An encounter and lesson in speaker prices ...


Not to long ago, in a shop I like but will remain nameless I got to observe a customer evaluate a pair of systems side by side. The buyer had an eastern European accent. First they listened to the larger system, $50k speakers, equivalently priced amps and digital.


It sounded _really_ good. Then we moved to another system. Slightly smaller speaker pair, around $20k, completely different DAC and amp. Sounded like crap. The digititis was unbearable and the speakers were clearly out of phase. On top of that, the treble and bass balance were now all wrong.


The buyer was "I like them, what colors do they com in? " and that was that.

After the buyer left I looked behind at the amp. Yep, I was right, the pahse was reversed. The darkness of the room and angle made this an easy and common mistake to make. But the rest was unbearable.


What is my point? The people buying the top end gear are not necessarily the one’s with decent ears, so we really cannot trust price points to be any sort of guide to value. If you develop your taste on your own, independent of prices, you can score some fabulously performing gear at a fraction of what this buyer was going to end up with.


Best,

E
erik_squires
Buyer bought the the out of phase. Well, TBH, I don't know he actually bought. But he felt the out of phase was almost as good, and in his price range. So he started talking about colors and delivery times and left the showroom with the dealer.
If he is happy who are you or we to judge?
Maybe the dealer did it on purpose?
Imagine how good those speakers will sound in his home when he "presumably" connects them correctly.
Hi @gawdbless :
Of course, fools and their money are easily parted, and individually, no I don't care. My point was that this says something about gear prices and culture. This is a social commentary post, and I hope you don't object to that.

And yeah, wouldn't that be interesting if the dealer did it to make them sound more spacious?? I doubt it though. I looked and it was really hard to see the colors.

Best,

E