Used vs New vs Vintage vs Floorstanding vs Bookshelf vs ..... OMG!

tykozen asks:

Oh I have another question: is there really any difference between a Sony CD/Blu ray reader and an incredibly-expensive used CD reader from Audiophile brands?

and

Don't understand how a speaker with a single driver and tweeter can be more expensive and sound so much better than, let say, the Veneres, for a fraction of the price, more drivers, and supposedly, still good quality components. Are they really so good?

Yes. And no.

Depends.

Look, a bunch of guys have been saying you need to go and listen. I'll go even further. If there is one thing you can learn that will help you more than anything else its that you have to go and listen because nobody knows.

Because if one guy knows then next thing you know the secret gets out and everyone knows. Which look around, hasn't happened. So nobody knows.

The downside of this is you can't just sit there at your keyboard and click the mouse a few times and have your dream system droned to your door. You have to go and listen. The upside is you can quit wasting your time on theory, design, materials, models, new, used, other peoples opinions, all of that. Anything and everything you think you might be interested in, the only thing you care about is finding one to listen to in person.

The big, big, BIG upside to this is by going and listening you will eventually discover there's really cheap unbelievable bargains out there. Bargains nobody here will ever tell you about because they don't even know about them. Because they can only be found by searching and finding and listening to them. 

1. Read. Read reliable solid info like Robert Harley's Complete Guide to High End Audio. Study that book like your life depends on it. Literally decades since my first read and still not a day goes by I don't see questions here that are answered in that book.

2. Disregard. A lot of stuff on the web is dudes with no experience to back up what they nevertheless are quite eager to tell you as if they have a clue when they don't. #1 above will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

3. Listen. While you are reading up spend as much time as you can listening to as much gear as you can. Pay attention to everything- all the associated components, how they are set up - especially the speakers - the room, even things like do they leave the SS gear on overnight or was it just turned on, are the components on cones and the cables elevated up off the floor and is the system complete or are there stock factory power cords. Even doing this its almost impossible to get a handle on what you're hearing unless you have them swap out some components. So always ask to hear the system with a different power cord, interconnect, speaker cable, etc. This one simple step will massively accelerate your learning curve.

4. Budget. You mention being new and wanting to buy speakers. But why speakers? Its common to place way too much importance on speakers. They are important for sure, but really not much more so than anything else. You will never get good sound without also having very good speaker cables, amp, interconnects, power cords, and a turntable. Beyond that you will be surprised how much an already good system can be improved by "accessories" and "tweaks" like fuses, cones, and other neat stuff. Guess what? Covered in Harley's book! Pretty much everything I'm saying is covered in his book! Including to budget serious money for all the stuff above. 

5. Reality. The $3k speakers you are now up to would be at home in a really sweet $15k system. The other $12k going into all the wire and cones and fuses, etc. Each individual component if bought as above will indeed be an improvement. But the truth is with the right purchases and a synergistic balance of all components you could have a sweet system complete and done for that same $3k. Most never figure this out, instead chase after grail after grail, never getting good results because they spend so much on each grail they never have the money to fill in what is needed to get the most out of the grails.

Its a balancing act with you on the wire and not much of a net below. That's why its best to start with the wire nice and low and practice, practice, practice is better than spend, spend, spend.