Speakers and audio equipment worth multiples of the asking price

[@wingsounds13]

There's a lot of truth in what Paul says in this video, it's one of his better answers. Frequently, when you pay a lot more for speakers (or any audio equipment for that matter) you are paying for marketing. Consider it a 'prestige tax'. If you shop carefully, you can get much the same performance, or better, for much less money - if you aren't concerned about the 'prestige' value of the product. The brands like Paul mentioned (but he missed a true value leader in Schiit Audio), including his own PS Audio, do produce high value products for more reasonable prices. The downside of these brands is that they lack that 'Ooh... Ahhh... Great brand' factor. Personally, I'm a cheapskate. I don't care if it's gold plated, has a two inch thick elaborately machined faceplate or that prestigious name. What counts for me is the performance at the most reasonable cost that I can find.

[@oliverbeard7912]

Hi.Well said and a "thumbs up" from me. It can be easy for some to become tied up in the prestige and feel if their system costs more then it must be better. Throwing money at audio does produce better quality for the most part,but there are some brands out there who are more value driven with some real world price tags that many can realistically aspire to,providing a performance similar to the "house money" prestige driven companies without requiring a lottery win or a remortgage.

[@benwu7980]

@@oliverbeard7912 There's certainly a few brands or product lines that punch above their weight, there's also a lot of overpriced stuff from prestige companies. Something worth noting is the resale price on particular brands. I mainly buy second hand from a very good store here and it's often quite interesting to see the differing amount of price reduction over msrp between relatively similar products.

[@vagabond197979]

What brands of loudspeakers are typically the best value in your experience?

[@rrd1975]

You make some great points! I'm not wealthy, so high value, high performance components are everything to me.

[@oliverbeard7912]

@@vagabond197979 Hi Not that I'm super into making recommendations, but something well engineered is a good place to start. Andrew Jones' creations ie Elac and more recently MO-Fi are good in that respect. KEF LS50 perform well too at the lower price points. There are well engineered high end companies products too,but you don't have to spend a fortune to get something that has a good blend of response evenness, clean waterfall plots decent dispersion and a smooth transition at the crossover point. Such properties won't guarantee that you like the brands mentioned and they're not the only specs that may matter to the end user, but they're not a bad starting point. Hope this helps.

[@beamer.electronics]

It's also worth noting that old adage - "Things are only worth what somebody's prepared to pay for them".

[@davidcross890]

Or the false hyped inflations made by others

[@mikeday62]

Paul you did it again. Don't call me Shirley! 😆

[@viziontex]

Paul what i have noticed is that you never bash your competitors and kudos to you great respect! ❤

[@davidcross890]

Part of the problem

[@babubabu12345]

Paul sir always gives good advice to every people...🙏

[@matthewbarrow3727]

One should try going to an audio show to listen to different speakers regardless of price to see what you like. I recommended that my brother do that before getting his first audiophile system. He went to a pretty small audio show in England. He was impressed with the $1700 Goldenear BRX speakers with subwoofer as well as a pair of $60,000 TAD speakers. He was not impressed with any of the others. I then recommended that he go to a Goldenear dealer and listen to those speakers. Since he liked the BRX the best, there is no reason for him to spend anything more. He is a musician (guitar and vocals) and tends to do live gigs. As such, there is a certain sound that he likes. Other people may have very different tastes. This is in England, where living rooms tend to be small. I, on the other hand, live in the US and have a pair of $92,000 Legacy Audio Valors, but have them in a good sized room. He will likely visit sometime and see what kind of experience one can have with this type of system.

[@benwu7980]

100% agree with the room matching issue over here in Ireland. Audio shows aren't really the best way to hear the best a product could offer, but there are a lot of good shops around that have a few different sized listening rooms that are closer to what might have in own house.

