Misconceptions of Speakers

I of course did not include the Ab Fab Harbeth speakers in my under $2.5K audition list. Hard buggers to find in the US.

I agree that the electronics connected to it will make all the difference as a true high end speaker will just reproduce what is being sent to it. Similiarly, it is like having a really nice amp connected to a lousy receiver...well, you are only going to amplify the crap being sent to it!!! That being said, a lot of times, you will find companies that have competence in engineering a speaker up to a 2-3k level and after that it you are paying for decorations.. I have found that to be true in a lot of cases where 8k speakers barely sounded better than 2-4k ones. One I have a particularly soft spot for is the Paradigm Reference 100s. They are about 2.5k and sound absolutely awesome. Beat the pants off of a lot of 5k+ speakers and have had a few dealers confirm this as well.

I am in love with my Paradigm Referance Active 40s also. They easily outperform speakers costing many times more.

I would be very wary of any product that immediately sounds impressive. It's been my experience that the better components, those that give long-term satisfaction, generally sound a little bland in the audio showroom. It's not so much what the component does right, but the fact that it does very little wrong.

Listening to music only requires enthusiasm, but evaluating audio components requires a certain amount of knowledge and training. The fact is, not everybody has an educated ear.

Ohhwy61 is right on the money. Products usually "stand out" because there is some specific irregularity that catches your ear. Speakers that are "forward" often seem louder, clearer, offer better resolution due to propped up midrange, etc... Try listening to speakers like that on a long term basis though and it gets old real quick. The same can be said for speakers that have slightly elevated bass sounding "powerful", having "great impact", etc...

I went with my brother to buy speakers quite a few years ago. The speakers he picked out sounded good in the showroom. I told him that they would sound horrible at home. He asked "which ones do you think i should buy". I simply pointed to them. His response was "those are the flattest, dullest sounding ones in here. NO WAY". Needless to say, he ended up returning the "commercially marketable" models and bought the ones that i suggested. He had them for years and now one of his friends is enjoying them.

Something else to keep in mind is that most speakers have well under $200 in parts in them ( wholesale ). Much of what you are paying for is research & development, etc.. Smaller companies don't do as much of this since they don't have the means to do so, but that doesn't mean that they can't produce a very fine product simply by trial and error, fine tuning basic designs, etc...

As a case in point, we've built speakers for $150 total that looked and sounded like some $2500 - $3500 models. Not all products are created equally nor do they share the same design or "mark up" philosophy. Many times, the simpler and lower cost models will easily outperform larger, more complex designs. They just don't offer the volume capability or extension at the frequency extremes that the bigger, more costly models do. That's why the "monitor on stands / subwoofer" design has caught on so well for many people. You can start with good "basic" speakers that don't chew up a lot of space ( high WAF ) and then go for the extreme bottom end at a later date. Not only does the subwoofer extend the bass once it is added, it frees up the monitor so that the mids are even sharper and cleaner while also increasing the volume capability. The best of both worlds and it spreads your cost out. Sean
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