bryston Model Ts, Vienna Acoustics Mahlers and Bethovens. IMO all of these are somewhat similar towers (except the Perlistens). The price point was not as important as the sound- given the limitations of the application. 

In the shopping for new or used I found a number of odd prices. The most unusual finding was a brand new set of Model Ts here in Audiogon advertised for $4K with a 20 year factory warranty. The dealer had one slide around of his hand truck and it put white paint smears on a corner of the Boston Cherry cabinet. Hmmm- 4 grand vs. 12 grand for a small fixable cosmetic flaw? I bought them. They sound fantastic. Some elbow grease and a furniture marker pen made the flaw vanish. 

I asked the dealer (Paul Kraft in Easton PA- great guy BTW) why the Audiogon Blue Book for a Model T was so low. His answer was "snob appeal". Apparently there is a big bragging rights  premium paid for having the UFO looking B&W Signatures vs what the snobs call the Bryston Model Ts "Axioms in a fancy suit".  I later learned that there are some prominent reviewers who refuse to listen to A/B speaker comparisons behind a silk curtain unless they know what brand is being scrutinized. To me that means "payola". 

Do the Model Ts sound better to me than the Mahlers, Bethovens, B&Ws? No. But they don't sound worse either (in my application). Do the above sound $8,000-$14,000 better than the Brystons in the listening rooms of the dealers? IMO NO WAY. To be fair price/value does color my perception much like a bottle of $40 Rumbauer Zin tastes better to me than $200 Silver Oak expense account wine. 

I'm guessing this post will anger brand snobs and garner snarky comments because their taste in sound is different than mine. Although this missive is really about personal perceptions of value v. sound I found my education on pricing fascinating and I feel great about finding amazing value in the brand new Model T's that needed 30 minutes of TLC to be at home in my family room. 

Moral of the story: Try em before you buy em, and look for value. It's fun and rewarding with no buyers remorse. 

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xyesiam_a_pirate

Showing 2 responses by yoder

yoder
14 posts
 

I think more of brand confidence than snob appeal. Even if buying entry level, one hopes that a brand that makes lauded high end speakers provides the best quality components top to bottom of their offerings. This is no always the case. 

Yes, room, and tastes, and system integration,  but if you're spending $100k on speakers and can't find what you like, I think someone suggested Bose?  More seriously stated, we have unprecedented amazing speaker choices available to us now. 

I think it's more difficult at the low to midfi range, and for me, fortune favors the brave. Buy used and even old. For $1200 my legendary highly engineered KEF 107's are extremely tough to beat with great full range capabilities. My crossovers may have some rust on them, but they're weight would crush any current $1200 speaker crossover.  KEF is a brand to be confident in and new products such as LS50 appear to provide good value. 

Some manufacturers take advantage of their brand,  and while they provide nice sounding speakers,  they use the cheapest parts and charge the highest price possible on entry level products. 

It can be scarier to choose a smaller company, an internet direct company, especially one that appears to have few or even one employee,  but if you dont want to put all your money into overhead, I think that is the way to go. Is it nice to think that there is a huge team developing the best speaker?   Maybe. Even large companies will tout the great single engineer that developed their speaker. 

I think it's pretty well established that one or two people can design and build a fantastic speaker. The trick is finding the person designing that likes the sound signature you like. For me that is currently the very first home audio design by Daedalus. The best I have heard in my house ever. Caveat, I would not pay the $10-15k these would cost new though I think they're worth it versus other $10k original retail speakers I have heard. If I had that much money,  I would wait for a better used set of Daedalus to go up for sale. 

I used to steer clear of the smaller companies with supposed great speakers. If they're so great, why isn't everyone buying them?  The better of these companies are usually in high demand for what they can produce and actually back-ordered.  Salk Sound is an example of producing very high quality speakers and cabinets and always back ordered, until now going out of business with no one to take over. I suppose there's concern of long term support,  but I've yet to need support from any speaker manufacturer and many like Salk don't make their own drivers. 

Another one who, like Salk, uses same drivers as manufacturers such as Joseph Audio, is Tyler Acoustics.  I've yet to get a pair, but you can sometimes find some used at price of high end drivers, let alone crossovers and cabinets.  You'll never find that value with big name brands, and Tyler speakers are highly regarded. 

Even better than DIY, buy a used set of DIY for less than the cost of the parts after the builder moves on to the next project. Make sure you pay low since resale of DIY is the lowest of the low. I think this is a good example where more value is put on brand confidence than sound quality, but may have nothing to do with snobbery of brand or lack thereof if not a kit. Again the idea, if it's so great, why doesn't everyone DIY?  Also, lack of reviews, etc.

yoder
14 posts
 

@kokakolia may depend what you value,  but the Ruark wouldn't contend overall with KEF 107's for me.  I think you're right that KEF is not the right brand example of not snobbery though I believe they still offer some current value contenders based on feedback from listeners I trust.  I was getting caught up more in KEF 107 value than brand snobbery discussion.  Whether you love them or not, the Ruarks would appear to be a not snob choice. If $600 is beyond your limit,  I would call you a cheapskate,  and applaud you for it if you're happy with what you have. Though they may be relatively cheap you're doing some snobbing on driver brand and crossover designer influence. 

More to discover