[@matthewbarrow3727]

@@benwu7980 Yep. Audio shows aren't the best place to hear what speakers can really do. They are a quick way for comparing presentations that a wide range of speaker designs can provide. When my brother went to the dealer, I asked him to bring his existing speakers to be able to compare. He has $200 Edifier active speakers, which he uses for mixing (ie. near field). The BRX was more for the living room to watch 5.1 movies and 2-channel music. Before visiting, he felt that his speakers were good. While visiting, he felt that his speakers were muddy, in comparison to the speakers he demoed. One really does need to listen for oneself. Prior to the show, he did visit a home theater dealer and heard their top of their line home theater system with $40,000 Perlisten speakers. He was not impressed. He thought the Sony Quads would be good (given the reviews) so bought it for home theater. He ended up returning them, and will go down the route of using Goldenear speakers for home theater. I had recommended that he go the route of using an AVR with pre-outs for the main speakers, along with ability to add ATMOS speakers. This way, he could have a good hybrid 2-channel/5.1 channel system, and could upgrade to a tube integrated amp at some point in time.

[@ThinkingBetter]

What you pay for is some combination of costs for materials (BOM), manufacturing, logistics, development, tooling, licenses, sales, marketing, buildings, other staff and profit. As an audiophile consumer we like to see the money spent on the materials (high quality parts) and development (competent and passionate audio engineering). PS Audio isn't a company of milking people's wallets to buy luxury yachts and Lamborghinis and that is good. Paul is even the marketing department working for free 🙂

[@ptg01]

I'm a value shopper and darn proud of it.... Work too hard to earn my $$$ ...

[@paulburke9198]

" Well Recorded " , those two magic words . So much of my collection , "pretty ordinary , but "hopefully" I can have a system that helps it along "a bit" .

[@ivanaviNiebla]

In my still short journey through this world, I've only heard better speakers show more of the deficiencies of not "well recorded" music 🥲 But I hope too there can be something that can make anything sound a bit better

[@user-od9iz9cv1w]

Agreed. IMHO high end audio is a boutique business with a really tough business model. Far too much competition and a very small market. Brands have to use very high gross margin to survive. Turn it into a luxury brand to entice a retail price 10x the cost of goods sold. Like a Patek watch. PS Audio and Schiit Audio take a value approach and make it work. It is refreshing to have that alternative.

[@bobsmoot8454]

I agree that the majority of the budget should go to the speakers because they have the hardest job of converting energy from electrical to mechanical

[@thomprd]

I feel like Vandersteens still deserve a value mention.

[@astertm99]

“Pay attention to the things that matter..” There, he said it!!

[@jamesplotkin4674]

Like, power cords ;-) Sorry, it had to be said.

[@astertm99]

@@jamesplotkin4674 Why?

[@funny0000000]

This is why I tell everyone to just get the Aspen FR30's and forget the rest.

[@benwu7980]

Everything I've heard about the whole Aspen range has been pretty positive. I'm about to downsize house and would almost certainly be needing to change systems. The FR10's are more close to my budget, but I'm suspecting that it'd be the FR5's that'll be more suitable for my next home. The main competition I have on a shortlist to audition are either B&W 702 or 705's which seem closest to the fr10 /5's. Unfortunately, I can't yet find a place that stocks PS audio speakers for an audition.

[@user-od9iz9cv1w]

Or the FR5 and a pair of REL subs?

[@davidcross890]

You are funny

[@funny0000000]

@@davidcross890 For real or are you being sarcastic because what is funny about buying good speakers? The FR30's are the best bang for the buck in the world. Paul will tell you nothing sounds better for the price I am sure.

[@davidcross890]

@@funny0000000 are you trying to be. Jokester? If far higher performance for far less money has already been done, how could you be claiming anything is best bang for the buck unless you are maybe a huckster for the cucksters?

[@georgebertozzi8267]

What's the point in blowing your budget on expensive speakers but you have a small selection of music? I've done the opposite! Good but not great speakers with Klipsch but I have a kickass Music Library of about 17,000 albums on Vinyl, CD and Flac. It's incredible!

[@brrryan2908]

LOL! I KNEW you would talk about Maggies! Your room was packed with so many people that I finally gave up. :( Maggies will always be unique, BUT... what if PS Audio built 4 foot ribbons that absorbed the unwanted rear reflections in a box, with built-in subwoofers? ("Martin Logans" without all their mistakes.)

[@Roamany-Jones]

I'm from the U.K & I've never heard of the place you mentioned, but I think you mean Basingstoke😂😂 pronounced Bay-sing-stow-k 😉. Loved the video even when destroying our language.. sodder ! instead of solder still cracks me up 😂😂😂

[@darrellross8609]

My SoundArtist LS35A's are beautiful. Best, D.

