Average Price Spent for Speakers

To further consider this question, what impact does the cosmetic component play in this choice?
Is a small black box like the b&w more or less acceptable to the wife (gender assumption there, sorry) as the, say dark red cherry cabinets they put on their more expensive models?
While Vice President of Sales for THIEL Audio, we sold 58% Cherry finish, which always surprised me. The cherry we used, was not darkened, only finished with a lacquer. Real cherry looks somewhat salmon like, for want of a better description; and some people thought it bland looking. So when I asked the question to start the thread, I thought more people would respond about the looks of their speakers, with greater passion. For example: Has anyone out there ever bought a speaker simply based on it's cosmetics? Dumb question? I'm thinking of the appeal of the B&O, gear. Audiophiles generally dismiss the B&O's sonics, so cosmetics must make up a goodly portion of some buyers decision making.
Just asking.
Larry

Maple is the speaker veneer of choice in our home. It seems to blend unobtrusively inti the decor. When we bought them, it was black or maple. If black had been the only finish, it would have been a harder spouse sell. When we were looking to upgrade the sub and the amount I was looking to spend was about 2-3 times what I'd spent before, the fact that the custom sub would come in maple helped sell my wife. Speaker finish importance really didn't hit me until I mentioned that we could upgrade the bookshelf monitors in the bedroom (the analog setup) with some nice Soliloquy speakers in Rosewood. Responses that I got about Rosewood being too dark and we already had brown speakers in there and they won't match the others set me and probably my search for new (used) monitors back months. Cosmetic importance seems to be growing at our home. The only possible way around this is if she hears speakers that aren't maple and really likes them, but living in rural Montana makes store auditions very difficult and many hours on the road with the children. So it goes.....

When I entered the Audiophile foray over a year and a half ago, my initial quest was a new pair of speakers. I hadn't yet discovered Audiogon, and my research was almost completely based on Stereophile magazine. Cabinet size was an important factor. My wife wanted satellite speakers that would be "invisible". Luckily for me, I was able to convince her of the sonic benefits provided by floorstanders. Once I determined what was an acceptable size, I looked for speakers with good Stereophile ratings. Hey, I know it's not the best way to go about choosing speakers, but it seemed to be a reasonable way to start, and I'll bet there are many like me out there.

Cosmetics were (and still are) important. B&W and Aerial loudspeakers were high on my list; they were both highly rated by Stereophile, and both were attractive. Ultimately, I purchased the Aerial 7B's because they sounded great and looked amazing. Given two pairs of equally sounding loudspeakers from which to choose, I'd buy the more attractive speakers every time.

I've since replaced the Aerials with much better (to my ears) sounding VR4 SE's. But, the Von Schweikerts are not as visually stunning as the Aerials.

The Aerials retail for $6995 in Rosewood (as I recall) and the VR4 SE's retail for $5995.

I believe most folks think anything approaching $1000 for loudspeakers is outrageous, especially if they're looking at bookshelf speakers. OK, $1000 for floorstanders seems to make more sense! Once people hear really outstanding bookshelf speakers...like the Green Mountain Audio Europas or Von Schweikert VR1 they may begin to change their minds.

This is the problem, though. It's tough for folks to audition high quality loudspeakers of the kind not found at chain electronics stores. Boutique audio dealers are intimidating to Newbees.

Anyway, bottom line. My guess is most folks want a complete Home Theater package for around $500. Cosmetics are important. Consider that Home theater packages offered by Bose and others with micro-satellites and small subwoofers sell like hotcakes. This "disappearing act" is really another form of cosmetics.

I sould mention that im a University student, and am accordingly very much budget limited. I spent $350 Canadian on a discntinued model ($550 list) that sounded better than any other locally available speakers in that price range. They are inacherrywood venner that was chosen over the other options after the speakers were chosen (it was not a consideration in speaker choice, but that they look nice is a plus). Most people I knw have a $150-300 mini system.

Lrsky, my recollection from other posts is that you now have a position at Von Schweikert. You will be able to appreciate this purchase being influenced by cosmetics. I was recently looking for good used speakers that were about 5 years old. I had been out of audio for some time due to a very expensive divorce and have recently remarried (another expensive but worthwhile pursuit). I talked to a local dealer here in Chicago who has the Von Schweikert line and had a used pair of VR-4's for sale. I was intrigued and liked how they sounded but realized that it would be an uphill climb placing these speakers in our living room. I looked at the archive section of the Von Schweikert web site and found these very nice looking Vr-4.5's and ended up buying a pair of them at auction here at Audiogon
from another of Von Schweikert local dealer (Paul Lacey...great guy by the way). The 4.5's were $600 more expensive but were worth it cosmetically. I never compared the two speakers side by side from a sonic perspective but it didn't matter! The 4.5's look great compared to the 4's. The 4.5's do sound wonderful as well. I haven't had the same success showing my wonderful spouse how great the Supertek preamp and the Berning amp look together (yet)! Bob