Shopping

Last June I realised that I needed a new pair of hi-fi loudspeakers. As usual, in such situations, I started my research in the Internet and fancy audio magazines. After a few weeks I found my favourite floorstanding speakers – JM Lab Chorus 714s. Reviews were excellent (What Hi-Fi: ‘Deeply impressive on every level. The 714s are clear winners in their class.’), the price not too high (420 GBP), so I decided to test them by myself. I asked the Focal/JM Lab distributor for the UK about the nearest place where I can inspect these speakers. They sent me a list of addresses of shops in Shrewsbury and Birmingham. My first unpleasant surprise was that Chorus 714s now cost 480 GBP, not 420 GBP! I discovered that, in the meantime, after a few good reviews Focal/JM Lab had raised the price. Anyway, I found a shop in Wrexham, which agreed to sell me these speakers for the old price. So, I arranged a demonstration, took some of my favourite CDs and went to Wrexham.The shop came as a surprise to me. I was used to large hi-fi salons in Warsaw, which look modern and expensive, with a lot of audio equipments on the shelves, where you cannot touch anything, more like sanctuaries of sound than regular shops. While in Wrexham there was just a middle terraced house converted into the shop. Hardly anything inside, quite messy, but with very polite and friendly service.A shop assistant led me to the listening room on the first floor, where everything was connected and ready for me to test. He gave me a remote control, offered a cup of coffee and left me alone.I spent nearly an hour listening to various CDs and enjoyed the brilliant all-round sonic performance. Next I asked the shop assistant if he could show me different loudspeakers in the same price range, because I wanted to compare them with Chorus 714s. He connected Quad 12L. These standmount speakers are almost two times smaller than Chorus 714s and the inevitable shortfall in bass extension was apparent, but on the other hand, they offered sweet midrange and high musical performance. The Quad 12L were excellent speakers, but I still preferred the Chorus 714s.I looked around the listening room and noticed a pair of interesting speakers standing in the corner. Monitor Audio Silver RS6. They look absolutely gorgeous, the finishing was superb. I asked for the price – 600 GBP – way over my budget, but I wanted to try them anyway.The quality of the sound delivery was impressive - like a breath of fresh air, deep powerful bass, detailed high frequencies, etc. Suddenly I started to hear sounds I have never noticed before. It was an amazing experience, but Silver RS6 were slightly too expensive for me, therefore I decided to stick to my first choice.After a short chat with the shop-assistant downstairs he gave me 10% discount for Monitor Audio. Now the price became more reasonable, thus I came back to the listening room and spent next half an hour comparing Chorus 714s with Silver RS6. Finally I made the decision to buy the Silver RS6.

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