HEC's and a different take on customer service

I'm always b****ing about some company or organization that has pissed me off, so I figured I should give credit where credit is due.

I was in the market for a new HEC, and I had gone to the Home Theater Store in Friendswood. They had some nice stuff....that was mostly overpriced. I had gone there specifically to audition B&W speakers. Their expensive speakers sounded good (hell, they were all expensive), but I can't afford to spend over $1,000 a speaker in a seven speaker setup. That just ain't gonna happen. And their cheaper speakers just didn't sound worth a damn.

I was researching on the net, and I read in several places that Paradigm has great speakers for the money. They sell those at All Star Audio & Video, so I went there last Saturday. They were considerably cheaper than B&W, so I listened to their best speakers. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed. They sounded better than smaller speakers in the same line, but on all of them, the bass was so tight that you didn't hear any of the decay. It definitely sound unnatural.

So...my wife and I left, and we were going to go by "the Great Indoors" next, and while on the feeder road, my wife pointed out that there was a Tweeter. We weren't planning on going there that day, but I stopped anyway. I listened to some Klipsch speakers, and although they look ugly as hell compared to my old Klipsch speakers, they sounded so much nicer that what I had heard at the other places. The expensive B&W's MAY have been the more "transparant" speakers, but none of the less expensive B&W's could hold a candle to the Klipsch. Anyway, I picked out a TV, DVD player, and the speakers, and they guys made me a great deal without me even having to push for it. When you combine the benefits of 15 months, no interest, with the great prices they gave me, the deal was better than what I could have gotten had I bought the stuff from Unauthorized dealers on the Internet. Their customer service has been exceptional, and they've really gone the extra mile to keep me informed on the status of my order. All in all, I've been really pleased, and I'd recommend them to anyone.

I'd also say....watch the stereo reviews. I always knew that high end stereo was somewhat of a racket, but I was really disappointed in how crappy some of these expensive speakers sounded. Sure, B&W makes a beautiful speaker, but it really sounds like crap when it sounds like there's a volume drop within a certain frequency range because the speaker can't handle it. The Paradigm's did the same thing on some of their smaller speakers, and they also had the crappy sounding bass. Listen closely to those new speakers, and don't be guided by salesmen or stereo review stories. I also listened to Canton and Jamo, and still.....Klipsch is the one for me.