Conspicuously missing are the Magnepan 30.7 and the real big SoundLab ESL's.
Do any of these interest you at all? (If you had the money)(Which I don't)
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I'm surprised to see so many plain ugly designs amongst that list. Almost as if stupid eye catching at any cost ergonomics was factored in as a key selling point. Do high-rolling audiophiles have such little sense of aesthetics? Or is ostentatiousness at-any-cost the main point here? Amongst that oddball collection I'd only consider #32 Sonus Faber Fenice ($180,000) or maybe the pyramid shaped #19 FM Acoustics Inspiration XS-I ($350,000). Or maybe I'd just buy some Tannoy DCs/ Linkwitz Orion's/ Harbeth M40s/ Devore 0-96s or any one of a dozen plausible <$20k alternatives. And a new house to put them in. |
They are big and ugly for the most part and as Elizabeth noted they missed a few. bdp24 Those wonderful speakers are just not expensive enough which begs the question are any of these worth the money. The horn systems interest me a little in that I would like to hear them. But I would never buy any of them, not when I can get a pair of Sound Labs 845's for around $40K. I suppose I have become a died in the wool ESL guy maybe not so much because they sound better (which they do) but because after 30 years I know exactly what to do with them to get them to perform the way I like and it was not always smooth going. I guess I have had enough learning and care only about listening. |
I definitely have an interest in almost all of those speakers insofar as I’d love to hear them out of curiosity. It reminds me of looking through speakers on Pinterest and realizing there is this vast realm of wild looking speaker designs that I (and probably most of us) have never heard of or encountered. When I see them I’m always wondering "what does that sound like?" That’s one reason I enjoy audio shows. But in terms of "if I had the money" nothing sticks out that I’d leap to purchase. I guess my dreams of speakers has been reality-limited by my own funds and house for so long I don’t go pining for monster speaker systems. Neato for what they can do, but aesthetically and in terms of what I actually need a system to do, they are overkill. |
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Most of his list would appeal to the same people who buy Yellow sports cars. To be seen. It is great for everyone that R&D money goes into developing these products as it inevitably Trickles down the food chain to the masses. In my opinion this is why all of today's speakers sound WAY BETTER than those of the 60's. |
I have heard smaller models of at least Focal, Acapella, Verity and Wilson. All of them sounded great. I would like to hear these as well but I would probably never buy them. I am especially curious about Goldmund and Nola. Here is a reviewers impressions of the Wilson WAMM for anyone intetested. https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-wilson-wamm-master-chronosonic |
wolf_garcia5,080 posts11-07-2019 2:20amFor that money just hire musicians to come over and entertain you...or just buy one and move ’em in (trust me). >>>>Can they hire you to come over to pout and bellyache? |
thanks for the link, some amazing and quirky stuff to be sure. Even if I won the lottery, there are only a few I would consider listening to. I would like to SEE many of the fantastic designs, just to appreciate the design, construction, but more like at a museum, not bother listening. I called a Cicada ugly once, then stopped, realized, it was an amazing creation by mother nature. Nature created the minds that created these, so, ugly or amazing? Perhaps man made synthetic drugs altered nature for some of these. As an Interior Designer, when I see the various designs, my mind instinctively tries to create an appropriate space. Try it, it can give you 'out of body' experiences. |
Lak, If you keep your eyes closed not all that much better. Gadios, I have a yellow 911 and in a way you are right. In my case it is because I am tired of getting rear ended. Anyway most of this is just one more derivation of the 3 or 4 way dynamic loudspeaker in a fancy enclosure. I have listened to the Lyngdorf speakers and was not impressed. Just in comparing different floor to ceiling line source speakers there is a magic in ESLs that you do not hear in all the others probably due to multiple factors such as no crossover, lowest distortion of all driver types, best impedance match to air, best transient response, and total control of the diaphragm down to molecular levels. There are several line sources in this group but no ESLs. I wonder why. I can only hypothesize. To my mind why would anyone fork up that kind of money for a devices so compromised by their very own design. You can spend $10K building the best crossover ever but no crossover is still better and a lot cheaper. In reality very few of these speakers are sold and I would gander that most of those that are are not sold to people who are discerning audiophiles. I would actually bet that most are sold through interior designers who are trying to fill a space with something.....interesting. I saw that plenty of times when I lived in Miami, Fl. I myself installed a pair of Beveridge ESLs because the designer wanted them. The client had no idea what was going on and could care less how they sounded and I know for a fact the designer was getting a kick back. These people are so rich they just hire a designer to build or remodel a house and never look at the bottom line. For those of us that are not filthy rich you can take comfort in the fact that there is more reasonably priced gear that sounds just as good if not better..... as long as you keep your eyes closed. |
Very interesting article - thanks for posting. I went to AXPONA in 2017 and then to the Tampa show in 2018. I heard several amazing six-figure systems that I will never aspire to own but the most important takeaway for me was that my system sounds pretty darn good. Not quite up there with the best but certainly in the ballpark. There were also a few megabuck systems that sounded awful but I'll give them a pass due to show conditions. Most of these systems had cabling and power conditioning that cost more than my entire setup. I lusted after some of that gear but it was encouraging to see that the price/value curve really flattens out at at the high end of the range. If someone has the money to buy a $1.2 million pair of speakers I don't begrudge them for one minute. They are supporting skilled craftsmen making a living wage producing amazing products. But the exciting thing is that we live in a golden age of audio where we have a huge selection of excellent sounding gear - both new and used - that most people who are serious about the hobby can afford and love. |
I do have the money, but none of them intrest me.....at 73 years old, my hearing has fallen off by approximately 70% (and even with hearing aids) i could not appreciate how great these speakers (must) sound. In addition to this i have a very small listening room, that could not accommodate most of these. |
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mantaman, if I follow in my father's footsteps I will wind up the same way, Fairly wealthy and deaf as a door knob. My plan is to use my system like giant hearing aids. Room control will become head control and I already have the power and soon the speaker to put out an easy 110 dB so I can destroy whatever hearing I have left:) You have to have a really good sense of humor to grow old gracefully. You young guys out there, don't forget to warm up your ears before you crank it up! |
