This the best speaker BestBuy have in inventory.

[spacedeckman]

Funny things happen when sales floor reality meets consumers, marketing, and engineering.

On a big box floor, speakers are working in an environment they were never meant to operate in. Best Buy is the "worst case scenario" by far. Dozens of speakers out in the open on shelves in a 30-40,000 sq ft, very loud environment. Add to that, the average consumer is...at best ignorant, and at worst, stupid. Not normally stupid, but stupid hardened by the marketing department of an audio company...speakers in our example. So, you will have three basic types of customers.

The first will have a brand already in mind, 70% of the time a brand that they have only heard the name of...never the speakers themselves. Bose is the most glaring example here. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people come into the store when I was selling, steadfastly refusing to listen to anything else. I would have to trick them into listening to something else, then 80% of the time they would buy the other product, the other 20% would admit the alternative sounded better, but they still wanted the Bose. Sound didn't matter, but the prestige they thought they would get from the purchase won out.

The second listens for about 10 seconds and testosterone pushes them to the "sensitive, boom and sizzle type" speaker. The logic is that more is better, read more midbass, more sensitivity, more sizzle makes the better choice. Cerwin Vega and Klipsch attract this kind of customer, but they are not nearly alone. It takes a patient salesman (they aren't always evil) to realize that and try to get them to slow down and make a better choice. Again, about 80% of the time this customer can be won over to a better speaker, but 20% go with the testosterone.

The third, goes in with an open mind, and listens. They will take input from a salesman, but make their own decision. They realize that they really don't know what is going on in the audio business, and what they do know wouldn't fill a thimble half full if it were run over by a truck. Instead, they use that lack of knowledge as a benefit. Having not prejudged any product, they tend to give anything a try and a real evaluation. Not an evaluation tainted by what's been crammed in their head by people who don't know or are just trying to get them to buy something.

The third person is rare, but I loved selling them things because they always asked the right questions and knew the goal was their pleasure. Even if they didn't buy something from me, it felt good dealing with them, because they were on a quest for knowledge.

So, yes, poor salespeople are directed by spiffs (bonus payments or contests for selling a product), some companies make products to call attention to themselves on a busy salesfloor, figuring the salespeople will clerk out the easy sale, engineers now try to accomplish a whole lot on smaller budgets. (This has a good side: A good engineer can make wonderful products on a little budget, any engineer can make good products on a big budget) But their creativity is usually directed by the marketing department, who limit their creativity to fit a pre-packaged concept.

That is the way the world is out there. I mentioned Best Buy, but Circuit, or any of the big box type stores are little different. The strong survive, unfortunately too many people are willing to believe that tripe is steak. People aren't often too bright. They expect a brand name to make them feel better, or earn respect out in the world. I'm actually proud that the normal person on the street would only recognize the name of my DVD changer. Name was not involved in any of my decisions, only sound, and to some extent, price.

[Smokey]

Spacedeck, I thought you won't be back until the new years. I guess the discussion got too hot for you

Funny things happen when sales floor reality meets consumers, marketing, and engineering.

On a big box floor, speakers are working in an environment they were never meant to operate in. Best Buy is the "worst case scenario" by far. Dozens of speakers out in the open on shelves in a 30-40,000 sq ft, very loud environment.

That discussion can go both ways. One can go and listen to speakers in a dedicated listening room in a dealer, but that won't guaranty the speakers sounded best in that environment will sound best in consumer's room environment. So there are too many holes in that argument.

Also on your comment about CR only measure speakers on-axis only in not correct. They measures frequency response on-axis and at various off-axis angles inside an anechoic chamber and then uses a computer program to estimate what you'd hear in a real room (I'm not sure what size room) which is a mix of on-axis and off-axis frequency responses (aka "direct and reflected sound").

[Beckman]

Nothing wrong with JBL, but there are probably better speakers for $800.

[spacedeckman]

"One can go and listen to speakers in a dedicated listening room in a dealer, but that won't guaranty the speakers sounded best in that environment will sound best in consumer's room environment."

Not really, there are far more similarities in rooms than differences. Speakers are designed to work in a "standard sized" environment, not big stores where you will get no bass reinforcement. Okay they should be. No holes in that argument. It will be nowhere near the "superstore".

"then uses a computer program to estimate what you'd hear in a real room "

They are apparently not adjusting for the limitations of the anechoic chamber. There would be fewer holes in an argument that used a real room. Consumers would be far better served by a dummy room where they took standardized measurements. All they would have to do is go to the homes of 10 or 20 people that worked there, measure each of their living rooms, and create an "average room". Far cheaper and better for their goals. What they are doing now is BS.

[Bryan]

After having a chance to listen to the E-90s I will say they are good but would not get my vote for HT, especially considering I can get five nOrh 4.0s (the speakers I have in my HT system) for $850 delivered. That being said, I would also say the E-90s were the best at Best Buy. However, the E-20s are extremely impressive, having the same sonic signature as the E-90s and go for a fourth ($200 delivered for the pair) of the price. For my money for a speaker purchase at Best Buy, the E-20s would be the way to go.

[Smokey]

However, the E-20s are extremely impressive, having the same sonic signature as the E-90s and go for a fourth ($200 delivered for the pair) of the price.

How can you say they have the same sonic signature given the fact that both use different type of drivers, and E20 probably will not produce any notes below 100 hz?