I've owned many good speakers but the one that hit all the important areas out my Quads. Their slight limitations don't outweigh all that they do better than any speaker I've owned. They make music sound real, coherent, with such color and tone of each instrument. I added a Martin Logan Depth-i sub and I am in audio haven. The Lesslss Marc-C interconnects and speaker cables really brough it all together.
Can you live with your current speaker until you die?
http://http//media.slrclub.com/1809/10/s07CCj42dv666msrqgf.jpg
http://http//stereotimes.com/images/dst_01a.gif
Yes I can!
In my 40 years of history I had gone through around 15 speakers including
ADS, Altec Lansing, Thiel, Canton, Apogee Duetta Signature(10years), BMW 801, Avalon Ascent, Wilson Audio Watt and Puppy6.
I settled at Pacific Northwest area located just midway between Seattle and Vancouver BC around 6 years ago.
It has a nice western view of Bay and Pacific Ocean with 2 acres lot.
I could play music loud during midnight with no problem to my neighbors as long as I close the windows.
With vaulted big space, my Lansche 4.1 speakers makes a beautiful voice out of classical, Jazz or even new age music.
http://stereotimes.com/speak112410.shtml
I had been living with the speaker since 2007.
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?
http://http//stereotimes.com/images/dst_01a.gif
Yes I can!
In my 40 years of history I had gone through around 15 speakers including
ADS, Altec Lansing, Thiel, Canton, Apogee Duetta Signature(10years), BMW 801, Avalon Ascent, Wilson Audio Watt and Puppy6.
I settled at Pacific Northwest area located just midway between Seattle and Vancouver BC around 6 years ago.
It has a nice western view of Bay and Pacific Ocean with 2 acres lot.
I could play music loud during midnight with no problem to my neighbors as long as I close the windows.
With vaulted big space, my Lansche 4.1 speakers makes a beautiful voice out of classical, Jazz or even new age music.
http://stereotimes.com/speak112410.shtml
I had been living with the speaker since 2007.
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?
230 responses Add your response
I have been in love with my Nestorovic System 16 powered by McIntosh solid state amps since 1990. I recently had new surrounds installed on two of the mid range drivers but that is all of the maintenance required. The solid state McIntosh amps now do sub woofer duty only and a pair of MC 275 tube amps handle the mids and highs through the NL12 electronic crossover. Mile Nestorovic was a genius and his speakers remain as proof of that. https://youtu.be/GoTVCEk0XmQ |
It had a very natural soundstage and nuanced details. It is very nice for you to keep your Apogee Scintillas for your life. I hope you enjoy it for your life. Thomas |
I can live with my Gallo Ref II's for the rest of my life I have heard many systems whose speakers were as much as 10x more expensive and was not impressed! Including an all Naim system with some electrostatics... Only pair I am VERY curious about is the Infinity IRS Epsilon - for one reason and one reason only: I seem to remember reading these are the speakers Yo-Yo Ma owns! |
I owned some main system speakers for decades. In fact I still own them as I am attached to them and would miss them, but I have moved to different speakers in my main system. Each speaker does some things well and very good speakers do most things well, but I haven't (yet) met speakers that do everything better than anything else I have heard. OTOH I am quite happy with my current main speakers and see no likelihood that I'll want to change them. Heritage speakers used in subordinate systems: Energy Reference Connoisseur, Vandersteen 4A, Martin Logan CLS (original), Mains: Wilson Maxx 2 If I had been able to find the Apogee Scintillas I was after I'd probably have them too (and would need a bigger house). |
I am fortunate to have the Apogee Scintillas and I will keep them until I die. Had them for 34 years, and will plan for another 34 years. I am planning to acquire another pair and do some time alignment mods, upgrade the caps, new ribbons and have them rebuilt. I think there is a little more to be gained by such improvements. Source is a Naim NDX Streamer into an Allegri+ TVC for volume control, direct driving a Krell KSA-80B and they sound fabulous. Source material is Naim Core RIP of CD's, TIDAL, and Hi REz downloads from ProStudioMasters & HD Tracks. Also upgrading to the ND555/PS555 streamer later this month. Bailyhill |
Last month I acquired a very first pair of custom made Grandinote Mach 36's from Italy. They are literally serial numbers 0001 and 0002. They retail for about $180,000. They are paired with a Naim system: a 500 amp, a 552 preamp, and a 555CD player, with Luna cables. On top of that, the owner and chief engineer of the company, Masimiliano Magri (better known as Max) just came to my house on Long Island, New York, to fine tune them! It is inconceivable that I would ever want to listen to anything else. Check out the reviews of the Grandinote gear from the Munich show last year. BTW.....if any of you are local and want to give them a listen while sipping a fine dram of some scotch whisky, get back to me at pennpalmitch@gmail.com.
