Just picked up my new Rogue RP-1 from a dealer. That coupled with my Rogue Atlas, then to my Klipsch Heresy IV's with an SVS PB2000 pro has me over the moon right now. But funny thing happened at the dealer.. I couldn't help myself, I listened to some other speakers. I'm an idiot, a glutton, a fool. As you can imagine I'm now about a third the way down the rabbit hole.
At the dealer I was enchanted by a pair of Golden ear BRX monitors, they were so sweet, airy and open. Can't stop thinking about them.
Now I'm looking at:
Paradigm founder 80F
Tyler Time Keepers
The Golden Ear BRX
Vandersteen's among others..
Am I nuts? should I join a support group (other than the other one I'm already in) ?
As I wise man once told me, it doen't matter how big your boat is, a bigger boat is bound to pull up next to you. As long as we keep listening, we are alwyas going to find something we like better. The real question is can I ever just learn to be happy with what I have? 🤣
If you’re unmarried, find a wife quickly. She will undoubtedly end your developing addiction in short order once she hears about what this stuff costs.
I wouldn’t be in a rush. Hopefully you can listen to various speakers and you need to determine what is really important to you. Are you a high resolution or relaxed kind of guy. Do you want an all around speaker or one that has specific strong points.
I would also take reviews with a grain of salt especially in the major mags. They all sound good to them because of advertising relationships. Trust your ears!
The plague for audiophiles is so much of this gear is so transparent and high resolution, it exposes a lot of our recordings into a listening experience that is not as we would like. Probably what, 75% to 85% of recordings are not "audiophile". So that leaves us small percentage of stuff that truly sounds out this world on our systems. Of course depending on genre, some people will have a lot more well recorded material. Anyway, Doyle3433, make sure when you are demoing stuff it is with music you love even though it may be an average recording. If the system or speaker you are demoing sounds great on that, then you may have something. Plus, if you can find speakers that you can listen to for a long time without fatigue and you have a hard time pulling yourself away from, then you found the right fit.
Going through upgrades can be great and coming out the others side wonderful. But if you move too fast without a concrete plan it can result in some real mistakes and disappointment. Just judging by the odd list of speakers you are looking at, and the ones you liked… I think it would be easy to latch on to a speaker with one particular characteristic you like, get them and then being disappointed by loosing several characteristics you liked.
What is your room size and type of music you listen to? Small monitors can be really good at imaging. But they tend not to have the weight across the audio spectrum.
Also, my rule of thumb generally to never upgrade in less that 2x cost of the component it replaces. While speakers vary a lot in performance you can stack the deck in you favor by first identifying the kind of sound you like and upgrading to a higher level of speaker. Sideways moves too easily turn into trading one set of strengths and weaknesses for a different set. Long-term this strategy builds a solid system increasingly educated tastes.
I would recommend consulting the recommended components issue from The Absolute Sound and Stereophile. Look at speakers in your price range. Try to listen to some and compare what you hear with the reviews. Typically speakers are the most expensive component in a well balanced system (meaning all components performing at their maximum capability because the components are complementary). Typically the speaker choice would be first… but it is not critical. You can still take a big step up in sound quality and swap one of the components later to optimize you solution if you have to.
Its so worth the effort. All the subtleties of your room and system come together to hear a pure prospective. Differences that are difficult to assess at a show or in a showroom.
Your speakers are obviously horn speakers. It’s a “type” of sound some people think is the end all and others, well, not so much. Given what you’ve said you may have identified yourself as the latter. If Vandy sounds good to you I’d recommend auditioning others like ProAc, Joseph Audio, Usher, whatever’s closest to you as these all exhibit similar imaging and soundstage strengths that I think might be attracting you. As audiophiles, we’re all wired and hear differently. I’m not a horn/Klipsch guy, just not in my DNA, but very much a Vandy fan and one of my faves. Definitely worth exploring further, and you’ll likely be much happier in the end if you just continue to follow YOUR ears. Best of luck.
I agree with all the above. But on the other side is this thought. Even AFTER you buy these other speakers, there is STILL other speakers that will enchant you if you listen to them. I tend to agree that there are much better that the heresy's. But you are thrilled with them now. Upgrade wisely. take your time. Research, research research is your friend and will help keep you from being pulled in further than is healthy
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.
