Embrace the healing power of AND.
Cheap speakers AND expensive amps.
Eminent Technology LFT 8 speakers. Despite being in production since the last century and (glowing) reviews in Absolute Sound, Stereophile AND the Audiophiliac, the LFT 8 remains under the radar. The current version LFT 8 C for Charlie costs 4500 United States Dollars per pair. They need big power to wake them up and a big room to get them away from the walls in back so the sound waves can propagate in both directions. Properly set up the entire listening room becomes a sweet spot.
For the technically inclined, the LFT 8 is a quasi ribbon planar speaker. The mids and tweeters are made of a metal conductor etched onto a mylar panel making more active surface area than an IRS V. These are mounted in a steel frame an inch thick AND there is no cabinet like NO cabinet. A lot of money is spent fighting the physics in a box speaker to make the box inert. If you do away with the box, you save that money while getting fabulous sound. There is no voodoo to planar speakers. It's just having the physics on your side.
OK the LFT 8 is a hybrid with the bass driver housed in a box. A planar that would go that low would be too big. The coloration from the box doesn't seem to be as crucial in the bass. In fact the vibrations from the box are designed to be part of the sound so don't try to dampen the box.
HSU subs. Adding a sub makes the higher frequencies sound fuller.
Manley Labs 500 monoblock tube amps. A good output transformer costs money. There is just no way around that. NBS Black cables cost more than the things on either end. I just shut my eyes as I write the check.
There is a magical synergy between the LFT 8 speakers and the Manley amps and the NBS wires. You will be transported to the Musikverein and hear the Vienna Philharmonic in all its glory.
The preamp is the discontinued Manley Wave. The CD player is the discontinued Nagra. The record player is the current Oracle 6 with Eminent Technology 2 arm and Benz Gullwing cartridge going into a discontinued Super Lumi phono stage. The tape player is the discontinued Studer A80. There's a discontinued Oppo for playing Blu Ray audio. And a current PS Audio transport and converter for playing SACD. A very up to date Nagra HD X and Taiko for streaming.
It's the System That Time Forgot. You don't have to be all new or all old. You don't have to be all expensive or all cheap. Use what works.
Karl Richter's recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor. Richter recorded the Mass several times. I like the one with a picture of Christ on the cover but they're all good. Actually any recording by Karl Richter is good. But not to everyone's taste.
https://youtu.be/ShYiihooSa0?si=d7ZkSFSRipj-hHvh
Bob Dylan and The Band playing Blowin the Wind recorded live at the Fabulous Forum. Eat your heart out metal fans. This is the heaviest track ever.
https://youtu.be/Xgjhna90fSk?si=p9fnajtLVKMjP6sa
Glen and Willie Funny How Time Slips Away
Oh! The poignancy of Glen audibly fading away into Alzheimer's.
Just to see the look on those grizzled faces.
One honk from this man and the rafters will shake.
Waiting to pounce on a used Esoteric K1X SACD player. Just to have the transport which is carved out of a single block of metal.