Preachtree Nova220se compared to Devialet

Seanile, did you actually listen to the Peachtree 220SE with the 3 pairs of speakers, and determine via actual listening that it wasn't a good match? Or are you just assuming that's the case because there's a price gap between the speakers and Peachtree? If you're assuming, and haven't actually listened personally, with your own music, in a room at least closely approximating the dimensions and layout of your own, you're in position to make a potentially expensive mistake. It's a common one too, assuming that more money automatically = better sound. The Peachtree 220SE is a really nice component - it's not like you get one for free by opening a savings account at your local credit union (for those of you old enough to remember when banks would give free toasters with new accounts!).

I'm glad Recred1 pointed that out, about Aerial using the Peachtree at one of their shows. I agree - they could use any of dozens of integrated amps to power their speakers at a show, and the fact that they went with a Peachtree says a lot.

The point, though, isn't to say that Peachtree specifically is the end all be all. It's that maybe one of the problems in hanging out here on the Audiogon forums is that there are a lot of wealthy people here. They're not all highly affluent, of course, but quite a few are. There are a lot of people who wouldn't even look twice at anything from Peachtree, they're way beyond that in terms of budget and climbing the audio scale. They spend more on audio than many of us will spend on a home. And if you read enough of that, it's easy to dismiss some really good equipment down here in the $2000-5000 range. I'm not saying that's happening here in this thread, but it happens.

If you hang out with Ferrari or Maserati guys all day long, it might seem like a real drag to have to do your car shopping at a Subaru or Mazda dealership, which is a shame because they make really good cars. The same happens here with audio equipment, when the truth is that for the vast majority of audio listeners a Peachtree (or an NAD, or Hegel, or Bel Canto, or Wyred4Sound, etc.) connected to a pair of Aerial speakers will be audio heaven. Not just mediocre sound, or ok sound, but really nice sound that you can live with for a long time.