Hi-Fi is a great hobby. Putting musicians in your living room for an intimate performance at your whim is absolutely a thrill!
How spoiled we are… to be able to update and refine our aural experience along the way. As we have more money and awareness of the thousands of possibilities out there, we can bring even more FUN to our interaction with music.
Which, of the zillions of products that are out there, does it make sense to buy?
When I refer to the top of the pyramid, I want products that reach the pinnacle of performance for their price class.
The top of the pyramid for you might be at speakers for $3k per pair. For someone else, maybe it’s a different number. But the level of scrutiny is the same. We all want to reach the top of the pyramid. For some of us, the pyramid just isn’t as tall as for others.
Law Of Diminishing Returns
At Audio Emporium we pay attention to the law of diminishing returns. We don’t sell jewelry or ostentatiousness. We sell strong performance for the dollar invested.
We are well aware that there are many great products on the market. We can’t sell them all. Just because we don’t sell something, doesn’t mean it’s junk.
Yet, we are opinionated about what we do sell. Providing exciting sound quality is job one. However, there are other important considerations when making your purchase. Let’s massage that topic.
Considerations
Let’s take that $3k price range as your top of the pyramid for a pair of speakers as an example. Where should you start?
I’m starting with speakers built in N America that use cast frame drivers with something better than paper, plastic, or fabric cones. I don’t even want a sandwich of materials to flex or buzz due to faulty bonding of this material to that.
I want the drivers to be made in N America by the company who is selling the speakers. Each driver should have to pass a battery of tests (phase, power, impedance etc) before being installed in a speaker- to be sure the right and left speakers do actually match! I don’t want the drivers to be made by some vendor who produces them with significant sample to sample variation. However well meaning that vendor is, they’re making widgets and mass production doesn’t equate to excellence.
The precision of driver construction insures clarity like getting a proper prescription for your glasses. There would likely be construction techniques that assure better reliability, like tinning the leads running off the tweeter to increase physical girth and heat sinking.
I want my speaker to have a 20 year warranty instead of 3, or maybe 5.
If you follow this train all the way through, only one company checks all the boxes. In this case it is Bryston, with it’s Model A3.
The Other Guys
Now let’s say you heard something else you think you like pretty well. Let’s take a Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G. They’re about the same price.
You’ve listened to the Bryston at Audio Emporium. You’ve listened to the Monitor Audio somewhere else. They both sound good to you, so how can you make an informed decision? Or dare I say, the best decision.
Bryston’s mid and bass drivers are made of a contiguous Pure Aluminum material. Bryston’s tweeter is Pure Titanium.
Monitor Audio uses aluminum drivers coated with ceramic. It is a bonding process that may go well. But of course it is THIS bonded to THAT- in China. Mass production is not the friend of excellence. You add mass and take the chance that mass production may create a faulty part.
Who do you actually purchase from? If you purchase from Audio Emporium you’ll have solid support. We take care of our customers. We appreciate your biz and understand you are our future biz, and our advertisement for referrals. Or, do you purchase from somewhere.com where your support will be spotty at best? When you buy from click ‘n ship, you’re supporting a warehouse somewhere. They’re just running boxes in and out. Please consider supporting those of us that are in deep, just like you are.
The Bottom Line
Let’s go a step further. After all of the logic above you might decide that the Monitor Audios and Brystons are exactly equal in every way, shape and form.
They’re not, but let’s say this is where you land. To you, they seem equal. And, perhaps the Chinese built Monitor Audio is on sale. Don’t be fooled, it was marked up to sell at the sale price. The Chinese play with pricing as the petro industry juggles gas prices.
I would ask you to consider the warranty. How is 20 years not a tipping point vs 5?
Please consider who you’d like to support.
Please consider Audio Emporium who makes an effort to demo and service well.
Please consider supporting Bryston, a Canadian company who does all of its own construction
and backs it with a 20 year warranty. The Monitor Audios are just another example of mass produced Chinese widgets flooding our market.
At a point, audio products achieve a certain echelon of performance. Products within a given echelon will be so competitive, that you would probably LIKE any of them.
Your buying decision very well could come down to one of these other factors. Who has the best warranty? Who would you like to support as you vote with your wallet?
Let’s consider great amplifiers. If I were to blindfold you to compare fine amps from Bryston, Levinson, Krell, JMF, Gryphon, CH, Solution etc, they’re all wonderful. They’re close enough in sound that while you might prefer this one or that by a gnat’s hair, after a quick rotation of comparisons, you won’t even be sure which is which!
I think best choice is the Bryston- built in Canada with a 20 year warranty and a phenomenal history of servicing its customers. All of the others sound good. Yet their warranty, reliability and service history aren’t equal to Bryston. Oh, and check out the pricing.