Have a customer that heard a set of 601series B&W in Las Vegas and liked what he "saw" but liked the "sound" of the Paradigm. Do any of you have any input to this? I think that B&W is overated. Not to metion that I cannot get my hands on either one. Paradigm is a great sounding speaker for the money as well. What do any of you out here think of the Atlantic Technology, Upper line of Polk, and M&K line? Your input is greatly appreciated. I want his business and have no connects on B&W or Paradigm but desperately want his business. He has heard of the previous two that I mentioned but not the later three. He has a 20' x 27' room that we want to install an electric 100"( we are recommending stewart greyhawk ) he wants either Draper or Da Lite and Sim2 or Sony LCD projector (matterhorn chip, ughh!, LCD projection, ughh!). We recommend the Optima line as well as some of the higher end Sharp DLP's Also what about Parasound amps, Harman Kardon recievers,and DVD players. I know; not the Marantz or Denon. But they are American made and have the power rating and performance and are not given credit towards. Your unbiased opinions are very much welcome. Thank you all again.

what speaker lines do you carry? There are many that are better than B&W, Paradigm, etc,

It's all the same shit, (per say). Every manufacturer has their angle, their view, their special thing, their claim to fame...

Some components have a better margin than others, some market more than others.

Essentially, we chose lines that no one else carries (territorial) but also do the right things functionally.

For the record, we use Jamo, Integra, Da-Lite, Sim2 and Crestron among the few.

Out of all the projectors that I checked at CEDIA the 300 from SIM2 IMHO had the best picture even superior to their top of the line projectors. Of course it is too difficult to compare because first you don't have the same picture side by side with the same screen and the same lightning conditions. Even the demo they had at the SIM2 booth was different for every projector. But I was really impressed by the 300.

On 11/27/04 08:51 ET, doopid said...

It's all the same shit, (per say). Every manufacturer
has their angle, their view, their special thing,
their claim to fame...

what are you talking about? seriously do you have any idea?if you think its all the same your in the wrong business


at any rate the best polk and atlantic tech products cant compare with the middle end paradigm stuff. and B&W is over priced i dont know about over rated. again you can spend half the money on higher end paradigm product and get something comparable. i had to actually stop selling some of the lower end paradigm stuff beacuse it really sounds so good.
M&K is actually great for theater aplications and thats what i would recomend to you
M&K is used by Lucas films, Dolby labs, Sony Pictures(lol), Warner Bros, Dreamworks, Disney films, 20TH Century fox, and the list goes on and on. I have a thx package in my main Theater in my showroom and it is breathtaking.
Stewart Geyhawk is the way to go. but if he must have draper its not a bad alternative.
Sim 2 is also one of the best projectors(under 20,000) you can buy. the ht300 retails for about 12,999 and supports every format you can ask for and is a step up from the domino30 which is 8999 i believe. Both are single chip dlp 6-segment color wheel - DCDi™ by Faroudja with a bulb life of 8000 hours. now the sony and the sharp cant compare with these. they may be cheaper but given the life expectancy of the bulbs of the sharps and sonys at up to 500 each you will spend the same amount of money in the long run..
parasound amps are great stuff for the money
Harmon Kardon on the other hand is so,so.. If you are talking about just a audio reciever and you dont need anything fancy then thats fine but if your talking surround prossesing i would avoid it unless you use there top of the line integrated that is over 2000.their digital stuff bites
Now DVD players. if you are asking about Harmon Kardon dvd players Quite frankly they arent very good and if you get a HK dvd player dont waste your money on a sim2 projector(crap in crap out). this is quite often over looked in system design. so often i see people sell a $12000 projector and a $249 dvd player. it doesnt make sense. anyone can see the difference of picture quality between a $250 and a $1000 dvd player.
I used Harmon Kardon for years and i can honestly say that Marantz and higher end Denon are far superior. So if i were you i would go with the following
M&K speakers
Stewart screen
Sim2 projector
Marantz sr7500 or 8500 surround reciever
Marantz dv9500 dvd player with hdmi and upscaling to 1080i

if you must go with harmon kardon Reciever buy a better dvd player then they offer. the marantz is like 999 and denon dv3910 for like 1299. look for a Faroudja chipset as they wrote the book on video decoding.
hope this helps

This message was edited by Vincent Delpino on 11/27/04 13:22 ET.

I've been the business for 11 years and I'll say it again...

It's all the same shit, and you damn well know it!

Don't be a classroom drone and accept whatever the sales pitch is.

Every speaker line from every manufacturer has its good speakers and bad speakers (for value). And again I'm speaking about value vs. product.

I see a long arduous discussion coming on....LOL

When I started working where I am now, I was an 'it's all the same' type of guy... That lasted about one week... They put me in a listening room with speakers and wires and said 'go to town'. The differences are HUGE. I won't get into an argument about whether the difference is worth the money, because it's not that simple. You have to find the right combination for you.

When I'm in a room with a customer comparing Paradigm and B&W, nine times out of ten, they pick the B&W. The tenth guy is totally convinced that the Paradigm is WAY better... go figure.

It's all subjective.

That sounds better that 'it's all the same' to me...

I'm sure glad I'm not your client. I damm well know that I must have better hearing than some and worse than others. Ears tells all for me for audio. Picture tells all for me in video.

I'm opened minded enought to know I don't always know better than others just because I've been in the residential biz for 10 years.

Dave

Am I dealing with true "audiophiles" here? Because if I am, I will just concede now and move on to a new subject

Yes!

I don't need advertising and marketing to tell me what speakers sound good to me. Thats exactly why I would never 'mail order' a set. If there wasn't a differance between htib's and a set of 'real' speakers, I would never have been interested enough to be in this biz. Same goes for the visual end.

In my early teens I discovered a thing refered to as 'sound stage'. It amazed me that some speakers could produce it flawlessly, some sucked! I became addicted To this 'industry'. I've yet to find a cure.

Quit listening to the reps 'ploy' and listen (or see) there product. Then make a decision of your own.

How do you define 'true "audiophiles"' ? Do you mean the nutjobs who come in our store and discuss the relative differences between American and Russian vacuum tubes? Do you mean the guy who spends 500k on a two channel set-up for a NYC apartment with a room about 10x8? Or do you mean someone who likes to listen to good sound, and can tell the difference between speakers? I'm guilty of being #3... I'll admit it.

P.S. I just 'retired' a $5000msrp PAIR of speakers, replaced them with a $900msrp Pair of Paradigm's , better sound overall. And I had never really heard of Paradigm, until I HEARD them.

I was leaning towards #1 & #2. It's safe to say most of the members here are #3

I'll agree with you on the #3.
It's pretty amaizing, the emotions we all have towards this BIZ! If I was a lawyer with the same convictions, I'd be filthy rich. But that job just doesn't 'sound' right to me.

What was the original question?