Yes, there is satisfaction in owning something special, and expensive, but bragging rights? I never say how much things cost, and because my gear is “ugly,” by conventional taste, most people who see it have no idea how much it costs. I would be embarrassed if people knew the truth.
The Snob Appeal Premium
I have learned that speakers are a typical victim of "Designer Label Syndrome". Supposedly an $8 billion a year market (hard to believe) speakers are fairly simple beasts with little substantive improvements over the last 50 years. Ever since Paul Klipsch ( a character in his own right) read the Bell Labs 1934 papers and revolutionized speaker technology there have been few similar revolutionary improvements to the speaker. So- if you are an enterprising manufacturer of speakers (which are relatively cheap to build) how do you extract more and more money from the consumer ? Answer: Synthetic demand driven by cachet' ! Like a pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers @ $650 a pair vs. New Balance runners @ 60/pr. It's snobby bragging rights stuff I'm describing here- perceived vs. actual value in a product.
Here's an anecdotal example:
I recently set out to build a high end mid-fi system (ARC preamp, power amp, Dac 9) for a large room "main house" (not a listening room) system. The goal was big, full, rich sound in a room full of furniture, chow dogs, kids and untreatable other things like 20 foot ceilings, multiple openings such as a balcony to the upstairs bedrooms, etc. Basically an audiophile's nightmare.
I auditioned a number of speakers- Perlistens supported by JL Fathom subs, B&W Signatures, Bryston Model Ts, Vienna Acoustics Mahlers and Bethovens. IMO all of these are somewhat similar towers (except the Perlistens). The price point was not as important as the sound- given the limitations of the application.
In the shopping for new or used I found a number of odd prices. The most unusual finding was a brand new set of Model Ts here in Audiogon advertised for $4K with a 20 year factory warranty. The dealer had one slide around of his hand truck and it put white paint smears on a corner of the Boston Cherry cabinet. Hmmm- 4 grand vs. 12 grand for a small fixable cosmetic flaw? I bought them. They sound fantastic. Some elbow grease and a furniture marker pen made the flaw vanish.
I asked the dealer (Paul Kraft in Easton PA- great guy BTW) why the Audiogon Blue Book for a Model T was so low. His answer was "snob appeal". Apparently there is a big bragging rights premium paid for having the UFO looking B&W Signatures vs what the snobs call the Bryston Model Ts "Axioms in a fancy suit". I later learned that there are some prominent reviewers who refuse to listen to A/B speaker comparisons behind a silk curtain unless they know what brand is being scrutinized. To me that means "payola".
Do the Model Ts sound better to me than the Mahlers, Bethovens, B&Ws? No. But they don't sound worse either (in my application). Do the above sound $8,000-$14,000 better than the Brystons in the listening rooms of the dealers? IMO NO WAY. To be fair price/value does color my perception much like a bottle of $40 Rumbauer Zin tastes better to me than $200 Silver Oak expense account wine.
I'm guessing this post will anger brand snobs and garner snarky comments because their taste in sound is different than mine. Although this missive is really about personal perceptions of value v. sound I found my education on pricing fascinating and I feel great about finding amazing value in the brand new Model T's that needed 30 minutes of TLC to be at home in my family room.
Moral of the story: Try em before you buy em, and look for value. It's fun and rewarding with no buyers remorse.
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I just replaced my YG’s with Vivid Audio Giya G2 Series 2 Kubala Sosna Realization Cables Modwright KWH 225i integrated amp that’s a hybrid…it’s amazing and just so real sounding. It is a hidden gem and 220w into 8 and 400w into 4 ohms. It can compete with the big boys and beat most separates under 20-30k. I have a Lampizator Baltic 2 that was modified by VuJaDe Audio and recapped with V-Caps and Audio Note caps, new resistors and a steel cover over the transformer and a huge clarity cap on the power choke. I use a Sophia electric 274b rectifier. Streamer is an Auralic Ares G1 I am upgrading to a G3 when they are available. My system is not plug and play from big box stuff and I had to do a lot of work getting the sound I want. I went through 4 amps, 3 pairs of speakers and 3 sets of cables and 2 dacs and one sound engineer moding my gear before I got it the way I want. This took me over 3.5 years to get done. |
The ROOM has so much more influence tham (one poster above indicating '10,000 to build') vs say 1,000 cost to build. Consequently, the 58k speaker will potentially sound WORSE than the 5k speaker in that same room. And A vs B is the ONLY way (as in EVERY subjective (the definition of TASTE) competition) to find out what you LIKE better (there is no "IS BETTER" when it comes to TASTE or any other subjective field). And THAT opens the EMOTION
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@yesiam_a_pirate Here ya go! Canadian CraftsmanshipIt's incredibly difficult to produce loudspeakers that are of such substantial quality yet price them so competitively. Many other companies try to do so offshore. Bryston has managed to engineer and produce such remarkable loudspeakers right at home in Canada makes them even more impressive.
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