Quote Originally Posted by zedicus
Thank you all for your Awesome feedback!

poppachubby - I live in St. George area, the Craigslist here is VERY limited. I even tried the Salt Lake Craigslist, and KSL classifieds but came up empty handed. Also, our only stores that have speakers is Best Buy, Boulevard home furnishings (paradigm distributor), and a car audio shop that happens to have a few home audio speakers with an inch of dust on them.

Anyways, I went to my local home furnishings store today to listen to the Paradigm speakers, (what a joke) not the speakers - the furniture store. Their speaker/receiver switches didn't even work, and none of the employees were even remotely willing to help me get them set up to listen to them... So, after arguing with the so called "Audio" guy for about an hour trying to get him to get me a receiver set up so I could hear the speakers, I decided to just do it myself.

In the TV section they had an 83" Mitsubishi LCD television hooked up to some low end Samsung box system. So, I unconnected the paradigm speakers from the speaker department and hauled them over to the TV section where I ripped the Samsung cords out and plugged in the paradigms.

Then all of the sudden, as if pushing play opened up some magic box, a gorgeous sound proceeded from the sleek speakers that sat before me. A small frog jumped around from the store demo of "The Princess and the Frog", and I heard every detail. Still unsatisfied, I plugged in my P2 in the aux port and played one of my favorite songs, "Whats Up" from 4 Non Blondes. All I can say is WOW.

While I was standing there with my mouth hanging open and my eyes closed, I heard somebody behind me say, "I want this setup honey". I turned around and there stood probably a dozen people listening to the sweet raspy melodies of Linda Perry, all seemingly just as intrigued as me.

About 3 minutes later the "Audio" guy came over saying that I shouldn't have touched the equipment, I should have waited for someone to help me - because they were trying real hard.... Well, I asked him what prices were and after some swaggeling I was able to get some pretty decent quotes I think.

I tried
Studio 20 (not sure of version, 4 I think)
Monitor 7 (version 5)

Both were stunning, however I thought that the Studio 20's were a tad to bright for my tastes; while the monitor 7's were near perfect.

I wanted to try more but apparently Paradigm is pulling their licence because they haven't sold enough speakers in the last year - I wanted to say (excuse my french) no ****, maybe if your customers could actually listen to them. I probably made at least one sale just because I actually did something.

I was quoted
- $748 for the Studio 20's new in box and $648 for the floor model. (Pair)
- $549 for the Monitor 7's new in box and $500 for the floor model. (Pair)
- Also, they had a very nice looking center that said originally $999 marked down to $499 (not sure of model... it wasn't really accessible) (Single)



I am going to try to listen to more speakers, and even have a good friend of mine whom ears I trust to try some speakers in Vegas. That way I will only have to do that 1.5 hour drive once if he finds something.

Thanks again, I will keep you updated - I am really considering those Monitor 7's :P a wee over my price range but they offer 1 year no payment no interest. As long as the "Audio" guy stays in charge I don't see them selling their last set soon. If all of these other recommendations sound as good as the paradigms I may be in trouble

I look forward to keeping this search going

Travis
Hahhaa, great story Travis! Strange sales technique over there. Yes Paradigm make some decent speaks but I think they are probably asking a little too much. I was looking at Leroy's MS recommendation, real nice stuff!! Great price too. Raven has made some good suggestions too. I think your best bet lies on the internet in terms of hitting your budget. Just be aware of size and style as you do your listening, alot of these companies tend to copy each pther. Some models, you hear one you hear them all..I'm getting excited for you, there's so many great choices in your price range. It's making me want to buy speakers now.