Newbie Question

chmaestro,

Thanks for your input. I've heard from many other sources that Paradigm is "the real deal" and that they are able to provide a better value than their competitors due to:

1) Lower labor costs in Canada, and
2) Impact of the US Dollar's appreciation against the Canadian Dollar from 1992-2002. Since much of their sales are in USD but costs (at least labor and overhead) are in CAD, they have historically been able to offer a better product for the same USD price than their competitors. Since the USD has depreciated so much in this past year, it will be interesting to see if Paradigm raises their prices.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this.

I doubt labor costs are any lower in Canada after adjusting for foreign exchange. I always thought the reason Canadian speakers provide good value is because of government subsidized R&D.

firstly, I'm no expert (at anything), but here's is my 2 cents....

i agree with peacefrog's first part of arguement...global market these days...free trade capitalism...

i think paradigm offers a great product (with some attention to detail) for the price due to size of company/dealer network (a lot like Trek bicycles(only good anology i could think of), benefitting from high quality mass production.

government subsidies? Yale grad students?...i think it's just an economy of scales thing (remember that term from econ 101?)...every town i have ever lived in has had a paradigm dealer (and a Trek bicycle shop!)

but there are better, smaller, companies out there that can really pay attention to details and make refined, value based products due to smaller overhead and fierce competition...

that being said, i currently own paradigm monitor 7v2s and have been very happy but have begun looking for upgrade (see current thread for modest arcam alpha system speaker upgrade)...honestly, when i bought them, i didn't demo any competitiors because nothing else looked as nice that was in my price point in the audio shop's speakerroom

as for the SACD thing...I am a resistor to the movement...i also am not a huge fan of denon...maybe a little old school, but i like stereo and stereo production...not digital manipulation of stereo albums to be played on sacd

i know, a lot of compact discs have already been manipulated from analog...but "i'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, dude"....any joe shmoe should be able to manipulate the image and soundstage if he has 5-7 speakers to work with...where is the fun in that?...i'd suggest looking into buying a high quality cd player and a cheapo dvd player...
Mark

guerrilla marketing!...what an awsome concept....i picture jim beloushi and dan ackaroyd dressed in black get-ups with ski masks in some dark NYC alley pushing gorrillas on unsuspecting passer-bys....

Of the mass market speakers Paradigm offers some of the better value for your money. Can you do better for the same money? Most definitely.

In your price range I'd check into Epos ELS-3, Monitor Audio B2, Acoustic Energy and consumer direct companies like Ascend Acoustics and Axiom.