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Under rated speakers due to price....?

AND the resulting associated equipment?

I have a theory and am interested what others think about it. Is it possible that we underrate some speakers because they sell for a reasonable price and therefor listen to them with similar equipment?

I have a decent system consisting of the Rowland integrated amp, SCD-777ES and normally Aerial Model 6 speakers with a Storm III. I have frequently purchased many "cheap" speakers for second systems and I always try them in the good system just for kicks. Some sound OK, but some sound great. I recently tried a pair of less than $300 (Circuit City price) Polk RT35i speakers in the good system and could not believe how awesome they sounded for 1/10 the price of the Aerials. I could easily see some new high end company selling a similar sounding product for 5 times the price and getting it with happy customers.
I then thought about it - - how often do you hear about 2-500 dollar speakers being paired with a 10k system? Has anyone ever checked the associated equipment in Stereophile's class A speakers against the class B or C's? I didn't have the patience. But I bet as a rule that exotic speakers like Grand Utopias or Pipe Dreams are NOT listened to with low hi-end equipment like the lesser speakers are. If you pair some Vandersteen 2c's or B&W CDM-1's with Boulder amps, (and list the speakers at 10 grand) might people call them "some of the best?"
jimmy2615
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I thought later to mention that my B&W P5 have the same tweeter, kevlar midrange and cobex woofer as the Matrix series, so I am not surprised they perform well. They also have a first order crossover, not a mass produced crossover found in most lower cost speakers. They just don't have a matrix cabinet. But the cabinet design is excellent and they look nice. Beautiful natural cherry veneer like the light cherry Nautilus.

Also the $4400 list I quote for my preamp and amplifier I run them with is for both pieces, NOT $4400 each.

hifimaniac
507 posts
 
I remember seeing the Carver ribbon speaker ($1600-1800 a pair at the time) at a Stereophile hifi show in L.A. years back and they sounded absolutely amazing...until I looked under the table behind the speakers and saw they were being driven by those tube amps Carver built for awhile that had literally about 30 tubes in each. I asked the guy if they would sound that good with an Adcom amp and he tried to tell me it would be very close. Sure... Good electronics will make an average speaker sing, but never the other way around. It all starts in the front end and works towards the speaker and the speaker is still and probably always will be the weakest link in audio. I am a Krell fan, but that LAT is the biggest joke I have ever seen in audio. Terrible bass for $37K..Stick to amps Dan. My favorite cheap speaker is the Sound Dynamic line. The line has only cheap black ash cabinets, but for under a grand some of their stuff is incredible sounding. Polk too over builds some of their speakers to attract market share. Good value for the low end.
hawaiikid
107 posts
 
Have you heard the Totem Hawk speaker? This speaker retails for around $2,300 but produces a much more sophisticated sound than its price. In particular, the Hawk speaker plays much bigger than its size, is very musical and transparent, has good lows, very detailed, and is very fast. A great bargain for the price! Of course, everything is system dependent and when done correctly, the sound is great. This speaker is best in small to midsize rooms.
chazzbo
1,006 posts
 
themselves out of a great product when they ditched the 302 with it's unique back plate which according to them killed standing waves in the cabinet etc.Ony $250 the new $300 has a betterbass/mid driver but it'scabinet and tweeter aren't as good at the uppers like the 302 was.Great to recomend to non-'phile freinds or for your computer/second system.Stereophile gave it raves it won awards so what di they have to do?Discontinue it.Twas ever thus.
celtic66
990 posts
 
Jimmy,

You've rediscovered the very old British formula for audio which designated 40% of dollars to source, 30% to amplification and 20% to speakers with 10% for miscellaneous such as cables. Source is by far the most influential with speakers being the least (as long as good equipment is used throughout). The formula reversed results in terrible results.
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