Closing a thread

[jim campbell]

brand loyalty to jb was built on the big sound one got from the vintage systems.the stuff they sell at circuit city is just one of many polite,unobtrusive speakers.they sound largely the same as a hundred other brands.we bought them before because they stood out in a crowd.i dont see that now.the point is that if they now are being marketed to only to the wealthy few why should we consider them worthy of our loyalty.maybe we can be like vw rabbit drivers with the mercedes key chains,and wear jb tee shirts when we listen to our chinese jbl systems

[hjames]

brand loyalty to jb was built on the big sound one got from the vintage systems.the stuff they sell at circuit city is just one of many polite,unobtrusive speakers.they sound largely the same as a hundred other brands.we bought them before because they stood out in a crowd.i dont see that now.the point is that if they now are being marketed to only to the wealthy few why should we consider them worthy of our loyalty.maybe we can be like vw rabbit drivers with the mercedes key chains,and wear jb tee shirts when we listen to our chinese jbl systems

Again - like Giskard says, its a price point thing.

I have my L36s that I bought new in 1976, so I consider myself one of the enlightened from the old days.
And they were the cheapies in the line! I paid $400 for the pair back then - so that's the equiv of, say, $2500 or so for a stereo pair today?

Better speakers would be more - like I said before - $5,000 or so?

I really think the number of folks who would spend $5000 on just stereo speakers these days (remember, they still need an amp and the other sources) is a smaller percentage of the general population than it once was.
Most folks just want sound from unobtrusive small speakers - and it costs a lot more to make "audiophile" speakers when its such a small market (e.g, cost per unit vs total number of units). Most folks are happy with "Good enough" ...

If small, cheap chinese-made speakers is what most of the market wants, JBL has to follow that market to sell enough speakers in volume to maintain their business. Its just common sense.

And this is a REALLY old discussion here ... sigh ...

$638.783 in the year 2006 has the same "purchase power" as $100.00 in the year 1965