Help with new speakers

Or shop carefully and buy used here on A'gon. As long as you do not overpay, you can always sell and move on.

Buying home audio new can be a risky proposition. You never know how things will work out for you in YOUR ROOM. If you do buy new, even from a local dealer, make sure returns and refunds are an option in case needed.

Gary ... same question as B_limo, what do you find deficient with the Tributes?? Like Samac, I heard them at a dealer and was quite surprised and greatly impressed. Although I think recommending speakers is a daunting task because of the shear number of excellent brands on the market, perhaps your response to B_limo's question, and mine too, will help others make recommendations.

Back to my dealer experience. I will not tell you the other brands I compared the Tributes with because I don't want to start another speaker war. But suffice to say the other models cost signficantly more and, IMO, if speakers could eat, the Tributes would have eaten the other brands' lunches. Even the dealer scratched his head after the shoot-out.

The Tributes are gorgeous speakers that sound as good as they look. I understand that Paradigm builds the cabinets in their Canada plant and hand buffs the finish. When I auditioned the Tributes, the dealer used hand mitts to move them around because he didn't want to smudge the finish.

As an aside, the tweeters used in the Tributes are similar to the tweets used in the Signature series -- both models use a beryllium dome. I own the Signature 8s. IMO, the S8s perform way above their price point. I thought the same about the Tributes.

The only question that goes through my head is how does Paradigm pack so much speaker into such a reasonably priced product.

Back to your other question about asking price. Paradigm's MSRP for the Tributes is $6000 for a pair. I would ask 75% of your cost and see what comes back.

FWIW, out of curiousity, I thought about checking out other speaker brands. I really don't know what to do. I have the same problem as most other folks. What brands to check out and where. And how to meaningfully compare brands if Dealer X carries speaker A and Dealer Y carries speaker B. To make meaningful comparisons even harder, the Deakers often drive the speakers with different gear in different rooms. Uuuggh -- forget it!! Too much like work.

Its a good question.

I think the rotel 500w monoblocks were the weak link.

Gary, don't make a quick decision here. Make a well thought out game plan, and then wait a week. If its still the same game plan, move forward with it.

Those paradigms that you have are top notch speakers, in my oppinion. Totally different animals than paradigms studio series. I think there is alot of hidden potential with those speakers that you have not tapped into yet.

Give us a rundown of your complete rig. Room size, speaker placement, any room treatments ( diffusors, bass traps?), power conditioning, cables, source etc.

You sound like you have the same stores as I do. Are you in Colorado Springs? Interestingly, there are some very high end stores (if you can call them that) here that are in peoples homes and you would never know they were here unless you did some serious research and digging...

But again, those speakers sound absolutely fantastic, paired with the right equipment and set up properly.

If you tell us what city you're in, I bet someone here would come help you out with that...

Also, if you are trying to get 6k (?) for your speakers and you're looking at speakers that cost 10k-20k you have some money to throw at your rig. If you don't have some incredible components already like a wicked amp and pre amp, and a listening room with a lot of treatments, I'd do that.

And buy good equipment, used, at good prices and if you don't like it, you can easily get your money back...

I may be way off base here, and I don't know what components to recommend because I look at $1500 amps, not $5,000 amps, but it sounds like you aren't placing enough importance on the other pieces to the chain...