Assuming good quality speakers, whether planar or "box," and good electronics, much depends on the accoustical properties of your room. I had Quad 57's, then went to Quad ESL-63s in a very large room. The arrangement of furniture in our livingroom, as largely decided by my wife, forced me to sit about eighteen feet from the speakers. There was an extremely narrow "sweet spot," and if I moved my head relatively slightly, the sound was degraded. I wanted to switch to large Soundlabs, which have better dispersion (as well as other benefits), but my wife vetoed the idea, on the ground that the Soundlabs were too large for where they would be placed. We agreed on acceptable dimensions, and I spent about six months in search of speakers. I finally bought Sonus Faber Amatis, which produce great sound even in my accostically challenged environment. And my wife has received so many compliments on their appearance that she alsmost thinks of them as her choice.
Can you ever go back and be happy?
My audiophile friends and I often discuss if we know any highenders who have great planar speakers (Soundlabs,Apogees,Magnepans) that could go back to a box enclosure speaker and could truely be satisfied with the sound of their system. We believe there is a special quality the way a well designed planar loads a room which just sounds more natural and real to us compared with a baffled speaker design. On to the question. Not including having to down size or change speakers because of $issues or logistics, having to move your sytem to a smaller space etc., have any of you GON members gone from a world class planar to a box enclosed design and were able to really be happy and not long for the "good old planar days". We do not personally know anyone who has ever done it and was truly happy about afterwards. It would be great if any of you fellow GON members can relate to this question through your own personal experience and share your opinions with us.