$400 vs $40,000 Speakers — What Actually Changes?

Comments · 596

• AN

  @andrewrobinsonreviews · 6 months ago (edited) · pinned

  All the speakers (by budget) are linked above ↑ &nbsp;<br><b>Curious — when did you first hear a system and think, “oh… that’s different”?</b><br>If you want help dialing in your setup, use the THANKS button to highlight your comment and I’ll take a look.<br> 🔗 My 2025 Favorites: <a href="https://bit.ly/m/ROBINSON-2025-FAVS">https://bit.ly/m/ROBINSON-2025-FAVS</a>

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• KL

  @klatschkuchen3513 · 2 weeks ago

  In my opinion the Teufel Ultima 40 is more campatible than the Elac.

• IS

  @ishindersidhu · 2 months ago

  I thought the Klipsch 800 M2 were great till I got the kef q750. Different sounds but I hear music and not just a sound coming off the kefs.

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• GA

  @garyharper2943 · 3 months ago

  I bought Cerwin Vega AT-15s , 30 years ago for $700, a lot of money then, still have them and love them, no subwoofer needed.

• SC

  @scottcronin1765 · 3 months ago

  Good day Andrew, and to all others who have commented. I at first wanted to make some kind of outstanding comment on how my journey has been over the course of my life and what has been importnat to me. But I could not put my finger on what stood out the most as I upgraded my equipment. So I will say this, the emotional content that I enjoyed and felt paid me back was the most important thing that I got on my return in my investment. I have lisntened to your video introductions and outtro&apos;s for several years and nothing fits better than what you have always said, only you have to like your setup. While I don&apos;t want to sound corny , its the love of the music and to get as much out of the experience that you can afford makes it worth it for you. And for those that find spending more money doesn&apos;t make sense, you are right.. for you. I can tell you that I am still chasing some of my goals for my sound system but I am enjoying the ride. Andrew thank you for your context and your effort, I do enjoy the videos.

• AN

  @AndrewFedyszak · 4 months ago

  This video is just another take on law of diminishing returns, which is applicable not just to loudspeakers or other hifi components but cars and wine as well.<br>I love classical music and hifi as well. I am going to Vienna hifi show in June and i have been to more than hundred hifi shows in the last 40 years.<br>Unfortunately, however expensive hifi is, it is still not even close to sound of live accustic music, especially in more complex form like symphony or opera.<br>I have no idea why, but anyone who goes to classical music concerts and then listens to even 1 milion dollars hifi system knows that.<br>Reviewer is a young man, so he might not know how crazily expensive hifi game became.<br>When London hifi show was one of the best in the world in &nbsp;late 80s, the most expensive speakers were brands like Apogge &nbsp;with speakers like Stage costing about 2300 pounds or Scintilla at about 4k pounds.<br>Expensive, but about 2 or 3 months wages if you had decent job in London.<br>Now high end speakers, including Wilson brand, cost well into hundreds of thousands pounds (Sabrina is at budget end of Wilson brand).<br>Hifi must be the only industry which became more expensive by moving manufacturing to Asia (unlike other consumer goods like TVs or PCs).<br>That is why it has been on death row for decades now. Obviously it is not the only reason why it became spectator sport instead of buyers sport, but important one.<br>I think at budget and mid end of the market, hifi is better than 30 years ago.<br>But speakers are not that much better if you include price inflation.

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• RE

  @RebelByNature · 4 months ago

  My rear surrounds are shot, need to replace. &nbsp;I am thinking about getting the ELAC DB63 as rear surround speakers. &nbsp;Considering the role as rear surround, maybe the DB53&apos;s for less money would be adequate enough? &nbsp;For that matter even the ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2? &nbsp;Not stuck on ELAC but bang for the buck and the reputation of the DB63 points me in that direction. &nbsp;Thoughts or suggestions on what to get for rear surrounds at this budget level? &nbsp;I&apos;m leaning toward the DB63 as they are better overall.<br><br>As background, I am getting rear surrounds to replace my Jenson System 400s (yes, you read that right, doubt most will even know what these are). &nbsp;They were a classic back in the day but need to be replaced. &nbsp;The rest of my system is as follows (every thing other than the TV is out of date and ancient).<br><br>TV: LG 65 C5 <br>Receiver: &nbsp;Pioneer VSX-35TX &nbsp;(Dolby Digital &amp; DTS, but not the newer stuff. &nbsp;No HDMI connections so audio via optical cable.<br>Center Channel Speaker:Definitive Technology &nbsp;CLR-2002 Center Channel<br>Main L &amp; R: Definitive Technology BP-2004TL Bipolar Array &nbsp;(2 one inch tweeters, Two 5.25-inch cast-basket drivers, 1 10 inch 250 watt side firing powered sub)<br>Sub: &nbsp;use the side firing subwoofers in the 2004s above.<br>rear surrounds: &nbsp;TBD

• CA

  @CaptainSpanky-s3w · 4 months ago

  Hi Andrew, thanks for the video. To answer your question. That jump in my hi fi journey would be (and I have never heard ultra high end systems by the way) going from my Polk Audio RTi 10 towers to the Polk Audio L600 towers. <br>and that&apos;s all I know so far. And so my &nbsp;journey will continue. This is but one step on my path to sonic nirvana...

• TY

  @Tylung300 · 4 months ago

  **Whaddupppp!! Good fan of yours, I watched your reviews on everything or similar to it. &amp; I got my system &amp; I am completely happy with it I couldn’t ask for more. Truly thank you for all the honest reviews &amp; its helped guide me through out my journey.<br><br>Components are <br>Medium sized room. 15 x 17<br>Marantz Model M1. <br>Svs Ultra Bookshelves (1st gen)<br>Svs Sb-3000 pro. <br>Wiim Ultra <br>Optical out of Wiim Ultra to Marantz M1 <br>I have everything Including Dirac live and also everything Wiim has. 🎉. Haven’t had a need to upgrade for a while. ❤

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• MM

  @mms16mms16 · 4 months ago

  I haven’t heard the SVS Titans, so I can’t speak to them specifically. But I still strongly believe that past that level, the gains per extra dollar get so small that almost nobody would actually perceive the difference.<br><br>Also important: speaker technology simply doesn’t improve like digital technology does. High-end stuff from 1998 can be had for pennies on the dollar now and can still perform way beyond most new mid-level gear so it&apos;s really hard to justify the cost of new premium speakers.

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• TV

  @TV12K · 4 months ago

  To stay in a similar price range, I switched from two JBL 710PBs to a pair of SVS Prime Pinnacles — the jump felt like going from 720p to 4K. Later, I added two SVS SB-3000 Revolution subs, but at that point the comparison was no longer fair.

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• ST

  @starewell8940 · 5 months ago

  I&apos;ve listened to expensive speakers vs cheaper ones (up to 24K speakers), the difference really isn&apos;t all that crazy. Maybe at higher volume there&apos;s more, but i don&apos;t want to deafen myself (honestly i don&apos;t even get people who call themselves audiophiles but will blast them so loud, that WILL damage your hearing over time!), plus most people here live in apartments and you can&apos;t be that loud anyway

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