firstly, I'm no expert (at anything), but here's is my 2 cents....
i agree with peacefrog's first part of arguement...global market these days...free trade capitalism...
i think paradigm offers a great product (with some attention to detail) for the price due to size of company/dealer network (a lot like Trek bicycles(only good anology i could think of), benefitting from high quality mass production.
government subsidies? Yale grad students?...i think it's just an economy of scales thing (remember that term from econ 101?)...every town i have ever lived in has had a paradigm dealer (and a Trek bicycle shop!)
but there are better, smaller, companies out there that can really pay attention to details and make refined, value based products due to smaller overhead and fierce competition...
that being said, i currently own paradigm monitor 7v2s and have been very happy but have begun looking for upgrade (see current thread for modest arcam alpha system speaker upgrade)...honestly, when i bought them, i didn't demo any competitiors because nothing else looked as nice that was in my price point in the audio shop's speakerroom
as for the SACD thing...I am a resistor to the movement...i also am not a huge fan of denon...maybe a little old school, but i like stereo and stereo production...not digital manipulation of stereo albums to be played on sacd
i know, a lot of compact discs have already been manipulated from analog...but "i'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, dude"....any joe shmoe should be able to manipulate the image and soundstage if he has 5-7 speakers to work with...where is the fun in that?...i'd suggest looking into buying a high quality cd player and a cheapo dvd player...
Mark
i agree with peacefrog's first part of arguement...global market these days...free trade capitalism...
i think paradigm offers a great product (with some attention to detail) for the price due to size of company/dealer network (a lot like Trek bicycles(only good anology i could think of), benefitting from high quality mass production.
government subsidies? Yale grad students?...i think it's just an economy of scales thing (remember that term from econ 101?)...every town i have ever lived in has had a paradigm dealer (and a Trek bicycle shop!)
but there are better, smaller, companies out there that can really pay attention to details and make refined, value based products due to smaller overhead and fierce competition...
that being said, i currently own paradigm monitor 7v2s and have been very happy but have begun looking for upgrade (see current thread for modest arcam alpha system speaker upgrade)...honestly, when i bought them, i didn't demo any competitiors because nothing else looked as nice that was in my price point in the audio shop's speakerroom
as for the SACD thing...I am a resistor to the movement...i also am not a huge fan of denon...maybe a little old school, but i like stereo and stereo production...not digital manipulation of stereo albums to be played on sacd
i know, a lot of compact discs have already been manipulated from analog...but "i'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, dude"....any joe shmoe should be able to manipulate the image and soundstage if he has 5-7 speakers to work with...where is the fun in that?...i'd suggest looking into buying a high quality cd player and a cheapo dvd player...
Mark