Best speakers around $130k?

@jdoris The Venture Grand Ultimate is now up to MKIV. I listened to a previous iteration at a show; the best speakers I have ever heard. Amazing. (Their entry level model, in the high 30’s when I heard it, was lovely too.)

Of course, Venture is far too refined to list MSRP in their website, but I imagine it is well into 6 figures.

They are tremendous and quite delicious. I do note that they are 4 ohm. I have been known to regret noting such things, but so be it.

Edit - and now I checked out Ultimate Reference.  Why not.

Acapella Audio Arts have speakers over $100K, and they look *wonderful*.  Sonar Faber are splendid and are of a more traditional design.

There are others, like some Wilsons , but I reckon that they look like something out of the movie Aliens.  I'd have bad dreams if they were in my house.

At this price point you are actually looking at quite a wide price range.

@jdoris  Hey - just now I had cause to check my EL34 tube amp and behold!  There is a 4ohm tap.  I had forgotten.  Eat me.

So I'm good for a pair of those Ventures babes, and (from some reviews) the dude who designs them seems like a happy and very erudite bloke.

Glad you agree about the Ventures.  Interesting about the 4 Ohms.  Not to many speakers I know of like that.

Is the idea that 4 ohms constrains amp choices?  I'm guessing folks buying 130k speakers aren't so worried about that :)

@jdoris That is a very tasty anecdote, thankyou for sharing. I so much enjoy people with Didi’s quiet and modest disposition of character. Strength. Nod, smile, "Ï know, thankyou".

As @acresverde noted here on the first page, the Ultimate Reference is rated at 6 ohms with 1st order XOs, and its also 2dB more sensitive at 92dB. That rocks my boat. Maybe I need a bigger boat while I’m at it, coz they’re getting very heavy at 120kg.

@hilde45  First an agreed upon definition of "bling" would have to be identified.  Is that fair?

@hilde45 I'm open to hearing your own objective criteria by what you mean by bling. 

Its simply not fair to ask a question and not be clear about exactly what you are asking. 

@jdoris Exotic veneer or high end automotive finish is obviously bling.

But does finish account for a high percentage of costs on luxury speakers? I dunno. 10 v. 2 bucks per sf. of veneer doesn’t add up to much.

A lot of stuff that kinda feels bling-y, like the multi-piece cabinets on the big Wilsons, is of course supposed to positively influence sonics.

Thankyou, this goes to my wish for clarification about what is bling? I’m thinking of the AGD Audion which has been discussed a bit here.

Some see the tube which appears a marketing ploy, is that bling? It has that aspect, but it is also a deliberate functional part of the design - it affords easy replacement if and when upgrades become available (perhaps every year or so? Its already on MKII).

The Audion is available in matte or chrome. Is chrome bling? Is matte bling? Does it serve a function? (hmm, second time I’ve used that word)

Some people who are blessed to have a very extraordinary utility such as the Audion and which is gunna be sitting peering down at you from its esteemed pedestal for the next 100 years may wish it to be chrome rather than matte for their aesthetic preferences. Or matte rather than chrome.

Does that choice contribute to the utility that the owner derives? It certainly does not contribute to sonics. No correlation here at all with sonics and aesthetics.

What was the question?

Discussion of speaker must include the entire set up

But that could be boasting.  $100m = $100 million?

Wrong thread, dude.

Anyone who says otherwise is probably just pissed off about capitalism.

Imagine a bureaucracy briefed with designing and building a speaker that they would put on the market for $130,000.

Committees, consultants, white boards, regulations,  endless meetings and sub-committees formed.  Various governments would come and go during which the brief would be tweaked and any progress made thus far would have to be re-examined.