advice regarding interpretation of reviews

[MikeBC]

I have sort of a theoretical question about how i should interpret the reviews I read here. For example, I was reading the review of the AV125 x-series ls bookshelf speakers and the review is very favorable. So I look up the speakers, and I see they are relatively inexpensive. I was prepared to spend significantly more than that (up to, say, $600-700 /pair) so I am wondering, is the rating of these speakers comparable only to other speakers in their price range or is the 4.75 rating also useful in comparing to speakers in the higher price range as well. In other words, is it correct to include that, for bookshelf speakers, it is senseless to pay more than what the x-ls's since the x-ls's are superior in their class regardless of price? Or is the statement, you get what you pay for, generally true, and I would benefit from applying my whole speaker budget for a pair of Ascend 170s or something like polk Lsi-9's??

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Audioholics]

Good question and we try to make this clear at the end of each review. Value is inherent in all of our review ratings, whether it be value to the consumer or value to the custom installer.

Our subjective ratings are only directly comparable within their respective price range. A 4-star speaker pair costing $5000 will be MUCH better than a 4-star speaker pair costing $500. And in fact, a 4-star speaker pair costing $1000 will likely sound better than a 5-star speaker pair costing $400.

This is why my first question when making recommendations is "What's your budget?"