[@smasunggalaxy4606]

Though it's not a straight line calculation, I was interested to note that the Infinity IRS would cost at least $180k today. So maybe those crazy speaker prices aren't that far out

[@barney6888]

Somebody up my way threw out a Kenwood sub. I found it (at the dump) and brought it home. It sells for $65 on ebay. Probably doesn't go much below 40hz. First time I've ever had a sub. A little less than a year ago someone else tossed out a pair of Chario bookshelfs. Now I can hear effects in a large orchestral piece that were kinda there before, but now I'm closer to the instrument as it plays. For free.... I'm beside myself. I'll never afford the dac and speakers I'd love to have from PS Audio, but I nonetheless thank our Heavenly Father for giving me an opportunity to rescue discarded, yet working, speakers. Heck, with the tinnitus I have from blaring Mahler symphonies on headphones so much, I'm not sure that the difference between what I've got and 3 to 6 grand on new is even audible to me.

[@MollydogRadar]

My thought is "your system is only as good as your speakers"

[@gdownz1044]

I have a pair of Polk RtiA7 tower speakers that used to hurt my ears with the AVR I started with.. but then with a integrated amp & Emotiva amp they sounded pretty damn good until I bought a BHK 250 and P12 earlier this year and now they sound completely different and definitely do NOT hurt my ears but they also don't resolve like a pair of FR10s or 20s I'm sure. Point is that good components can for sure change your speakers if they are somewhat decent to begin with. It's better to enhance your listening with something you can afford for now until waiting to have 10 grand for a pair of speakers your not really ready for. Just sayin ✌️

[@stefanbeek6249]

hello second hand market? Good option? I personally bought the Genesis IM5200 5 years ago for 300 euros including shipping costs, including stands. They play so well on an Accuphase. Good speakers don't have to be expensive!

[@user-od9iz9cv1w]

I think it is the best option for some stuff. A DAC is one of the few things that have technical advances. The value just keeps getting better. But even there a recent model will be cheaper used. High end speakers, monobloc amps and even preamps are mature tech and age well.

[@edd2771]

As always, it depends on what “good” means. If the two products sound equal to your ears and one is a less expensive and of equal build quality, then yes Paul’s statement can be true. But then there is also the concept of “value”. Let’s assume you have a smaller room and have a pair of magnepan LRS and a good REL T5 sub. You’re probably in for $4-$5 k. It’s very likely that Yamaha (a brand I love, so I’m not picking on them) will have a bookshelf speaker at the same price and of equal sound. But 5 years later, which speaker setup will have held the most resale value? I’d argue the LRS/REL combo will always be in demand and have better value retention. So it’s not as simple as Paul makes it sound. And when considering this long term value retention (which does matter to many- we audiophiles are always trading for new gear) consider that Paul’s speakers are manufactured overseas.

[@flavioc5389]

1:40 not the case with the Sprout 100, it's expensive for that it offers.

[@glenncurry3041]

Maggies are the LRS+.

[@milkman100001]

i vouch for what pauls saying.i own all of the bhk range dac etc.and they sound fantastic compared to many much more expensive appliances.

[@fgroen1225]

So the statement regarding “speakers first” should be: “buy the best speakers according to your ears that still fit in your budget”.

[@gregthegreek6969]

It is what it is! But I still have my ADS L-810 speakers. After close to almost 40 years, I will say that they are a "PURE SPEAKER". Meaning, they tell you the sound of music. As you all well know, the better the recording, the better the sound. Plain and simple. I would love to hear from those that have a thought! Thank you for reading, GREG

[@TedRyan-w8m]

Me too

[@philipketchum1407]

Magico makes speakers close to a million dollars. An aluminum box with cone drivers and some basic electronics stuffed inside. As an electronics engineer in the medical field where technology and engineering is mandatory I can absolutely see the insanity in those and other equipment prices. Wealthy people doing wealthy people stuff.

