Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes

In the blue corner with Have Mr Dave Willlllllllson (applause) a well respected maker of fine expensive loudspeakers with a big workshop, lots of staff and huge overheads, and In the blue corner Audiogons very own Mr DIY guru and extremely nice guy John Kalllllllllll.......inowski (applause). Pep talk by the referee, clean fight, no holding, biting or kicking In the family jewels, break when I say 'cone'. Ding Ding. 25 years DW has been making speakers. JK 20 years, so not a lot In that one.Tied 1-1. Who sells the most speakers? DW by a mile. 2-1 to the blue corner. Who can make any pair you like to virtually dimension, shape, size, form and not working to rule? JK. 2-2. Who can you call anytime (well nearly) for a hi-fi chat? JK 2-3 to the red corner. Who has the best (most expensive) website and brochures? DW 3-3. Who has the best sounding speakers? I would say red corner, and the vast majority will boo and hiss and say blue corner. 4-4. Oops, Ring Invasion, ref stops the bout. A tie has been declared from a hard fought battle of the bass woofer heavyweights.

BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS...............

I would say that both are well respected speaker bods who know their capacitors from their circuit boards. My own personal view Is that Johnk can make anything as good as D.Wilson Including the all Important sound for a huge amount less than Mr.Wilson can, obviously a one man show working In his own workshop Is not going to have the overheads of a big speaker company. There Is absolutely nothing wrong with going the DIY way to attain a world class sounding speaker rather than to any other big speaker manufacturer who also produces world class sounding gear. I would prefer the red corner route myself. Judging by all the good feedback Mrk gets he leaves all his customers satisfied with all aspects of his work. Its all down to you pays yer money and you takes yer choice.

I was Impressed with the Maxx2's at the Denver show as I heard them with a cd I am very familiar with. I would not trade them for my Oris 150's that Johnk had a hand In. Does that mean they are better? Nope. I just prefer mine. They also cost a lot less.

Just my own personal opinions on the topic...........

here is another view:

a fool and his money soon are parted. there are fools and stupid fools. a stupid fool makes one mistake after another.

foolishness is not necessarily overpaying for audio equipment, but rather not being aware of one's preferences and therefore buying and selling and not having a clue as to the source of dissatisfaction.

the value of a component is subjective. one may consider a $2000 amp overpriced, while another may consider a $15000 amp fairly priced.

the key to remember is the value in use equals the value in exchange.

I've tried on numerous occasions to generate some excitement in doing some DIY hotrodding, etc on this site. Personally, I haven't gotten much response. I think many (maybe most) members of Audiogon have much more disposable income than I and like the aesthetic of the finely machined, ultra-expensive components. Not implying that this is wrong, I would definitely love to be in that game but for me, the audio quality is of almost sole importance and my budget has some very rigid constraints.

"the key to remember is the value in use equals the value in exchange"

I'm not sure what you mean here, but if you mean that your valuation of equipment is based on what the market will bear on resale then you are obviously not a DIYer. Modded equipment is well off the gold standard of branded commercial components.

hi dgarretson:

i have stated a principle of economics, namely that a consumer will pay a price equal to the value he/she places on an item, or what he/she believes it is worth.

the transaction has nothing to do with the market price.
it is based upon subjective value.

for example, if a used cd player is selling for $1500 and i think it is only worth $1000, i won't buy it. the fact that someone else will buy it is irrelevant. it is possible that someone may value the cd player at or above $1500, in which case, a sale is made.

by the way, audiophile amd diy-o-phile have different connotations. such terms may imply a desire to achieve a certain level of sound quality. however, some people are more confident. less lazy and more motivated to build something, than others. some people would prefer to let someone else do the work.