I do not claim that Lansche 4.1 is the best speaker in the world.
But with clean and pristine treble out of plasma tweeters and pretty good bass out of 2 10 inch driven by internal active amplifier and high efficiency (99db spec, but I believe it to be around 93db), it is hard to find better speaker with overall merit for my house.
The only catch is that it can stop working since it is an active speaker( plasma tweeter and active bass unit).
But I keep having good communication with Henry Dien of Lansche Audio who upgraded plasma tweeters twice at reasonable cost.
I can happily live with Lansche 4.1 speakers at my present house for my life unless serious health issues happen to either me or my speakers.
How about you gentlemen and ladies?
Had any one of you found the speaker for your life?
Yes my Intuitive Design Gammas. Large monitors with granite cabinets and dedicated granite stands. I have owned these for over 10 years. I tried selling years ago but because of there weight I would not ship them. They do sound fabulous in my room. Every time I think of a new set of speakers I just laugh at how much it might take in dollars to possibly improve the sound. I say bravo enjoy your 4.1's.
Yes & no.I MIGHT try to upgrade my Harbeth M30.1's to the Anniversary 30.2's & IF I come into a ton of $ I would upgrade to the 40.2's but as things stand yes the 30.1's will be my final speakers..Right now the search is on for a front end worthy of them,maybe Gold Note PS10/PA10 stack...
@tomic601 Yes, I’m well aware of of the Vandy subs. I’ve read the Hardesty journals and what not. When I had Thiel CS1.6s, I agonized whether to add 2WQs or move up to 2.4s or 3As. I ended up going to 2Ce Sig IIs for budget and size reasons.
I’m sure the sub 3s are great but a pair sets you back $5k and is two more large boxes in the room. Also, I’d have to send my AX-5 to Ayre to get an internal filter. I don’t doubt the sonic improvement but the downsides are not trivial. Meanwhile, organ is about the only instrument notably beyond the abilities of the 2.4 and I mostly notice the bass definition shortcoming after I listen to $$$peakers. But, yes, for another $5k my speakers would rival most anything short of the Sevens.
Yes, this is the one big obstacle most of us run up against sooner or later.
Another way to say it is that:a) I know my speakers have shortcomings (mostly bass extension and definition);b) the money needed to get something better is *well* out of my budget. If I win the lottery I'll probably go straight to Vandersteen Sevens. Until then, I'm really happy with my Thiels (transparency and resolution are essentially the very best I've heard).
I wish I could say yes to your question. I've said it before, but I've recently found out that I can't do it and I doubt I ever will. There's just way too many nice toys out there to play with!
"I haven't heard everything but from what I *have* heard I think I would need to spend >$25K to get something notably better."
Yes, this is the one big obstacle most of us run up against sooner or later.
I'm still hoping that <£10K will get me to as near to the state of the art as I will need.
So many possibilities but I'm beginning to feel that the Linkwitz LX521.4 might well be my ultimate loudspeaker destination, especially after learning on here that such things as 12 channel amplifiers exist!
Can you live with your current speaker until you die?
Yes and I plan to do just that. I have Thiel CS2.4 SEs and I upgraded every part save the drivers and cabinets. I haven't heard everything but from what I *have* heard I think I would need to spend >$25K to get something notably better.
Yes, I'm off the treadmill for all new equipment, now I've retired. I travelled to RMAF in the depths of the last depression, in 2009, when flights were dirt cheap, from the UK. What a beautiful state Colorado is, particularly the Rocky Mountain National park.
I listened to a number of US speaker I couldn't easily listen to in Europe and loved the Daedalus Audio Da-RMas, that I've had ever since and will always be just fine for me.
Im an open baffle fan, having owned Accoustat 2 + 2s, Magnepan 3.5Rs and for the last ~ 4 years Emerald Physics (EP) KCIIs with Clarity Cap and WireWorld OCC upgrades.
