bralph

A friend of mine and I have been going back and forth about what is "reasonable" to spend on speakers. He's been looking at Paradigm Titans which would run him $2500 with a sub, while I went with the JBL NSP1 Northridge Series which cost me $700 with a sub.

He claims "Quality is the difference. Talk to me in 2 years and see how happy you are with the JBLs".

Now I'm certainly no expert, but even if I replace my JBLs with a comparable product every 3 years (not likely), it would be 10 years before I'm even close to what he spent (without getting into present/future value of money).

Am I missing something? I understand there may be some tangible difference between the two, but I just can't get past that cost difference.

BTW, I've only had the JBLs a couple of weeks, but I certainly can't tell where they are lacking in any way.


Thanks,

Brian

audrey

Speakers, like most everything, follow the law of diminishing returns; at some point you spend more for smaller and smaller improvements. True for speakers, receivers, car's and just about everything else. Is a BMW really worth $40k more than a GEO? Afterall, they are both just cars.

You may find over time that your ability to hear and discriminate nuances in sound improves. Or you may not. Sound that excites and pleases today, may annoy you next month.

A year from now, the idea of spending $2k - $4k on speakers may seem reasonable or it may strike you as absurd as it does now. Only you can decide.

Idisappear

First of all, this has little to do with speakers

I work with an automotive supplier and basically my dept does handling analysis and suspension characterization.

nearly for all the parameters of any make and model we benchmark against the BMW. the justification for 40k spent on a beamer really manifest itself in terms of hard numbers and data we collect from instrumented tests. The BMW just handles better, according to standard handling parameters, than any 20k car, easily.

As for speakers..I don't know. All i know is I'm happy with my PSBs (which is the same price as my 1990 Civic!)

audrey

Idisappear I think you took my analogy too seriously. I'm not suggesting a BMW is the same as a GEO; obviously they handle differently, look differently, etc. But is the BMW worth the difference in price? A driving enthusiast, who can appreciate nuances in handling, might justify spending the big bucks on a BMW, Porsche, etc. But for those who lack a passion for driving, the entry fee might be too high.

The point is that once you get to a certain price point, you pay disproportionally more for smaller and smaller improvements.

jumbojp

Maybe I missed something but Paradigm Titans retail for about $200-225/pr. They are the step up from Atoms which are $185/pr. Your friend must be looking at one hell of a sub to add to those speakers to spend $2500. That setup should cost around $1K.
www.Paradigm.ca has this Titan system listed for $1236:
Mains: Titans
Center: CC-170
Dipole/Bipole Surround: ADP-170
Sub: PDR-12

As for the car dispute; just buy an RX-7 and dump the BMW. It is more or a sports car than any BMW under $80K will ever be!



This message has been edited by jumbojp on September 14, 2000 at 10:26 AM

bralph

quote:<HR>Originally posted by jumbojp:
Maybe I missed something but Paradigm Titans retail for about $200-225/pr. They are the step up from Atoms which are $185/pr. Your friend must be looking at one hell of a sub to add to those speakers to spend $2500. That setup should cost around $1K.
www.Paradigm.ca has this Titan system listed for $1236:
Mains: Titans
Center: CC-170
Dipole/Bipole Surround: ADP-170
Sub: PDR-12

As for the car dispute; just buy an RX-7 and dump the BMW. It is more or a sports car than any BMW under $80K will ever be!

This message has been edited by jumbojp on September 14, 2000 at 10:26 AM <HR>

He told me the specifics, but all I remembered was Titans and $2500! He said the sub itself was $800, and that's all I remember for certain.

I'll give him this info though. Maybe he'll go ahead and do it for $1200, and I can hear the "difference" myself