Whats the deal?


Why do people, myself included, place so much emphasis on build quality and appearance over sound?  It’s so strange that I’ll do just about anything to make my system sound better apart from using tone controls or buying / enjoying speakers that don’t use high quality drivers, cabs and crossovers.  It’s like I have an audiophile checklist of dos and don’ts

A good example would be the fact that I have bought and listened to many different models of Paradigm speakers and the only ones that I loved were the Signature 2 V.2.  I have loved the way  many other Paradigm speakers that I owned looked or were built but when it comes to sound they were all too bright.  Sure they image well and have good dynamics but I see so many posts about paradigm that have a similar tones (no pun intended).

Why oh why do we spend all kinds of $ trying to make speakers that we don’t like sound like speakers that we do like.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy new speakers as opposed to new amp, source, wires, room acoustic treatments trying to put band aids on speakers that we don’t like?

Kind of reminds me of marriages where the Wife is a total jerk yet the Husband will stay with her forever because she’s beautiful.  
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n80,

(I'm the troll she stays with....who knows why.)
She knows why, but she may never tell.
gasbose and glupson....I’m a sucker, I think most tractors are beautiful. I have a Kubota L4400 4wd. It is not a shiny anymore as in the picture below but I still think it is a fine looking machine:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/guide/upload/review_photos/302/photo1/_DSC0475.jpg

As far as ugly speakers that perform well......I don’t mean to step on any toes but there are some ugly speakers out there. Almost everything Wilson makes is hideous to me. Particularly the Alexandria model. The top end Vandersteens seem pretty ugly to me. I’m sure their well heeled owners don’t think they are ugly and I’m assuming they sound good enough (for that kind of money) that they don’t care about how they look.

I had a pair of B&W towers that I thought were ugly (I don’t like the tweeter wart on top) and they did not sound to good either....but they had been abused.
n80,

I am a city kid and my only tractor experience was really those two Matchboxes. I loved them. If you only knew how much of my carpet did that red one plow. Your tractor does look like some real thing. I can see why you like it. Too bad it came out after I stopped buying Matchboxes. I would have probably had feelings for it, too.