[@OrazCostanzo]

Fantastic response

[@bryanwilliams3665]

I heard a ridiculously priced DAC in my System..It was 1% better...Now, if I had an idle 10 million in the bank , I'd pay the extra$10,000 for the DAC ..But not if I didn't. If the money came in a heartbeat, id upgrade..I certainly didn't feel like I was missing out by not having the new toy.

[@Fjornr]

Hi, what is the cable hanger solution you have hanging behind you? :D

[@robertfournier7050]

Paul. What do you think of those people who only worship audio by name. Quad. B& W and those model number people. I judge audio by my ears and I know you do.

[@spacemissing]

Yes, put a big chunk of your budget into the speakers because they are the most important components. But your speakers should not cost more than 20% of your annual income. At least, if you have any sense.

[@robertyoung1777]

In my experience, old ears do hear differently that young ears. That said, both old and young ears can enjoy music. We also feel the music. Loudspeakers really do matter, no matter the age of the person listening.

[@Tom-xg1kj]

Seems like buying speed in hi-performance cars. You can always get "more" but is it worth the extra $? Nice if you can still afford it. It is still the music that moves you no matter what you like!

[@stevenholquin2127]

The Mid 1970’s ESS Heil AMT Speaker 🔈 is Still The Bomb The YAMAHA NS Series Barryllium Mid and Tweeters Both Of These Two Examples The High End Cuts Like No Others Yet The Bottom End Is Lacking So Just Add a Self Powered Sub Woofer and Now You Have It…. …..Yet Collectors of Vintage HIFi Have Also Discovered These Two and Now They Command Big Bucks Before You Even Upgrade The Circuitry or Re/Cone The Woofer ….The Most Underrated Speaker 🔈 Company Right Now is Renkus/Heines Speakers 🔊

[@flipfloptanlines926]

$650,000 for the Wilson is nuts, but that price is the #2 speaker, the XVX with 6 drivers. $850,000 gets you the WAMM with 1 more 4" driver. That equates to $100,000 per floorstander, to add another 4" to the front. This particular 4" is proprietery, however you can purchase the parts to make the driver from its maker ScanSpeak for around $5,000 retail. Speakers from Wilson Audio are consistenty rated the best in the world and are the "ruler" or "measuring device" for which all others are judged. But damn,a $100,000,paper 4" mid

[@bristolwoodburners81]

This ☝️- I built my first pair of speakers a couple years back, and a second pair this year. I only own 1 pair of branded speakers now..a pair of dynaudio heritage specials that I'm particularly 'bonded to' = while the heritage specials will hold their resale value vs my customs ..they dont come close sonically to the speakers Ive built. The custom speakers have a components cost of maybe 30% the retail on the heritage. I can't ever imagine buying branded speakers again

[@nickmrt2670]

Curious where you are buying your speakers from . Remember mcm was a really good distributer back in the day

[@Acoustic_Theory]

...and there has to be an additional pod manufactured (and finished in a custom polished WilsonGloss color) for that additional midrange speaker, and there has to be support mechanism has to be made taller to support that additional pod, and the support mechanism has to include adjustment capability for that additional pod, and the crossover has to be increased in complexity with at least six or eight additional components, and the crossover is now more complicated to tune, and then the packaging of the speaker has to be made larger and more complex. And then it has to be done all over again for the second speaker. So the increase in price is still a lot, but it's not just "one more driver".

[@Acoustic_Theory]

@@bristolwoodburners81 High end speakers have a distribution model and a retail sales model that requires a company to price their speakers at about 6 to 10 times the BOM cost in order to continue to be profitable. Most retailers insist on making about 50 points on the sale, then you have to pay manufacturers' representatives (the B2B outside salespeople), you have to pay a flooring cost at the retailers, you have to pay a large staff of engineers, purchasing buyers, assembly technicians, marketing and advertising people, warehousing, maintenance/cleaning staff, then you also have to pay your lease on your office space, production space, and warehouse space. It bothers me that people just look at the cost of raw speaker drivers and think that's anywhere close to 'all' it costs to manufacture a speaker, just because they can cut wood in their garage. I have been that guy, thinking I'm beating the system by making my own gear, but I've also been in industry and I know what actual manufacturing companies go through; they are making some money, but they usually aren't making a massive fortune - they are cutting it close just to be competitive, even at the sky-high prices.

