I work in a retail store, and can get a killer discount on Boston, KEF, and Polk towers. I was curious what anyone thought about the Boston VR2, Polk rti10, or KEF IQ9 tower speakers. These are the towers that are most appealing to me, and fall within my price range.
I am in college and was looking for a nice pair on towers, mainly to be used for movie viewing.
I love it. You work in the store and call yourself "Cluelessonaudio." Which one do you work for Best Buy or Circuit City? I think we've all run into you once or twice while shopping there.
Anyway Scott, they are all good speakers. They aren't over priced underachieving junk like Bose. Their are better speakers out there, debatably for equal money, but their are far worse for more money.
The best one is the one you like most. Their's no clear cut winner or loser here. Everyone will have a differing opinion.
Scott, sorry can't help much. The iQ9s are ok and pretty good for HT thanks to their 'UniQ' driver giving sharp well defined images, but that's about it.
I don't think you should buy anything based upon how much someone is willing to deduct from the price. Listen to some speakers that you don't get a discount on to decide whether there is something much better for the dollar.
Frank, that should read 'even in the United States of America'. Americas being finite continental quantities, no one singular would constitute an 'America'.
A peeve of mine, please continue.
Jan, in fact, a hugely discounted item is one of interest, although for different reasons. If I get 30% off because I work there in the store, that is one thing. A heavy discount due to discontinuation or clearance may be another.
Scott- opinions only. Polks in general have a thiny brightness to my eaar. A general comment only. I actually prefer the Boston Acoustics VR2; the sound has a certain fullness and bass extension tends to be a bit truer to the stated rating than others. I dont find BA VR2 to be particularly detailed in either highs or mids.
I havent heard the KEF lines, only seen/read about them so no help there.
A discount is a discount no matter how it's offered and "X" amount of dollars is still "X" amount of dollars no matter whether it's after the discount or before. If you are going to spend "X" amount, get the most speaker performance you can, not just the most speaker cabinet. Go listen to some other speakers that would cost as much as what you would buy here with a discount. The brands mentioned in the original post are mass market stuff. That doesn't make them bad but just makes other brands possibly better in many ways. Sort of like going from the four door Chevy Cobalt to the Civic Si. When you stop trying to appeal to the masses and making it up on volume sales, the performance for the dollar goes up.
Go listen to a pair of NHT, PSB, Omega, Usher, Epos, Alegria or a half dozen other brands that aren't sold in department stores. Don't get hung up on towers. Cheap towers won't do many desirable things that a well designed stand mounted speaker can manage with ease. Cheap towers will do many things a speaker just shouldn't do in the first place. Listen to the music and decide which speaker you like. If you still like the discounted towers, then you'll have at least heard some other good equipment during the audition period. If you get a better speaker for the same amount of cash, discounted or not, what's the problem with that?
Don't ever buy stuff just because you got a discount. But the best quality you can afford every time. Quality always has resale value, the original discount has none. Who wants to buy something from you because you got a big discount when you bought it? That's probably one of the worst selling tools possible on the pre-owned market. If the best quality you can afford comes with a discount, then that's even better.
But what about when I do not care about resale value? When I buy(like you did) to last for life, or the life of the product? When you buy a new car, lots of people say'why buy new?' when a used car has already run it's depreciation? Well, I like the deal on my car(end of line). Cheap, but the important thing is that I intend to keep it for a zillion years. Depreciation means squat, cause I am gonna be in it for a long time.
Now look at a componant, or speaker.
Sure, there is a chance of trading in, or up, but in most customers's minds, this is a one shot deal. When a deal comes up, it's jump deal, particularly for late-in-the-line stuff. Think Denon 3806/2807 type of thing. I was offered a 2807 for change, but have no use.(bought it for a family member). Sold on price alone. Done.
I know that you are quality driven, Jan(so am I), but you cannot discount discounts, the deal can come down like a hammer, whack whack.
Now find me a good set of speakers for my needs, and, well...
Bang Bang Maxwells' silver hammer came down on her head ...
You missed the point. Resale is determined by quality, not by the amount of discount you got. (Technically the latter is true, resale is often negatively affected by discount at the front end - compare a Ford Taurus to a Honda Accord both four years into the market.) If you are shopping for a lifetime ownership, then you really should be interested in resale. The higher the resale, the better the probability you have made a quality purchase. You may not want to sell your unit but there will always be someone who wants to sell theirs. If they can get a great price five or ten years down the road, then you own a great piece of equipment. If the gear can only be sold two years later by heavily discounting the selling price, you have piece of junk. Consider the Ford and the Honda. If you intend to keep it, don't buy because of discounts. Buy the best quality your budget can afford.