I’d have to say that $4k per pair is probably our most active price point for cut above speakers. We have great candidates at $1k per pair, $2k per pair and $3k per pair. I’m not nay saying any of those lower price points. But what we are finding these days is that many customers who have had more than entry level gear are MOVING UP, and $4k is often the landing spot.

Some of this is due to the number itself. When I opened the store in 1977 a very common price point for cut above speakers was $800 per pair. That would buy you Magnepan MG2Bs, Dahlquist DQ10s or Polk RTA12s- all fine speakers that audiophiles aspired to snare as they moved up- without going crazy.

If you’ve done conversion math lately, $800 in 1977 money is just over $4k today. I shouldn’t be surprised that $4k today is commensurate to $800 in 1977- and ends up being a popular landing spot today for fine speakers.

Who makes the best speakers for $4k?

I agree that it might sound foolish to say, someone makes THE BEST speakers at a given price point. Speakers are more subjective than any other hi-fi product and there are literally thousands of options at $4k. How can there be a BEST?

OK, I hear ya. I will change my terminology from the BEST speaker to a SHORT LIST OF THE BEST, with a couple of leading candidates.

There are two main categories to consider. Most of our customers choose to buy towers so the entire amount of real estate is working for you- and clearly you’ll garner the best bass and power handling with a tower. The alternative is to get a stand mount. The best stand mount options have some different characteristics that might make them more appealing to you.

Towers

Bryston A2 $4000 Per Pair

(39.5h, 9.25w, 17d, 62 lbs, 4 ohms)

First on my list, and often last, is the incredible Bryston A2. The A2 has so much going for it at this price point, that the other guys DON’T, that it’s a slam dunk winner for the majority of shoppers.

Warranty & Support

The first consideration in my shopping quest is to buy a solid product, from a venerable, reliable company. It needs to be someone who has been around and proven they will support service needs. Because if you hit a speaker hard (who, me?) you’re going to find out if there’s a funny man hiding behind the curtain or if the company is sincere in taking care of you.

Bryston was founded in 1963 in Canada. Bryston makes its speakers and electronics in Canada, not China. It has a 20 year warranty. Who else does? That’s right, nobody. Virtually every other company selling speakers in this range is getting them from China, or buying their drivers from vendors overseas, and screwing them into boxes at home. If you buy speakers from a guy working out of his garage, what do you think service is going to be like in several years?

QC

Bryston makes its own speakers in its own house in Canada and has total control over their construction- which is why they can give you a 20 year warranty and not sweat it. From being in the biz since the early 70s I can tell you that the typical speaker company supports service for only a decade. After that, the parts aren’t likely to be available. We’ve even seen this from well known vendors like B&W and Paradigm.

Every driver Bryston makes has to pass a battery of tests before it can be passed on to the finished speaker. The finished speaker then has to survive a torture test before it’s cleared to ship.

Ya know what the other guys do? The Chinese simply screw parts into a box and pack ‘em in the box in front of them. One day they’re making Brand A, tomorrow Brand B, the day after could be Brand C- if not GPS or appliance componentry. Bryston builds its speakers with TLC. James Tanner, Bryston’s CEO has been with the company since 1976!

The majority of the companies that make speakers in the US simply buy woofers and tweeters from vendors around the world. They show up on the UPS truck. Laborers screw parts into place, pack ‘em up and out they go. This… is a far cry from Bryston, who makes better, tougher drivers and follows up with QC like nobody else.

On top of not having Bryston’s QC to make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for, these parts, made by supplier X, aren’t going to be around in a decade. If you toast a driver, the best you’ll be able to do is plug something that fits- into position. The engineering plan you paid for is out the window.

Even though I respect Scanspeak, Seas, Vifa and the like, I don’t want speakers where someone just ordered these parts out of a bin and plugged ‘em in. Custom built products from the ground up will give us a superior mouse trap- and that’s Bryston.

Oh, and here’s something we learned from the Chinese many moons ago. Here’s an example, courtesy of Elac.

Elac was making some respectable, Andrew Jones designed speakers about a decade ago.

We offered them because their sound for $300-600 per pair was good. But what we found out is, they wouldn’t provide parts for service!