[@hobbyzone2]

I Don't believe wilson audio is "best" ... there are a bunch of others Much Better Speakers...heck B&W Nautilus for $85K is much better sounding and much more unique. wilson audio is just a bunch of hunking boxes stacked on top together

[@stefanfalkpetersen1376]

Of all components speakers are the most defining part of a systems sound in terms of bass, dynamics and soundstage. You can't really adjust for those things anywhere else in a system. So yeah - speakers are the most important component. At least in my mind.

[@philnicol8072]

Bigger and heavier the gear. You end up just really paying the extra $ to cover the manufactures shipping costs. Through the whole entire manufacturing process. To lastly arriving at your door in a cardboard box. Too much shipping cost incorporated in the so called 'ultra high end. The wife will always be telling you to turn the volume down. 'She' will just get *louder and louder*

[@gustavsp.1304]

Hi Paul , I have a question about speaker production and the quality control back in 80s and 90s I have not yet had any top of the line speakers but have had now Heco interior 300 and some from tsm and when decided to redo the crossover found out that in tsm had different crsosover from pair to pair and then also that some cables were made out of steal and some out of copper . But in the heco the two crossovers had capacitors that had 50 % different like on one the biggest one was 150uf and the other one was only 100uf so yes very weird . I’m living in Germany and have good access to second hand speakers so yes have been doing that and found out that in the process. But yea can’t deny that after redoing the crossover with some Jantzen film caps and good cables the speakers change just so massive wow . Can recommend getting some older ones and redoing the crossover with modern caps and resistors.

[@Pete.across.the.street]

Some caps are 20% off of the markings. If the 100 was +20% and the 150 was - 20% they would both be at 120uf

[@PSA78]

There's sometimes products from the same manufacturer that outperform a more pricy option. Technology is funny that way, it doesn't care about human emotions, it's only the marketing department who does. 😄

[@rlwings]

Anything Elac (The company who started this 'shooting way above it's price point' thing).

[@stephannordmann5346]

Nobody reinvent the wheel 🛞

[@stephannordmann5346]

4500 loudspeaker producers and every day is coming new speakers out but in the last 30 years after the Wilson Audio Watt Puppy I don't really hear a great development or a drastic and better sound 😢

[@xaviermontalban717]

I've been following audio for a long time, and the only reason they bring out "new stuff" is to sell more stuff. Aside from DAC's and solid states, there's really nothing new under the sun. A lot of speaker costs come from the design these days, and they still throw in cheap components.

[@stephannordmann5346]

@@xaviermontalban717 so true 👍

[@staceymangham]

It was a he case for many years speakers had plateaued, but in fairness some of the new driver technology and cabinet materials is evolving AMT tweeters were not around and metal domes were dominating also computer simulation has helped elevate things beyond where they were 20 years ago, so i think its fair to say speaker development is still moving in a forward direction

[@xaviermontalban717]

@staceymangham yes, it is, but I hardly call it revolutionary. Also, I can buy a couple of very good drivers, including ribbon tweetets, build a nice cabinet out of mdf, make the crossovers myself and I have a speaker worth thousands of dollar's for under a grand

[@staceymangham]

@@xaviermontalban717 most definitely, if you have the tools and skills, even if you don't have the woodworking tools you can farm that out. I believe panzaholz or whatever it's called is very hard to cut and Work, but I found getting 20 mm and 10 mm custom wood or MDF and sandwiching dynamat or equal sound deadener makes a very non resonant cabinet or front baffle crossover design is the hardest to overcome. Going full range is one option as is active but starts getting expensive especially 3 way

[@janinapalmer8368]

Great stuff ....well put ... Words of wisdom Btw it's pronounced Bayz ing stoke...

