An encounter and lesson in speaker prices ...

Also the loss of bass from 'out of polarity' speakers. at the listening position. And if walking around the other end of the room from the speakers 'interference pattern' of the bass strength. One spot no bass at all, mover over a foot and blam! bass galore.. then another foot over no bass...

In this case, the bass was weak, but also wonky. It sounded like it was reverberating in a giant hall. Like a bass echo.

In any event, that was my clue, but the confirmation happened when I walked behind the amp I was auditioning.

Anytime I have mixed up the speaker wires it has been immediately noticed . The imaging was nonexistent .

There's no shortage of guys with way too much money and way, WAY too many dealers who find educating them too much work when its far easier to simply take their money.

One of the best things that happened to me was the dealers who happily let me alone to just listen. One of them even made a few suggestions, not components but what to listen for. At the time I couldn't hear any difference between DACs and CDPs. Or rather I could hear the differences, but only just barely, and with no idea what I was hearing.

Almost everyone listens to a stereo about the same way they look at an x-ray: they see the picture quite clearly, but with no idea what it means. Pretty much everyone's vision is plenty good enough to read an x-ray, but unless they have a pretty darn good knowledge of anatomy their odds of having a clue what they're looking at is slim to none. Even then its gonna take some practice. I mean, I can read pneumonia on a chest x-ray better than most of the docs where I work. Most people (and I mean most people everywhere, hint, hint) have no clue that just as you can't read an x-ray without a killer knowledge of anatomy and a lot of practice you can't evaluate components without a similarly specialized knowledge base and vocabulary.

Eric for example knows very well the importance of speakers being in-phase and what can happen when they aren't. Most high end customers couldn't pass that test. They are in effect looking to get into college with a grade school education. And not little house on the prairie grade school either, but modern public can't do maths can't spel either.

Its a shame that dealers are so happy to just take your money. Too many find its just too much work trying to educate their customers. In an age where everyone's ego's been inflated along with their (and I hate this word) self-esteem, I can see where they'd be afraid any more to take the risk. Just sell the guy his blue speakers. 

But it means Eric is right on. In a world where so much crap is fobbed off on people with more money than brains you can indeed score some killer deals and build a really musically satisfying system if only you take the time to develop the listening skills and knowledge base.