Need Help finding Speakers Budget 20,000 US

06-19-13: Dave_72
I'm gonna say something controversial, so here goes. Imo, it's better to go with bigger companies or companies who have been in the business a long time rather than upstart or companies that have only been around for 5-10years. More financially stable, better R&D, higher tech, and better qc for the most part (although all audio equipment can certainly fail no matter who the company is)

I buy what sounds the best and from a company with a good reputation. Don't care about size, R&D ... meaningless if it doesn't sound good.

06-20-13: Ren_audio
Peter, I agree with you, but there is one thing- a resale value. You can easily sell second hand Sonus Faber, B&W, Focal, Tannoys etc for reasonable price. But I have seen so many BIG speakers from SMALL companies with discount more than 70% of MSRP with no luck over years..

It all DEPENDS on the small or large company and the products they produce.

Check out Vivid audio. Nothing but good reviews.

@ Peter: I do see your point. There are certainly advantages to smaller companies such as yours, and you highlighted them, so no need to repeat that.

Not all smaller companies are bad. You guys make killer products from what I can tell. I like other smaller companies such as FM Acoustics in Switzerland. They have been around for 40 years and are financially stable. And I take it a lot of their money goes into R&D, which it should at their prices. And the resale value is very high. The same goes for companies like Pass Labs (22 years,) Accuphase (40 years,) and German companies like Burmester and Symphonic Line.

However, I still stand by what I said here. It's just my preference. Take a company like TAD with unlimited resources from the parent company, Pioneer. They arguably make some of the best equipment on the planet. And it's not too much of a secret as to why that is. It's not cheap, but it is a wise investment, imo. If I had the money, I would strongly consider it.

What are the costs of say a Wilson Speaker. You are paying for an expensive R and D department, a massive marketing budget, distributor and dealers profits. I wonder what percentage of a Sonus Faber or Wilson speaker is actual labour amd material costs, I don't know, but I would be suprised if it is more than 25%

You take the small guy like Daedalus, Fritz. They have both been in the business for decades, no marketing, no dealers, no R and D department. I can also assure you, if and it's a rare if, a Daedalus speaker comes up second hand, it usually sells pretty quickly

@ Pbn,

We too of course have workers, but the owner usually is hands on all the way making sure that the product that goes out the door is A+1 because it has his name on it.

You haven't seen my Vapor speakers have you? Not good!