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Whats the deal?

Why do people, myself included, place so much emphasis on build quality and appearance over sound?  It’s so strange that I’ll do just about anything to make my system sound better apart from using tone controls or buying / enjoying speakers that don’t use high quality drivers, cabs and crossovers.  It’s like I have an audiophile checklist of dos and don’ts

A good example would be the fact that I have bought and listened to many different models of Paradigm speakers and the only ones that I loved were the Signature 2 V.2.  I have loved the way  many other Paradigm speakers that I owned looked or were built but when it comes to sound they were all too bright.  Sure they image well and have good dynamics but I see so many posts about paradigm that have a similar tones (no pun intended).

Why oh why do we spend all kinds of $ trying to make speakers that we don’t like sound like speakers that we do like.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy new speakers as opposed to new amp, source, wires, room acoustic treatments trying to put band aids on speakers that we don’t like?

Kind of reminds me of marriages where the Wife is a total jerk yet the Husband will stay with her forever because she’s beautiful.  
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Showing 1 response by stevecham

stevecham
3,340 posts
 
To partially answer your opening question, I think it's because there is a direct correlation between build quality and sonic quality, especially in speakers. Cast baskets over stamped, braced cabinets over unbraced, short coil/long gap over long coil/short gap. And these features cost more to source for the manufacturer, and thus are reflected in the price.

For electronics though, the range of build vs. sound quality is very wide, with progressive US companies such as Schiit, Wyred 4 Sound and PS Audio, to name a couple, offering very high value, build and sound quality components.
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