Quote Originally Posted by soonerczech
Since we are talking about internet direct speaker purchasing, why hasn't anybody brought up Hsu and SVS subs? While some may want to call it cultish and insane for not auditioning a set of speakers before you buy them, you have to realize that not everybody has great B&M stores that actually treat you like a customer instead of just schmo of the street. If some people weren't so cultish about these speakers, would we have even heard of SVS or HSU? On another note, I feel like people who use speakers for home theater are being somewhat denegrated in this thread. Oh, we only use a receiver to listen the speakers. No offense, but as everyone has said "its all in how you perceive the sound coming from your speakers" . Your $3000 solid state tube amp may sound like utter crap to me. Its all about personal preference. Sometimes I prefer the sound of a good vinyl record to a digital CD. In closing, sometimes you have to take a risk to get the reward.
I'll agree with you. I'm not denigrating internet direct speakers with my posts, after all I bought my subwoofer online. But, I think that what a lot of the cultish postings fail to acknowledge is that buying online IS a riskier proposition than going through a B&M store. The potential reward is a great product for a low price, and the risk is having to buy a product and assume some irrecoverable costs (i.e. shipping and credit card interest) just to try the product out.

My own personal decision to go with an internet direct subwoofer stemmed from the lack of retail options that met my criteria. I could only afford about $500, and I wanted a sealed box subwoofer that could go well below 35 Hz. At that time, the lowest priced retail option I could find cost $800, so I e-mailed Adire Audio and their response was very satisfactory. I ordered the Rava without having heard it before, and based on recommendations from people on this board whose advice had helped me out in the past. I knew up front that if I did not like the subwoofer and decided to return it, I was out $80. And if not for my decision to simultaneously buy a parametric equalizer and spend a lot of time calibrating the subwoofer to my room acoustics, the boomy sound of that subwoofer out of the box would have forced me to return the unit. As it stands, I'm happy with my purchase.

But, at the same time, I'm not about to say that the Adire Rava "blows away" all other retail options, or that it's by far the better deal than anything sold in stores, because frankly, I don't have enough information to make such a claim. And I would strongly question anybody else who makes such a claim with subwoofer comparisons. In order to properly compare the Rava with the SVS, Hsu, and retail units, I would have to buy the SVS and Hsu units, and borrow the retail units. PLUS, I would have to individually calibrate each unit to the room acoustics. Either way, just to listen to the comparable SVS and Hsu units would cost me probably around $150 in shipping charges.