[@maxhirsch7035]

First- I say this as an audiophile who has 'moved up the quality/cost line over the years, and definitely has heard steady (though also steadily diminishing rates of improvement) on the way up- such claims about gear worth "multiples of their asking prices" should be taken with huge grains of salt, because of how frequently such claims are made. It reminds me of an old joke about a favored sexual position in a country (or particular relationship) in which "both partners are on top." This reminds me of judgments of the reviewing community. While I believe certain pieces of gear may be 'giant killers' to some degree,' often claims are made for pieces of gear being equivalent to (unnamed) gear 2x or 3x their price; even while other particular lines of (competitors') gear being favorably reviewed have similar claims made for them, so very often/(usually?), there's an expectation inflation game at play in reviews IMO, in which extravagant value claims are made for gear (& I believe this game is generally unintentional, but just due to unescapable cognitive biases), but generally without those comparisons being made to the other identifiable lines of gear being reviewed and similarly claimed to punch way above their weight. It's almost always some unnamed conceptualized generic stand-in/price class being referenced as much more expensive but matched by the named/reviewed equipment in question. More likely is that while the best pieces of gear generally compete well with each other, a smaller number are very overpriced- but that 'free lunches' of gear punching way above its sonic weight only apply in regards to certain over-priced gear, and not a whole class of similarly-priced competitors -except in matters of personal opinion. Currently there are hundreds and hundreds of different equipment lines out there that are generally reviewed according to subjective listening standards, often relying upon reviewers' memory to compare current gear under review with memories of gear reviewed in the past, without reference systems for reviews even necessarily staying completely consistent. Also, no audio gear is equally good at capturing all of the elements of live sound versus its competitors in its class, and so personal biases obviously place a role here; and certain sonic advantages for gear are system/synergy dependent as well.

[@DrNoahBoddy004]

Use “BAZE-ING-STOKE, Paul😅

[@papabear1417]

A lot of people place value on Look what I've spent, rather than listening to the music. Hifi has to compliment our taste in music. I'll reference Pearl Acoustics What are you listening to? Episode.

[@bf0189]

If you go DIY and get a kit you can build it yourself for extremely cheap relatively speaking. Though you need basic soldering skills and such. A lot of the woodworking is done for you these days though

[@scottwolf8633]

45,000 bucks for Sound Labs top of the line electrostats.

[@Synthematix]

Paul its BASINGSTOKE lol

[@jownbey]

lets see, speakers...or a house lol

[@DrNoahBoddy004]

I’ve always had a passion for Flagship, drop-dead gorgeous, RollsRoyce preamplifiers! Loudspeakers,by virtue of their grueling, tough, and demanding jobs are finite casualties in our environment. The investment in 2nd, and 3rd tier Satellite/subwoofer systems, (passive) systems in particular, make far better choices in my humble experience. They just seem to have greater longevity.🌹

[@bayard1332]

Seems a lot of folks fail to understand that the amount of dollars asked for the super expensive stuff is only partially for actual performance, loads of the asking price is for the aesthetics.

[@maxhirsch7035]

Yes, though this varies from model to model (eg, older mid-higher-end Vandersteen gear typically still had very little spent on aesthetics, eg, the original full-cloth Quatros), and in the case of something like the Vivid Giya speaker line, the wild/polarizing aesthetics are primarily in the service of acoustical advantages for those designs.

[@stimpy1226]

I don’t like this speaking absolutes but for the past several decades or more , cost no object, I have never heard speakers that sound like they’re not there like the MBL 101 Xtremes. Hope I spelled it right. Never never never ever never ever heard any speakers better than these beauties. Of course they sell for a Kings Ransom. And of course this is only my opinion because it’s my ear/brain combination speaking.

[@maxhirsch7035]

I've briefly heard these speakers on a couple occasions, and like the top-end Vivids and Vandersteens I've heard (both of which I've heard much more frequqently), there's a sense (particularly with certain recordings) that the speakers are not there. Still, there are intervening variables at play. One of the MBL demos was with new reel-to-reel tape of a live performance, which provides an asymmetrical comparison with other analog (& digital) media sources. Also compatibility with other gear/the listening room must be taken into account in determining the "working value" of that gear. Also, I've often read that the MBL 101 Xtremes are particularly 'picky' in relationship to gear up-cahin plus room setup. That being said, done right those are mind-blowing speakers IMO, and worth their insane costs, not that I could afford them either.

[@samgeddes783]

speakers are final in your system

[@maxhirsch7035]

Other gear are primary.

