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

Hello everyone,

A retailer near my home has some ex-demo Sonus Faber Aida 2 speakers for sale. I went to listen to them, and to my surprise, I preferred the sound of the Sonus Faber Il Cremonese Ex3me, which cost half the price of the Aida 2 when new. The amplifiers were the same (The Gryphon), which cost much more than the speakers themselves, and the location was basically the same (I even listened to them in two different locations).

I wonder how it's possible that I prefer the sound of speakers that are so much cheaper (even if they're not cheap!). Could it be that the amplifier isn't right for me? Or something else?

Is this something you've experienced before? Have you ever heard very high-end speakers that you found inferior to cheaper speakers? I'm hesitating to ask to go back and listen to them again.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

audiozx
steve59's avatar
steve59
1,983 posts
 

matters. 
tubeguy76

202 posts

 

Until you get it in your room and in your system you really never know
 

this
unreceivedogma's avatar
unreceivedogma
1,172 posts
 

I have a preference for speakers that are 1/300 the price. 

big_greg
6,821 posts
 

I preferred my Harbeth Compact 7s to the Super HL5 in my listening space.  Not quite half the price, but close.  I also prefer the sound of my P3ESR to the Super HL5 Plus.  I've never used those in my main system and compared them head to head, but I find the Compact 7s and P3ESR easier to listen to.  The "super tweeter" in the Super HL5 Plus is a bit much in my smallish listening space.

vthokie83
1,224 posts
 

audiozx

It's all about synergy, sometimes a product just gets it right.

Between brands I often prefer less expensive equipment, over another company's more expensive products. 

In the same brand it has happened a few times. Up until Denafrips dropped the "15th" line, I always preferred their Pontus DAC over the 50% more expensive Venus.

For fairly sensitive speakers, I prefer my CODA S5.5 over the CODA 8 which was more expensive.....and almost as much as the 3 times more expensive CODA 16. However when needing power for hard to drive speakers, the CODA 16 is magical 

audiozx OP
3 posts
 

Thank you all for your responses!

After doing some research (I'm relatively new to the world of audio and don't yet have a good grasp of the vocabulary), I realize that the words that best describe what I felt are "analytical vs. musical": I felt that the Aidas (or the amplifier that was being used?) had too much detail for me and sounded "analytical" (I even spontaneously used this word without knowing that it was used in the world of audio), and that the Il Cremonese sounded more "musical." 

I don't know if it's a question of speakers or amplifiers or just personal preference, but I made an appointment to go back and listen to them again. Also with other amplifiers.

In any case, thank you for all this feedback, it's very much appreciated!

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