Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

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RE: looking through the wrong end of the telescope

Posted by rebbi on August 7, 2012 at 20:52:41:
I think Bruce From DC has a good point here.

I was recently at the first day of the California Audio Show in Burlingame and finally got to hear some speakers I'd read about but never heard in person.

I heard some humongous Wilsons (I think) and THEY WERE VERY LOUD (and not much else).

I heard the small Magico's and they were nice, but $27,000 worth of "nice?" Not to my taste, no. And what's the use of all that proprietary tech and overbuilt cabinetry if what comes out isn't moving you?

Then I wandered into the Audio Note room, which was squirreled away around a corner at the end of the 2nd floor of the hotel.

They were featuring the E/SPe HE. $9600/pair, plus an additional $650/pair for the stands.

Attractive? Not especially, just a couple of biggish boxes.

Exotic materials? Nope. "Just" a 1" silk dome tweeter and an 8" hemp cone mid-bass driver, with some fancy-pants silver wire and high-end crossover parts on the inside.

Machined, military grade, aluminum cabinetry? Uh-uh. Plywood all around, minimally braced.

The sound in that room... sublime... I mean, jaw-droppingly gorgeous and musical, so much so that as limited as my time was, I made it my business to get back to that room one more time to be sure I'd heard what I thought I'd heard.

Now, 10K for speakers is beyond my budget, and corner placement is out in my room. But I think this experience supports Bruce's contention that it's not about the physical components that go into the speaker that determines its value. It's more about what comes out than what goes in.