Time finally came to retire my 15 year old dbx's. I had replaced the Soundfield Controller a couple of times, had it fixed once and refoamed them a couple of years ago. I liked them so much, I just could not let them go. But, when the controller started going out again and the one guy I knew who traded in dbx home equipment vanished from the face of the earth, I knew the day when we would have to say goodbye was near.
I checked out Paradigm for the first time about a week ago at Ovation. The guy there was trying to get me to take a close-out deal on a pair of Studio 40s. Nice little speakers. But, I really wanted a floor standing model. After doing my research on Paradigm, I found they are arguably the best value speakers on the market. I set my sights on the Studio 60s. Fortunately for me, Ovation had neither the V3s nor the V4s on the floor. In fact, they didn't have a Studio 100 in the place either. They told me they should get a V4 Studio 60 in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I thought I'd check out some other shops to see if I could find a deal or maybe even get another pair of speakers.
The plan today was to visit Ohio Valley Audio, listen to the Studio 60s (not buy) and then boogie on over to Alamo to check out a couple of other brands. When I told the guy at OVA my budget though, he pointed out that even though he had the floor model Studio 100s marked at $1,800 (list price is $2,400), he'd let them go for $1,500 (just my budget number- imagine that). I listened to them, listened to the Studio 60s V4s (which he did have on the floor, but not in stock) and quickly decided I would be very (very) happy with the Studio 60s. Not only did they sound better than the Studio 60 V4s, they were $300 cheaper.
So, impatience pays off. If I had waited for Ovation to get the V4s of the Studio 60s and Studio 100s, I surely would have ended up with the Studio 60s at $300 more than I paid for V3 Studio 100s.
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