Choosing Speakers

[cmalak]

Jim...I think you hit the nail on the head with the approach i have taken when auditioning speakers, which is, if you hear a set of speakers that float your boat (in whatever environment outside your home environment - dealer, show, friend's home, etc...), you are at least sure that the speakers are capable of generating that sonic presentation that you were drawn to. So then any differences in that sonic presentation when those speakers get into your system at home can be addressed via changes to speaker-room interface thru treatments/placement and associated gear. What one misses however are those speakers that can generate that sonic presentation that you are seeking but that are improperly set-up (again at the dealer or in a show setting) and you end up writing them off because of a poor audition. At the end of the day, you have to assume that the dealer or manufacturer know how to properly system match and set-up their speakers to show them off in the best light possible. Unfortunately this is not always the case and you end up dismissing some excellent speakers because they were badly presented.