$40.000 speaker advise. Check out my list

08-16-07: Jtgofish
Are $40,000 speakers really any better than a good pair of $15000 speakers?

Are $15,000 speakers really any better than $5,000 speakers? Are $5,000 speakers really any better than $1,500 speakers? Why is everyone so concerned that Max not spend $40K? If he has it, and wants to spend it on speakers, why stop him? If someone wants to spend around $20K on a digital front end, would we all push $8000 cd players on him? Are we uncomfortable with folks playing out of our league? Live and let live.

I say enjoy your new speakers Max! If I were choosing, I would go 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 3.

John

Vandersteens have to be set up properly - all speakers do, to get the most from them.

Interesting, I've heard them set up by Richard Vandersteen himself (or at least overseen by him, as he was there!). Not impressive sounding speakers IMHO. The Dynaudio Confidence C1 speakers at less than half the price were much better sounding to my ears at HE2007, by a long shot. Speaking of which, you (the original poster) should check out the Dynaudio Confidence line speakers as well. It just goes to show you how important demoing speakers can be, as tastes can be so extremely different.

The Wilson setups sounded much better than both of those to me, but their setups cost more. IMO, the Wilson/BAT room was the best sounding room of the show, followed by Wilson/Lamm and Dynaudio/Simaudio. It was after the extensive demoing that I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase the Wilsons. I had previously been considering Vandersteens because people at Ayre had recommended I demo them (as well as Wilsons), but hearing the 5a speakers at the show was pretty anti-climactic compared to the Watt Puppy 8s. There was no comparison whatsoever in terms of mid-range detail, transparency and immediacy. The Wilsons made it seem like I was there at a real event, while the Vandersteens sounded like a pale reflection.

Another big upset for me was the Magico Minis. I had heard so much hype about those speakers as well. They sounded bright, clangorous even, and uninvolving to me, though to be fair they didn't treat the room at all like Vandersteen and Wilson did. The Confidence room wasn't treated either though, and at less than half the price, they sounded better than the Minis IMO. Nice finish on them though...

I can be quite assured of this, is a modded pair of $6,000 speakers will out perform many $40,000 pair of speakers. Maybe discovering many different things to increase a speakers performance has my confidence in this. The parts to mod may be anywhere from about a hundred to maybe a thousand pending how much you do. My thinking is why would someone ever pay a speaker manufactuer $40,000 is beyond me when modding $10,000 or less speakers or so profitable.

Interesting, so what speakers have you done these specific comparisons with? Also, what makes you think that what you find subjectively pleasing is something other people would find pleasing acoustically? Those kinds of generalizations apply to you and your opinions, not necessarily all, or even many, other people. Perhaps they hear something you don't, that is possible you know, as per this article on hearing psychology: http://psy.ucsd.edu/~ddeutsch/

I think self pride and knowing you have a jaguar instead of a modded chevy is the deal IMO!

Well, if you can generalize a whole population of people who own certain items based on your own prejudices concerning the pricing differences and sound quality of those items, then it must be true... Or, perhaps you are just biased because of those prejudices.

My mistake, I guess the Dynaudio C1 room was treated with curtains like the Vandersteen and Wilson rooms.

I guess I wouldn't mind hearing those Magico Minis again in a better setting, all things considered. Not hanging something around the room to at least make the music intelligable is gross underplanning IMO considering a speaker designer has some knowledge of acoustics and what effect higher frequency reflections will have on the sound quality...

Jkalman - I'm curious to know what your sound reference is? I always use acoustic instruments when evaluating equipment because I know what real violins, cellos and pianos sound like. For those instruments, I've never heard a Vandersteen speaker sound less than excellent. They unfailingly produce a natural instrumental timbre when set up properly. However, if you use studio produced rock/pop recordings as your reference, then anything goes because no one really knows how they should sound except the mixing engineer. Then the evaluations become entirely subjective (which is OK if that is what floats your boat but it does not allow one to judge the true accuracy of a component).
Mark