They are amazing at their MSRP $2900, including upgrades, but my room is too big for them, and should I sell my home, I will want a similarly sized listening space. I am replacing them with EP 2.8s which have dual 15" and one 12" concentric driver per speaker
Well there is no perfect speaker. I would much prefer not to have to limit myself to just one pair of speakers and instead have say four or five pairs so that when you feel like a change of flavour you just set up a different system.Of course that might also mean changing amplifiers or preamps to suit. Perhaps if you only listen to one type of music one pair of speakers might do.In which case active speakers would perhaps be the best choice.
Tomic, as much as I LOVE my Quatro's, I need Richard's M5 to make them sing even more ;)....
I have to say that I got to hear the full System 9 by Vandersteen (7's with sub 9's) and his large amp. (yes, the preamp will be very special and not what anyone has on the market as you know).
As for server, call me tomorrow if you can. I am very dialed into the digital as I can't do analog anymore with the MS. To hard to keep cleaning and getting up to use the tone arm. That's why I sold y9u the Basis TT ;). man I miss it.
This looks exactly same as mine,although I do not have mine on sale.
The speaker is a real beauty (nice WAF) and work well with SET amp even in good size listening room due to high efficiency (off 99db/w, real 95db/w still pretty high).
If you have nice SET and spare 17,500$, you can enjoy spooky vocal out of it due to plasma tweeter.
It also give excellent dynamics due to two active 10 inch woofers.
My first post on this site, although active on another forum for years. I have had Ohm C2’s since ’77. Upgraded the woofers from Ohm. Also ADS L880 since new in ’85. But hav added and subtracted speakers in recent years. Maybe some modern speakers would be nice.
Hi everyone, well yes! I think I can live the rest of my life in the company of my Vandersteen speakers.. I have a pair of Quatro powered by a class A Pass Sublime coupled!
i enjoy doing experiments by changing the source dac, the rest of hifi system will not be touched .. best regards
Had any one of you found the speaker for your life?
So far, yes. I've had the Classic Audio Loudspeakers T-3s for about 20 years. I had them updated about 8 years ago with the new field coil midrange drivers (which employ beryllium diaphrams with Kapton surrounds). When I initially had them built, they were made a few inches taller just so I could honestly say they go down to 20Hz (the TAD 15" woofers have a free air resonance of 22Hz). So the speaker goes from 20Hz to about 35Khz, are 16 ohms and 98db 1 watt/1 meter. I really don't see changing them out- they are still some of the most revealing and uncolored speakers I've heard.
@folkfreak is right keep working the details, hyper level matching is important or you are most likely just chasing your tail.... I chewed mine off long ago....tailess Kat...
I probably have a lot less runway ahead than behind....but yes, easy to say I could live with my Vandersteen 7.....I am blessed to have Richards amps as well and there are rumblings of a preamp, so who knows...IF I ever build a dedicated room, might get his sub 9... that is a longshot.... My Naim server is getting a bit long in the tooth, so that might be next....
skhkong78 Thanks about the upgrading components. Once I placed the Signature IIIs in my living room, it was mated to a voltage regulated (non-ultralinear) redesigned Dynaco ST70 with tremendous bass and original Mullard EL34 output tubes. Also, a custom made subminiature tube voltage regulated preamp and a custom rebuilt CD player. This is my secondary system, small and great. Oregonpapa on these forums has the Signature IIIs as his primary speaker and they sound fantastic in his smaller room than my Focus which are in my large listening room. Both speakers are a bargain used, probably because they are 25 year old models. But so easy to make sound great compared to expensive new high end speakers for larger rooms.
I agree with you in that there is always room for improvement in any system.
But law of diminishing return applies here, there is no way to justify the cost of 90K$ MSB Select II in my system although it will give subtle improvement in details, soundstage and etc.
But Vintage horn Western Electric system is just another league above from all modern speakers in natural dynamics to justify its cost.
You are right once it reach certain level, it is hard to improve
Actually I couldn’t disagree more. With very resolving systems any change in the system is obvious. Fine tuning small details becomes paramount.
