Speaker comparison

Technically speaking, what makes a Paradigm, B&W, or Mirage speaker better than a Polk, Infinity, or Klipsch speaker?

What is it, concerning the components that make up the entire speaker, that give it an edge over another brand?

thanks
Nadeem

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Originally Posted by nahmed

Technically speaking, what makes a Paradigm, B&W, or Mirage speaker better than a Polk, Infinity, or Klipsch speaker?

What is it, concerning the components that make up the entire speaker, that give it an edge over another brand?

thanks
Nadeem

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your ears, only your ear will know the differences and how they appeal to you. All those brands you mentioned have some qualities about them that some people favour. Never take what someone says about a brand as the be all because your ears may tell you something completely different. Example: if someone tells you they do not favour a speaker with a metal tweeter or a horn loaded speaker, I say screw them because you may think they sound awesome. So technically speaking your ears and the way your brain interperates your ears is the biggest component of the speaker.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nahmed

Technically speaking, what makes a Paradigm, B&W, or Mirage speaker better than a Polk, Infinity, or Klipsch speaker?

What is it, concerning the components that make up the entire speaker, that give it an edge over another brand?

thanks
Nadeem

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You're making a generalization here mate. Klipsch probably makes the best speaker out of all of these in the K-Horn - that's arguable of course but so is placing Klipsch, Infinity and Polk below those others.

Magazines mostly drive the viewpoints of audio hobbyists - and the first two advertise WAY more than most as well.

About the parts - well it depends on which models - the cheap ones from all of them are cheap. the other aspect WHERE the speaker is sold - if it's sold at BB it's viewed as a lesser speaker - if it's in a high end boutique it's viewed much better. Of course it may sound better in a high end shop because dealers set it up properly as opposed to BB.

There is nothing inherently worse about a given Polk versus a given B&W or Paradigm - you have to decide if the extra money is really worth it or it's advertising hype. After all most non audiophiles actually think Sony is superior because it has the name Sony attached to it - when in fact it's probably no better than stuff sold at Wal-Mart for 1/5 the price.

You're not going to get agreement in either set you listed. I prefer the Klipsch models to most of the Paradigm models of similar price points - Mirage I have never been impressed with - same for Infinity(though that was years ago) and Polk is better than they get credit for IMO.

You want to try and listen a lot in differring envirinments - but in the end it'sa subjective call.

I like my paradigm studios, but nothing about them make them objectively "better" than another brand. People like different sounds from their speakers, and that's the sound I like at it's price point, at least from the fairly large variety of speakers that I heard. Certain brands do generally produce a "better" product than others, but I wouldn't say that any of the brands you mentioned are objectively worse at a given price point.
Is that what you're asking, or are you asking what sort of variables make a given speaker "better" than another, and I'm going to use "better" as meaning a speaker with a sound most of us would favor, just make up a really extreme example in your head. Everything about a speaker changes what it sounds like, drivers, crossovers, cabinets, the room it is in, and the research and experimentation that goes into the process of integrating these and many other things to produce the sound that you hear. Some companies are charging mor for their product so they can spend more money on research and development, as well as on the components which make up the speaker. Some companies spend more money advertising their speakers, which is obviously paid for by the consumer.This is not to say more expensive is always better, we've all heard expensive speakers we have not liked, but it gives the company the opportunity to make a better speaker. Go to this link
http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html
and read what the author has to say about the build quality of the bose acoustimass systems. This article obviously has an agenda, and I am not trying to start another bose thread, but it does describe why the author finds the general quality and build of the speaker to be flawed.