Are these damned brands or not good speakers?

"they are EXTRA-ordinary speakers"
Says who, the hyped audio reviews. Always read caerefully all reviews, comsumer comments, read it 10 X's with a microscope, read between the lines, you'll begin to notice cracks and holes in the "review" =BS.
Sorry but I'm not impressed with these new futuristic sounding titles.
I spent 1 yr reading and posting comments on the Madisound speaker discussion forum, asking questions about drivers.
I got a few answers there and was part of my long timely research project in finding the right speaker for me.
I went with a DIYer design, a guy from Madisound and turned out to be a total dud, a wasr=te of $2K, lucky for me DEnnis Murphy took them off my hands for 1/2 price.
I then bought a kit from madisound and am now a very happy camper.
So do your research.
Big ads in audio mags do not impress me, not one bit.

Paul

Compared to starting an automobile manufacturing firm or a nuclear power generating company the barriers to entry for starting a loudspeaker company are very small. As a result there are plenty of small companies entering the field. There is absolutely no reason that a small boutique firm cannot produce and outstanding product. The technical knowledge of loudspeaker design is fairly well understood and in the public domain. There are multiple sources of high quality drivers. Plus any decent woodwork shop can build a high quality cabinet. If the boutique designer has a good ear and takes the time and effort to refine his product it can be competitive with the products from larger manufacturers.

Sometimes the boutique firm's product is higher priced than the bigger firms' offerings because of poor economies of scale resulting from limited production runs. Other times the boutique firm can offer comparable performance for a lower price because it doesn't have an advertising budget, doesn't maintain a large inventory, much smaller staffing requirements, no big production and warehousing costs and eliminating multiple middlemen by selling direct to the customer. It's wrong to paint small manufacturers with a broad brush. As consumers we must do our homework and find those firms that offer excellent performance and high value. They could just as easily be a large or small firm.

Well on Green Mountain Audio, I heard the $2900/pr. Callistos while on vacation a month and a half ago, and they are certainly worthy of their praise. Ugly as mud IMO, but quite good sounding indeed.

That said, the point about limited distribution channels does have some merit. The dealer I heard them at treated me very snobishly, and I would never buy anything from *him* after that negative experience... Too bad there are only a few dealers available for the brand.

---Dave

I'll add another voice to support GMA's speakers. Amazing product for the money. Can't comment about dealers, but some high end shops do tend to be snobbish.

14 years and still happy with my Caravelles!