Preference for speakers that are half the price. Has this ever happened to you?

Thank you very much for your feedback and experiences, which help me see things more clearly.

I thought it was a unique opportunity to buy the best Sonus faber speakers at a “more reasonable” price (we're talking about speakers with a list price of $160,000...). Maybe they're not right for me after all. Or maybe I'll ask to listen to them a second time to be sure.

In any case, I really appreciate getting all these responses so quickly. Thank you again.

If anyone else has any other experiences to share, I'd love to read them (and even better if you've already heard the Aida 2...).

@audiozx Speakers like any other components can take months to break in . Also  getting their position right in your room takes time too.

I bought a new pair of passive ATC SCM 100s earlier this year and they have been a nightmare. One channel overpowering the other but have now come good and are excellent. Took six months......arrgh!

My understanding is that the Aida has rear-firing drivers.  Imo this calls for somewhat different set-up priorities than for speakers which only have front-firing drivers.

First, you need a fair amount of reflection path length so that the output of the rear-firing drivers doesn't arrive too soon.  This implies a fair amount of distance from the front wall. I'd suggest five feet at least, and more would be better.

Second, you do not want the wall surface that the rear-firing drivers are facing to be absorptive because absorption of the short wavelengths (high frequencies) will ruin the spectral balance of the rear-firing energy.  You want its spectral balance to be similar to that of the first-arrival sound even after it has bounced off the front wall. 

Third, you do not want that rear-firing energy to be too loud.  The shorter the reflection path length, the less loud you want it to be.  There is a "sweet spot" loudness where the rear-firing energy is wholly beneficial, but any louder than that and clarity starts to be degraded. 

If the Aidas were a bit muddy compared to the other speakers, then I would suspect one or more of these factors was in play. 

I have not heard the Aida, but have some familiarity with multidirectional speakers.

Duke

dealer/manufacturer

My favorite coffee when I drank coffee was Chock Full of Nuts.

i prefered my low cost speakers after optimization to a way better speakers which they replaced  (  Tannoy dual gold monitor which i  owned for 40 years were way better design  than my Mission speakers but i was then ignorant of acoustics and optimization process).

Then speakers comparison is not only about price which does not matter as much as most could think but about the necessary optimization of the speakers in the system/room ...

I even prefered my Mission to a far superior Magnepan set but which was not as my Mission well optimized...The Magnepan can be worst than an inferior but well optimized speakers design if not well optimized...

Mechanical,electrical and acoustical optimization tell the tale not pricing ...

It is why i learned that brand name and price means not much if you dont know what to do with them and for them...