Affordable vs. ultra expensive speakers - what's the difference?


Candidate 1: Affordable at about 3K

 

Candidate 2: Ultra expensive at 50K.

 

So what's the difference?

andy2

I just was lucky to get a pair of the affordable speakers Philharmonic BMR Tower.

Their sound is magnificent and they look good! 

If you are in the Washington Metro area perhaps Dennis Murphy, the designer of the speakers,  could demo them.

I think if you got disposable money like that, you might as well jump on them.  Even the sonical difference is not that significant, they are pieces of beautiful furnitures that you could use to showcase your home.  Why not?

There are many more expensive speakers than the ones you mention, and if you have the money to spend, the time to listen, the difference in sound adds more enjoyment, then those more expensive speakers are the right ones for you. If you don’t like to spend money, then the cheapest speakers are right for you. In reality, it’s a combination of your wallet and diminishing returns.

The tech in a speaker is still placed inside furniture (cabinet) with the entire package placed in a room to form the "system" you hear.  A great room makes a good system sound great and a bad room makes a good system sound bad, simple as that.  This is universal between pro studios and home listening rooms.  Microphones are the ears of a pro studio and good studio rooms make everything "record better", a direct parallel to you listening in your listening room.  Spending a fortune on loudspeakers in a bad room is a bad investment.  No EQ, no DSP, no speaker will deliver what a good room can- at home or studio.

The future of the audiophile is investing in high performance rooms first, then place technically advanced speakers inside them with wide dynamics, wide dispersion and low distortion.

Brad