[@ernestporee3697]

If your system cost more than what the artist got paid ? Something is wrong…speakers that cost more than what the president makes shows what kind of world we live in . If you want the ultimate music experience….take some music lessons! Play something? It doesn’t take ridiculous money for complete satisfaction! Most people involved with audio are not musicians or musically trained ? Cause the way audio is presented is not from a musician’s point! Its from an audio point of view? The most ingenious example is most of the audio content on you tube has no music? Talking about equipment ? Not playing any ? but other people’s words on how it sounds ? Who are you listening to The artist or the engineer? Your equipment must be able to reproduce every recording you own? Every recording you have is different ! Different times and places different recording methods that you can hear! It doesn’t take all that !

[@bryanwilliams3665]

Manufacturers generally price product at what the market will pay. It has little to do with quality and never has.. If I replicated a great HiFi product under a 'no name 'brand, its worth a fraction of the original even though it sounds identical..The badge or pride ownership is often the most expensive component .

[@gotham61]

Magnepan LRS+ $995 a pair.

[@Fastvoice]

Found an offer in Germany for 750 Euros (new) per piece - not pair. Magnepan itself sells a pair for 1690 Euros.

[@joelowens5211]

It's all personal and subjective. I still don't agree on finding the best speaker first. You can have the best speaker in the world powered by a horrible amp and get horrible results. It would be like taking an amazing dough, pepperoni, cheese, and sauce pizza and cooking it in a sh*tty oven. First look at your budget. If your budget is small you can look at used vintage gear that is very good just might need some servicing. With a good amp you can make okay speakers sound their best. With a bad amp you can make the best speakers sound their worst. The magnepan are cheap in speaker cost but as mentioned need a sub added and then are power hungry so a bigger cost on the amp and they are bulky. Nothing is perfect which is why so many options. Make a list of 10 items with your budget and then put them in order of importance from 1 to 10. Then go to a reputable shop and see what they say about your order to see if on the right track or other items you might not have considered.

[@PickanPop]

What a charlatan! He was playing $3,500 speakers with monoblocks, multiple power conditioners, a $10,000+ digital source and relatively expensive cables. Play those same speakers with your Sprout or Stellar all-in-one with little to no power conditioning, affordable cables and their built-in steamers and then talk about how it's all about the speakers.

[@AllboroLCD]

[@TheVeganVicar]

😇 May God Bless You Always, Paul! 😇 Reverend Dr. Thomas, ✝️ The Vegan Vicar 🌱

[@stevenholquin2127]

You Don’t Have To Buy Expensive Speakers There are Some Ways To Get a Big Sound at a Reasonable Price You Don’t Need $10,000 Thousand Dollar Gold Plated Speaker 🔈 Wire Just Know What You Want and Some Folks Want it All By One Brand Name Yet Some Brands Make Great Speakers And Lack in The Amp Department This is Why I Like a Speaker 🔈 Company To Make Speakers and Not a Company That Does It All Mix and Match It’s Like a Old Mid 1960’s Tube Amp Yet Tubes Are Getting Harder and Harder To Find Especially The Power Output Tubes Because China and Russia Are The Big Producers of These Power Tubes Yet 12AX7 Pre/Amp Tubes Are All Over The Place You Can Find Some That Sound Better Than Others Plus Biasing And Matching is Important There’s Plenty of Old Vintage Speakers Out There You Can Have a Wall of Various Vintage Speakers And a Chanel Switch From One Pair To Another For The Same Amp or Change Amps With Same Speakers Or Bi/Amp Your System or Tri/Amp Your System Just with Old Vintage HiFi Equipment What’s My Point There’s Some Great Old HiFi Equipment Out There That Just Needs a Little Love Of Course You Need a Music Streaming Device No Problem Some Music Sounds Different on Different Components and Not All Components are Equal Back in The Amp Wars of The 1970’s The Diabolical Geniuses Would Bounce Around From Company to Company Who Ever Had The Money These Engineers Went To Were The Money is So Most if Not All The U.S. Made Stereos Were Designed By The Same People Not Now Because Technology Is Moving at Breaking Speed and This is Why I Think Everything Under One Roof Is The Name of The Game Now

[@Trebor2024]

0:02 It’s pronounced “Basing stoke” 🫣

[@phantom62]

I had to replay the video to see what Paul said 😂