As people blew the odd tweeter, we’d call them and it would be an absolute dog fight to get any parts out of them. It took threats of no further sales and going over the heads of the service chain- to get any results. At a point the service manager was barking at me and said, “OK, I’ll send you one more tweeter and then we’re done!” What he actually sent was a FULL SPEAKER. They were too lazy to even pull the tweeter and UPS it cheap. After a few repairs, the service manager (!) told me he wouldn’t ship any more tweeters. If a customer blew a speaker he’d have to UPS it in to them. WHAT? Yep, we’d have to ship the whole speaker in for $25 or more, to get them to put in a new tweeter worth $10. And this, even while the speakers were under warranty. Detestable. When you buy cheap widgets from China, this is what you should expect.

A2 Design

A2 has the toughness and QC its competitors don’t. There are some interesting details to the choices Bryston makes.

The A2s are about DOUBLES. Bryston runs a pair of tweets, mids & woofers. The tall array of drivers helps present a tall and deep soundstage. A2s sound LARGE like real music. The A2s are the start of Bryston’s line array formula for life sized sonic presentation.

When running doubles of a given driver, you have a couple of advantages. I’ve already mentioned the size of image is life like. To produce a given output, each driver only moves half as far as if you run a single. This shorter excursion provides better detail. Additionally, running doubles halves the power demands of each. Hence with A2 we have a speaker with a TALL, spacious soundstage, along with superb detail and massive power handling.

A2 uses a heavy, non rectangular cabinet, braced with an internal matrix of braces and struts. The combination of the heavy, reinforced cabinet, filled with an impressive array of drivers, produces testosterone far ahead of its Asian built competitors- who are all trying to save weight and cut corners with price.

A2’s bass response isn’t just HEAVY. It is tuneful. You can hear the true character of a stand up bass or lower register of a grand piano quite clearly. A professional bass player or piano player chooses their instrument for its flavor of sound. Bryston will allow you to hear that nuance- and not mask the bass definition with sludge.

A2 is Steinway Smooth. Most of our A2 buyers choose it because of its ability to play acoustic instruments smoothly- along with its impressive power. If all you ever played were acoustic pianos and string quartets, A2 would be a great choice. But if you want to party hard, you can’t beat Bryston and A2 for that usage as well.

Bryston makes its speakers for the toughest listener! The Chinese build their speakers for MOST listeners. They don’t mind taking their chances with some repairs because you’ll be out of warranty in a couple years. THEN… their repair department is a PROFIT CENTER, not a support department.

Stand Mount Design

Atohm GT-1 $4500 Per Pair

(13h, 7.87w, 10.43d, 6 ohms)

My favorite serious stand mount of manageable size is the French built Atohm GT-1. Atohms have extremely smooth timbre with spectacular imaging. Yet what really separates the men from the boys in a stand mount is the ability to produce bass and play at powerful volume levels.

Our typical upper end stand mount buyer has a room where she says the speaker has to be small. But WE want to let it rip on occasion.

There are precious few diminutive stand mounts that can indeed throw barbells around the room or play at booty kicking volume levels. Atohm can do it all!

More than a decade ago, before B&W and Paradigm were bought and changed into something they hadn’t been before… both companies made upper crust stand mounts for about this price point. Both sounded clean. But neither had Atohm level bass. Neither had even close to Atohm level SPL capability OR RELIABILITY.

Further, Atohm has a 7 year warranty while everyone else is 3-5.

GT-1 comes in stunningly beautiful gloss walnut or piano black finish. She’ll love either. GT-1 purveys acoustic nuance and space with remarkable refinement. I’m a die hard classical piano fan. I have multiple versions of my favorite works due to the playing of a particular pianist- or the unique sonic character that can be achieved on new recordings in particular.

For example, Liszt took Bellini’s opera “Norma” and wrote a 15 minute version of it for piano. It’s as fabulous as it is creative! My favorite version for many years was by Jorge Bolet on Decca, recorded in the 70s. I bought a new version this year by Ben Grosvenor, also on Decca, and the sound is nothing short of amazing. It has taken one of my favorite works to new heights because speakers like the GT-1s can reveal the upgrade so clearly.