It will be nice to get such exotic speakers. I would be happy to join you if I live near New York, but I am living on the other side. I wish you be happy with the speaker for your life. |
Last month I acquired a very first pair of custom made Grandinote Mach 36's from Italy. They are literally serial numbers 0001 and 0002. They retail for about $180,000. They are paired with a Naim system: a 500 amp, a 552 preamp, and a 555CD player, with Luna cables. On top of that, the owner and chief engineer of the company, Masimiliano Magri (better known as Max) just came to my house on Long Island, New York, to fine tune them! It is inconceivable that I would ever want to listen to anything else. Check out the reviews of the Grandinote gear from the Munich show last year. BTW.....if any of you are local and want to give them a listen while sipping a fine dram of some scotch whisky, get back to me at pennpalmitch@gmail.com. |
I’m now closer to the end, rather than the beginning of my life and so I feel I can answer your question with authority: yes, I can and I have! Although I’ve listened to a variety of speakers over the years, have owned several and even own quite an elaborate headphone rig, one pair of speakers have remained constant since 1980, my beloved Dahlquist DQ10’s (I’m actually listening to Nora Jones through them right now!). I had Regnar rebuild them 12 years ago and recently added a Totem Acoustic Lightning sub, with a new Bash digital amp. I’ve driven them with several amps over the years, a Niko, Bryston 4b, Anthem Statement, Bryston 4B2, McIntosh MC 2105, Classe CA 400, Mark Levinson 335 and most recently and possibly the last and best, a Bryson 4B3. I’ve also used several preamps, but am extremely happy with my current pre, an Ayre Kx5-Twenty, probably the best I’ve ever owned. I’ve lined the walls with 3” acoustic foam and had cherry stands made for them. I can honestly say I love these things, which confirms I’m a nerd, an old one! lol The DQ10’s are on the top 100 audio inventions list, not once, but twice: first for the speaker, itself and second for the 10” Advent woofer. So, yes, it’s certainly possible to live with a single pair of speakers for a lifetime and be happy! I hope you find your pair. |
@inna Plasma Tweeters are pretty sensitive to all the upstream signals so they can be affected by power cables and speaker cables. I am using cables costing 300-2000$ after long auditions. I had plasma tweeters replaced twice during 11 years of use. Mr Henry Dien of Lansch Audio had it done at reasonable cost. |
Some prefer to change speakers but I am willing to change only front end and amplifiers. It is up to individual choice. About 15 years ago, I had been happy with Avalon Ascent for 2 years. Then one audio dealer offered to give me deep discount over the purchase of Wilson Watt and Puppy 6 which I swallowed. But it was disaster. I do not mean that Wilson Audio is bad in general, but Watt and Puppy 6 were too critical to my ears at my listening room and sold it at loss after 6 months. Since then I had been more careful to change speakers. In addition, I am happy with overall strength of Lansche 4.1. Its plasma tweeter is best period. |
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I love the way my current system sounds...SE amp, tube preamp, Klipsch Heresy III speakers...but the question really is about guessing if you're going to feel the same about everything in the future, and that's impossible to say. My current rig with a low powered (10 or 12 wpc depending on the output tubes) tube amp does tie me to efficient speakers, and I could see my self thinking about changing it all up at some point...I add and subtract guitars from time to time as my tastes change, and if I didn't I'd feel like I'm not growing. |
Absolutely. With the caveat that subs may come and go. :) Built them myself. $1,800 in parts that I wouldn't see in any speaker less than $12k https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2017/12/snr-1-two-way-high-end-diy-monitor.html But it's not the part cost that makes them special to me. It's that I designed them, they sound exactly like what I want, and I've not heard anything worth a change. I still like hearing other speakers, but home cooking is really hard to beat. Best, E |
I am kind of both. Electronics and the source are extremely important too. What especially irritates me is the distortion in the recording, the only thing you can do is try not to make it worse. I read somewhere that the reviewer who was evaluating Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated in his pretty good system then, as a final step and mostly for fun, tried this $16.5k amp with $500 Elac, I think, speakers. He was amazed by the sound those small speakers were capable of given the over the roof amplification. There are perhaps few great speakers but many very good speakers. |
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You can go for Kharma Exquisite at a valuation point. Lansche 3.1 is a small one to play classical music, Also, you can go for Evolution Audio MM2 https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis952a1-evolution-acoustics-mm-2-speakers-mint-customer-trade-in-... You do not need to rush into buying amplifiers. There are many good ones. |
By the way, there is Lansche 3.1 for sale here for $13k and Ypsilon power amp for about the same. Or Kharma Exquisite for $24k. Very different speakers, which one is right ? Probably both. The plasma tweeter is thought by some to be incomparable, Lansche speaker is built around it. But for high energy and large scale music I would take big Kharma. It could be the last speaker to have, sure. |
@duckworp Thanks a lot for your compliment on my speaker. You had gone through 15 speakers in 15 months. Unbelievable! I agree with you on the advantage of active subwoofer. Martin Logan is having success mating planar with active subwoofer. If Lansce speaker dies before me, then I may go to Martin Logan. |
I enjoyed reading your post @shkong78. Yes I have definitely found my life-speaker. Funnily enough I too got through 15 speakers to get there. The difference being I did it in 15 months rather than 40 years! I recount the experience here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/a-brief-review-of-15-high-end-speakers-on-home-demo-including... Interestingly, like yourself, I ended up with a Central European (Swiss in this instance) semi-active speaker in the Boenicke W13. The active sealed bass driver is a revelation: that ability to deliver exactly tuned, correctly-phased bass to the room, yet keep the character of your chosen amp for everything above 105Hz, seems the perfect combination. I am surprised more speaker designers have not gone that path. The Boenicke don’t have the interesting tweeter of the Lansche but they do have an interesting wooden mid-range cone which sounds amazing. And a rear-firing tweeter which I think helps them sound so airy and spacious. I very much enjoyed listening to the Lansche speakers at the Munich hi-end show last year - a great choice sir. |
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