Preface: This is a long meandering story, so long in fact that had I known the ultimate length before I started, I would have been tempted to begin, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." If I had any technical ability, or any specs to back me up this post would be a paragraph or two long and in the reviews section. I am only including it because I enjoy reading similar posts. An alternative title would be "a day well spent speaker hunting" or "why I switched speaker stores".
I recently put together a HT for someone else and solicited opinions from this site's members for that purpose. I mentioned that I'd auditioned Monitor Audios during this time, and that I still chose to go with PSB 2Bs, I did this mainly because of my familiarity with them. A moderator for this site, Rob Babcock, commented that while he preferred the sound of the Monitor Audio everyone’s' taste in speakers is subjective. I have recently had another encounter with Monitor Audio that seems worthy of sharing.
(I never thought that the Monitor speakers sounded bad mind you, but they just seemed a little overpriced and undersized, and I think that I had the preconception that anything from their bronze series must be cheaply made, or sound poor in relation to their other lines. I also have to admit at this point that the Monitor Audios I listened to were auditioned right after a B&W $40,000 reference system in the basement level of the shop we were at that we listened to for fun. How's that for a fair comparison?)
Here comes a sidebar rant:
I feel the need at this point to explain just how I came to have this experience so that I can vent a little. I went to a local shop, where I have always experienced quasi-knowledgeable, helpful, usually prompt service, albeit a smidgen pushy and sales oriented. I have always received help from the same one or two people, one of them being the owner. The purpose of this trip was to buy two more PSB 2bs so that I could complete my own HT system (complete until the next upgrade of course
). It was pretty busy in the shop and I didn't recognize any of the guys they had working. I walked into the room that had the speakers that I wanted along with other set-ups and was content killing some time A/Bing speakers. Eventually a salesman came over to help me, it wasn't a long wait by the way, maybe 10 min, and this is not my complaint. I was listening to the 2Bs when he came over, and I did a quick switch to a different set of speakers while I was standing up. The speakers that I switched to were of a much smaller variety, cubed in nature, but not made by whom you're thinking. The salesman smiled at me and said, and I quote," Yeah, there you go, the highs are way better on those." My first reaction was to wonder if commission or stupidity had prompted the statement. All I said was "Yeah, those are Ok, but I'm just here to buy these PSBs," and I said it in a friendly way. What followed was a 5 minute sales pitch that included telling me how wrong I was to want my initial selection, and a rant (not from me, from him!) about how it isn't important to match my fronts to my rears ( I have 2 PSB 2Bs and an 8C up front). When he was done explaining to me what I really needed and wanted in a system I calmly thanked him for the help and left the store. I will not be going back unless it is for service issues with the other products I have purchased there.
End Rant:
I went home and went to the PSB website. I looked up local dealers and low and behold there was another one even closer to my house. I had driven by, but never stopped in because it looked so small from the outside. I drove down to give it a look and I am glad I did. When I went in all the salespeople (both of them) were busy so I started wandering around. My first thought was where the heck are the PSBs. They didn't have any in stock. I don't mean just the ones I was looking for, I mean no PSBs at all. All they had for speakers were Paradigm and Monitor Audio. But they had
all of the models made by the two brands. They also had 5 dedicated home theatre rooms. I went from room to room, listening to the set-ups. All of them sounded great, be it Paradigm or Monitor. What surprised me most however was what occurred when I went to walk into the HT room on the right. I had to walk past a little room, more of a cubbyhole really, to get there. The room was wide open in the front, not treated in any way, and I think it was the lunch room/storage area because there was a big folding table in there and some unhooked floor standing speakers and not much else. Oh yeah, there was a tiny set of Monitor Audio Bronze B2 bookshelf speakers mated to a little NAD integrated amp and DVD player putting out the best sound I have heard from such a small set up. I literally walked in the room and looked around to make sure no other speakers were playing at the same time, and that no sub was tucked away somewhere unseen. It wasn't because there was a ton of bass; it was because the bass that was present was so tight and punchy and just plain…I don’t know, right. These speakers just sounded so complete, and full, and engrossing. There wasn't that something missing that there always seems to be when you hear a reasonably priced bookshelf speaker. When I flipped over the price tag I was expecting to give my usual grunt of dissatisfaction that occurs when I confirm that, because I like it, the powers that be have decided that it will cost too much. Instead I wound up giving my seldom heard hmm, that only pops up when I see a great value, and must talk myself out of reaching for the wallet before I know what I'm doing. To be honest I thought that this speaker was in the Gold or Silver series before I read the tag stating that it was a Bronze. The cost? $299 !! The shop had just got them in and had a promo running. This was great because the guy that I had helped install the 5.1 system had been reading his manual and found out that he could run a set up B speakers with the unused speaker terminals. He loves his PSB set-up, and wanted me to help him pick out a couple more speakers for music only, but he wants them a little cheaper than the price tag of the PSBs, and a little smaller in stature too. I think I may have a recommendation for him.
Am I going to throw out my PSB’s, nah, I love em to death, but I do think everyone thinking about Speakers should at least audition Monitor Audio. And Rob, now I know why they have so many supporters.
He also showed his new room to some of the guys he works with, and one of them asked him to ask me to recommend some speakers and a receiver for him for around $1000. At the shop I was at they are clearing out the Paradigm V3s and they told me they could sell me The demos they had left, being 2 Paradigm Titans, 2 Atoms and a CC170 for $500.00. Remember this is in Canadian, so it would be under $400 US. I am going back on Friday to help the guy demo them
.
"But what about your PSB Image 2Bs?" some may be asking (if they could read this far without falling asleep). “Did you get them?” Well, they don't carry PSB on the floor of the shop I was at. The salesman was very upfront about it. He said that they have a better relationship with Paradigm, get better pricing from them, and have more customers request them, so it only makes sense to devote the floor space to the one that is better for business. He also said that the two companies are pretty big rivals. Did he try and tell me that I should switch brands? No. Did he try to sell me something I didn't need? No. What he did was tell me that I would be way better off matching my fronts and rears. He told me that since the PSB 2bs aren't current product, they can't order them, but that he had a friend at another local authorized dealer, and he thought that they had them in stock so he'd try to get me a deal. He called the other dealer, and was informed that they had sold all their stock to another retailer (a chain store) for a big discount. The person on the other end of the phone told me to go to the shop and offer $350 including taxes for speakers. I thought he was nuts because they initially retailed for $499 plus taxes and I thought I got a great deal for $400 plus taxes for my first pair a while ago. He said just to tell the retailer that they were offering me that price, and he guaranteed they would match it. I took his advice, went to the shop, and sure enough they matched it, and beat it by $25.00. I pick them up tonight, and I am very happy
. Now I need to buy stands for these guys. In the past I have ordered my stands, and they take two weeks to get here so I am not quite set, but I feel that this is a big step.
I’m sorry this post is so long, I just get excited about the subject matter and cant shut up.
I don't know what the policy is regarding plugging a store, but I would like to drop the name of the local store that I found so helpful and priced just right if I may. It is Whitby Audio in Whitby Ontario, and the guy who helped me out, and answered so many questions was named Mark. I put the names at the end so that it would be easy to delete if necessary.
