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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@bolong You hit me right in the feels man! Yeah, I was a snobbing no doubt. Regardless, these Ruark speakers look like an unbeatable deal. Furthermore, you can save a lot of cash if you have the knowledge. SEAS drivers are good. Linkwitz knows a lot about crossovers. Take notice. So you can always describe a statement with many adjectives. 

Audiophile snobs are those who list their entire system (with prices) whenever the opportunity presents itself in a thread.
 
I am certainly an audiophile then because i always proudly mention the price of my system : 700 bucks...
 
 
 
I agree with Mike Lavigne , while I never had a Porche, my Vette doesn’t get much use .... my humble system does get used daily, every day. Much better value and ROI for sure.
 
 
Only great books compete with Bach in a well designed acoustic room and walking our dogs... Ferrari or Porsche toys are for children in my book,.... Our priorities are not the same it seems...
 
 
 

I am certain of one thing about this hobby: recognition from peers is the most important thing! Brand image. I’m just fascinated by these cheap class D mini-amps which get hyped to infinity due to excellent measurements but sound "meh" at best and the power ratings are overshot. And on the high end of midrange folks are spending a fortune on vintage Klipsch, JBL and LS3/5A speakers. Or Marantz/Pioneer amplifiers. This hobby is 99% marketing and hype. I’m sorry. But you can use that to your advantage and score a sweet vintage system for dirt cheap if nobody cares about the brand. I’m specifically hinting towards the 1990s or 2000s (the dark ages of HiFi LOL) and the UK brands outside of B&W, Naim, KEF or NAD.

Great post! you are right on the spot for me...

 

 

How do we recognize good sound anway ? Nobody is born with a set of neurons dedicated to audiophile recognition... Most people recognize good sound by price tags...

Some design their own speakers, which i could not do; but others like me tuned their room ... There is only one WAY to learn how to listen , it is acoustic control of the room... Reading reviews about high, bass imaging soundstage are of no use at all sorry...

And if you are unable to trust your ears and train them you will be insecure with no clue save price tag..

I always mention my price tag audio system costling 700 bucks for the same reason others underlined their many thousand bucks system prrice : childish pride.. I am not immune to it ..😊

But in one case the buyer bought and learn nothing most of the times... In my case i learned a lot...

Audiophiles are nasty snobs period, articles have been written on the subject asking why this is so, why so many are a-holes. I think the wannabe audiophiles are the worst. 

You are not even wrong..

The problem is putting all people in a category and judging them all in the same way...

Pidgeon do that, not human brain...

I am an audiophile and i am not in your one sticker category...

But perhaps i am an a-holes...But i am not a snob... We need a binary tree here...But i think a graph will do better...

😊

 

 

 

Audiophiles are nasty snobs period, articles have been written on the subject asking why this is so, why so many are a-holes. I think the wannabe audiophiles are the worst.