After the thrill is gone


I think we all understand there is no “perfect” speaker. Strengths, weaknesses, compromises all driven by the designer’s objectives and decisions. 
 

Whenever we make a new (to us) speaker purchase there is a honeymoon period with the perfect-to-us speaker. But as time wears on, we either become accustomed to the faults and don’t really hear or hear past them, or become amplified and perhaps more annoying or create minor buyers remorse or wanderlust.

I am guessing the latter would be more prevalent when transitioning to a very different design topology, eg cones vs horns vs planars etc.

While I’ve experimented with horns, single drivers, subwoofer augmentation …  I’ve always returned to full range dynamic multi-driver designs. About to do so with planars but on a scale I’ve not done before, and heading toward end game system in retirement.
So I just wonder what your experiences have been once the initial thrill is gone? (Especially if you moved from boxes to planars)

inscrutable

Showing 1 response by musicfan2349

@inscrutable I'm rather where you are however my pop (RIP) made the choice for me. I inherited his system which was SOTA 25 years ago...  I'll spare you all the full front end inventory. The electronics and speakers however are Jadis pre and Defy7 amp and the speakers are B&W Matrix 800s. Yes, the big "ugly" ones:

https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/691bw800/index.html

I haven't heard them in over 20 years. My concern is moving to them from my Acoustat 1+1s and sub. I LOVE the soundstage the panels give me even if they're not the last word in detail. I'm worried the B&Ws won't deliver... As it is, the big beasts are still in storage until I can reconfigure the livingroom and because they are so large, and the amount of effort to set them up is considerable, it might be a one way trip to disappointment town when I do.

Good luck on your adventure! And as always...

Happy listening.