Maybe I was a bit irritable today, but I've been aware of the local Radio Shack having a pair of Wharfedale "loud panels" (speakers that look like a picture frame) in stock for over 4 years.
Being the gentleman that I am, I thought I'd do them a favour and see how long they wanted to keep hanging on to them for. It seems that the MSRP was over 800 dollars CDN for these flat anomolies (Nothing like the snowball girl on another recent post) and that they were only an an accoustic "novelty", IMO. They (the assistant manager and a sales associate ) scoffed at my generous offer of 200 bucks and brought out a clearance special of a pair of on-wall Pioneers that had a goofy back-plate that could be used as a diffuser if you wanted to mount the speakers facing the wall (but I digress). The assistant manager (who is also a friend) asked me why I was interested in the wharfedale loud panels - I told him I was thinkin' of adding a pair of side surrounds to my theater and that the loud-panels just might work in my application. He boldly stated that my reciever (H-K AVR 525) wasn't likely up to the task of driving the loud-panels... I was letting this big me a bit, and then he asked why I would chose H-K over Yamaha for a AV reciever? (now I'm starting to reel a bit) I mentioned to him that I won't ever buy a Yamaha until I stop using Paradigm speakers (see my profile) and as I have been conditioned to believe, Paradigm and Yamaha go together like oil and water (I would have used a more colourful phrase involving two races of people from the middle East, but this is not the place). He (asst. manager) then started to ballyhoo how Paradigm has such an effective marketing dept. that it's no wonder so many people (like me) are led down the "path" to believe that there is nothing better than their loudspeakers
and life would be better if I were just a little more open minded. (I asked him how much he likes his accouti-mass system...) He then started in on how much better PSB was as a speaker manufacturer (I have always held PSB and Paradigm in the same level of esteem, terrific value right across the board).
I know I am not going to be able to conclude this post and have it make any sense, but thanks for the opportunity to vent. 8)
Being the gentleman that I am, I thought I'd do them a favour and see how long they wanted to keep hanging on to them for. It seems that the MSRP was over 800 dollars CDN for these flat anomolies (Nothing like the snowball girl on another recent post) and that they were only an an accoustic "novelty", IMO. They (the assistant manager and a sales associate ) scoffed at my generous offer of 200 bucks and brought out a clearance special of a pair of on-wall Pioneers that had a goofy back-plate that could be used as a diffuser if you wanted to mount the speakers facing the wall (but I digress). The assistant manager (who is also a friend) asked me why I was interested in the wharfedale loud panels - I told him I was thinkin' of adding a pair of side surrounds to my theater and that the loud-panels just might work in my application. He boldly stated that my reciever (H-K AVR 525) wasn't likely up to the task of driving the loud-panels... I was letting this big me a bit, and then he asked why I would chose H-K over Yamaha for a AV reciever? (now I'm starting to reel a bit) I mentioned to him that I won't ever buy a Yamaha until I stop using Paradigm speakers (see my profile) and as I have been conditioned to believe, Paradigm and Yamaha go together like oil and water (I would have used a more colourful phrase involving two races of people from the middle East, but this is not the place). He (asst. manager) then started to ballyhoo how Paradigm has such an effective marketing dept. that it's no wonder so many people (like me) are led down the "path" to believe that there is nothing better than their loudspeakers
and life would be better if I were just a little more open minded. (I asked him how much he likes his accouti-mass system...) He then started in on how much better PSB was as a speaker manufacturer (I have always held PSB and Paradigm in the same level of esteem, terrific value right across the board).
I know I am not going to be able to conclude this post and have it make any sense, but thanks for the opportunity to vent. 8)
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