Price vs. Performance

[kennyt]

Greg,

While she OK'd the purchase in trul;y unusual fashion (knowing full well the cost) she didn't pony up a dime to help cover the cost.......

Ken

[TheMoose]

For me Cars & speakers are in the same catagory, Most bang for the buck!!

I live in the real world & on a Firefighters salary, while I read the Perfect Vision & the Absolute Sound as well as magazines with exotic cars there is no way I can swing a 6 figure price tag on either cars or speakers!

That doesn't mean I cheap out on my toys though, I buy the best I can afford & get the best bang for my buck.

In Speakers that's been Paragidm, in 1994 I bought my first 5.1 system, I hated what the "Big Box" stores had so I went to some of the high end dealers to see what they had.
Here I found my biggest complaint with the "high end" when I told them my budget of $1000 ( which was a bunch of money to me 13 years ago) I was actually told in 2 stores that was not enough money & suggested I try Sears!
I finally found a shop that didn't look down on me because of my price range & was shown the Paradigms & purchased 2 Mini Mk2's 2- Atoms, a CC200 & an unpowered Sub.
These are the same speakers I am still listening to with the exception of the unpowered sub, I replaced that with a Paradigm PDR12.

These speakers have been thru at least 4 recievers, 3 Tv's & many other upgrades to my Home theatre & they still sound great.
I am looking to finally replace them with the Paradigm Reference Studio v4 series, they might be 4 times what I paid for the originals but are Thousands less than comprable speakers from the "Big Boys" but if they last as long & sound as good I'll be happy.

As for cars, exotics are cool but the only place you can really get all the preformance out of them is on a race track & most people will never take their 6 figure cars on a track but many have showed up at the SCCA Autocross tracks I race on, 911's, 348's Z06's etc have all fallen prey to my backyard built mid engine VOLKSWAGEN!!







At around $10K my restored 1969 Autodynamics Deserter GS is cheaper than some of these cars tire bills but it smokes them all just the same!
That's what I call bang for the buck!

[deacongreg]

TheMoose, that is excellent. I agree with you about the high end attitude. I commented on this in the Can the AV industry sell to generation Y? I gave my experience that I will never forget when I got my first great turntable.So until that changes, they have a way to go.

I`m a real world guy to with a real world salary as well, but hope to move up one day. My system when i graduated from college was the APT preamp and APT 1 100 watt per channel power amp, with Bose 901 series IV speakers that I actually won from what was called the stereo hi - fi show at the Statler Hilton hotel here in New York.

All of which is now all traded in. I`m back starting from the beginning again.
As far as cars go, occasionally I go and sit in a Mercedes SL55AMG at White Plains Mercedes Benz. One day........ Your car is great. Obviously you have some skill. Maybe you should become a designer or mechanic at one the exotic car companies, and then, who knows.........................

[deacongreg]

Kennyt, Okay, I hear you. That was all on you. But, compared to a lot of us, I still believe your situation is unique.

Though, since we are looking for a house, I took my wife a while back to The listening Room when it was open. She listened to a full 5.1 surround demo with Infinity powered speakers and Krell Showcase electronics.
She liked it, and actually said to me, I could see this in our living room. So, hope is there.

[Robinson_A]

Moose,

One of my all time favorite cars is actually the Superformance GT40 MKII which not unlike yours is a hand built endevor. I was excited to see Ford remake the GT40 however upon close inspection I didn't like how soft it got around the edges. I totally agree with you about performance for the dollar. Sometime in the near future I'd like to own a RCR GT40 with a Roush small block which would smoke everything on the road today and can be had for roughly $45K if you know where to look. Plus if it ever breaks down you can find all the parts you need at a pep-boys.

Funny isn't it how Paradigm is seemingly everyone's first foray into high end. The same thing happened to me when I was in my teens. I scratched together a grand or so and was told to shop at a garage sale. One dealer set me on the path to salvation though and hooked me up with NAD seperates mated with a pair of first generation Monitor 7's. To this day it's one of my favorite systems I've ever owned. More money doesn't always equal more performance as I'm sure you know. Sometimes it just means more money.

Enjoy race day. It's a good looking car.

Andrew

[Strutter]

my first foray into serious audio/video gear began not so long ago. sorry to say i'm fairly new to all of this. being from an area with no high end shops i am limited in my choices. but i buy the best i can for the money of what is available to me. about 6 years ago i bought my first surround system after much investigation i decide upon a denon home theater in a box from sears. for the money it was a great deal. those little denon cubes were good for many years but my abuse finally took its toll. about 2 years ago they gave up from what i later decided was my overdrving them to the point of clipping. thanks to my extended waranty, sears no longer carrying denon and their inability to replace the speakers . i recieved a check from sears for $800 and was allowed to keep the denon reciever and dvd player.(awesome).
i began my search for replacement speakers. during my search i had collected several bestbuy gift cards so i had decided i was going to use those and the check from sears to purchase my new speakers. but they didnt cary anything i liked at the time. i continued searching listening to speakers at as many places as i could find and to my delight found that bestbuy had began carring Klipsch. i had already listened to their reference system from tweeter 60miles away. but after listening to the synergy series at BB and wighing the fact that i could basically buy them with no out of pocket expence my choice was made. the F-3's are awesome speakers. last year i used more gift cards to purchase the C-3, S-3 and Sub-12 with very little of my own money. (i ask for BB cards from everyone at christmas). i have to say that the klipsch synergy F-3 series are the best i had heard before and have sence found nothing to match them at the price. i have sence added a pair of klipsch
AW-650 to the deck outside.
my next purchase was the sony 60"xbr2 from tweeter (no cards) replacing a 35" crt. this was no easy choice. i had been researching TV's for the past 3 years. my desire for a large HDTV was eating me up. i've owned it sence nov.'06 and have never regretted the purchase. an awesome display.
i have some cards saved up and am now investigating HD players and recievers to replace the oppo player and the denon reciever.
below are some pics of my toys.