As as a case in point in my system over the past two days I’ve spent many hours firstly getting to appreciate an update on my CD mat (Marigo Clear Transformation to new Aida) and then going back and forth on the impact of introducing a Furutech damping stand under the power cord to the power conditioner that drives my mono blocks. Both of these changes had profound impacts, one I ultimately decided as positive (the mat) and the other negative.
But in both cases the differences were very clear and audible. High resolution means needing to sweat the details I’m afraid and the benefits when you get it right keep adding up
+1 for @cd318 I mean, if I made more, I'd invest more. But my income bracket dictates I stick with what I can, so it's almost always a sideways lateral.
However, the Spatial M3 Turbo S's I have no rival anything I've ever had. Including speakers that cost 3x as much.
Once you get to a certain level you can only go sideways, trading one quality for another.
The real trick is to know what you line best and what you dislike most. I love purity of tone the most and find coarse treble painful. So 8 years later I'm still with Tannoy DCs, but as prof said, an audiophile can never truly say never.
Especially when there's wood cone speakers out there, ribbon tweeters, plasma tweeters(!?), open baffles, active designs etc
Besides who knows what fabulous designs and technologies that supercomputers of the near future will be churning out in a few years?
I think with the recent purchase of the Spendor D9's, I could live with these speakers for a very, very long time. I don't see myself ever wanting to spend upwards of $20K on a set of speakers so I am at a level that I am comfortable with now. Very happy and content.
Yes. I’ve had my ESP Bodhran SE speakers for over ten years now. They fulfill all my requirements with the exception of deep bass which has been addressed with a pair of Gallo Acoustics TR1D subs.
The Bodhran’s are rare and unconventional in design. The enclosure is a sealed design with aperiodic venting. Viewed from the top it resembles the state of Nevada, so designed to fire at 45 degrees into the room. They are designed for tube amplifiers, fairly efficient at 91 db with a high stable impedance.
Front firing drivers are a 1 inch tweeter flanked by two 5 inch mids in an MTM configuration. Below that are two 7 inch bass drivers. There is also an additional 1 inch tweeter which is side firing.
They present a large and spacious soundstage. Frequency balance is towards the warm side but not excessively so. The bass is clean without the excesses one finds with the common ported speakers. My musical tastes are primarily jazz, classical, and americana. I can play anything I want to listen to and be thrilled with the results. I believe that’s pretty much all one can hope for.
No. I love my Magico S5 Mk2’s, but plan on setting up a system in future based around large planar magnetic panels with servo subs. Ever since I heard the Infinity IRS-V’s back in 1991, it’s been a life dream to set up a system which bests the already great fives.
I'm at the age where my friends die occasionally (once per friend of course) which does end their speaker swap opportunities as I feel there's zero afterlife. Those who feel there IS an afterlife of some sort might feel speaker change is possible forever...how comforting...
I'm with Wolf, I'm loving my Heresy III... will it be my last speaker? Unlikely but I doubt I will ever sell them. They are a lot of speaker for the money and do a lot of things well. A lot of fun to listen to.
I think I could have lived with my Beethovens, but I had to go down the rabbit hole. Now I have a $22k pair of speakers dominating my room that do everything better than the beethovens do 'cept when I swap them out those old speakers still sound really good, no I can't count how many pips are singing harmony like the $$$'s can, but I DIDN'T KNOW THAT until I went looking for it! There's currently 4 pair of speakers in my basement and I could live with any of them the rest of my live. Picking one, that's the hard part.
I purchased my Von Schweikert original VR-4s in 1997. Had them factory upgraded in 2002. I've rotated the speakers in my bedroom systems, but these have been in my main system for 21 years now. I have auditioned many other speakers (up to price points of $15K to $18K) over this period, but have yet to hear any which impressed me to the point of swapping out the Von Schweikerts for them.
The Doctor says I have only six months to live so I think it is possible...........................................................had he said one year it might be questionable.
@shkong78 : I will bring a gasoline generator and ferment/distill vegetation to produce ethanol for fuel! And a SS amp (Bedini 25/25) plus a CD player with variable output, along with CDs. of course!
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
