New MOFI speaker (Andrew Jones)

Did Andrew play "Volver" by Buika and David Roth's "Before I Die" in these demos? That is what he played at AXPONA years ago, to very well capture the crowd.

Also, if there are people who pay $50 per month to get reviews of audio equipment that is heard by someone else, then it's a shame that they are ready to spend $50k on speakers/amps/sources and cannot spend $500 on a plane ticket to listen to such components "in-person". IF they are so busy, then how are they going to find time to enjoy this hobby? Just wondering.

I am not here to support or diss Andrew. But here is my story:

Last month I invited 3 colleagues home, who love audio. One has a bluegrass band (he plays the banjo), the other records and does DJ while the last one is a very young guy (compared to me). These guys were mesmerized by my system because they had never heard a high fidelity system. In fact the band and the youngest guy claimed that they were hearing things almost to the rear. I did not question that. The 1 hour session went on to about 2.5 hours. At the end of it, they told me that while the system was fantastic, they simply could not afford it. Fair enough and I told them it was built over a period of 17 years. As we came out of the listening room into the family area of the basement, they saw the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR which is connected to a Sony 5.1 channel receiver, which we use to watch movies or the kids play games on TV.

Now this system impressed the band guy so much that he went home and started searching for these. Unfortunately they are not made anymore and the rare ones are fetching $500. He asked me for recommendation, based on a budget. There was no way that anyone of us could go reviewing a speaker. But I recommended him the Andrew Jones designed ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2. These were on sale for Thanksgiving and he bought the Walnut ones from Music Direct. They arrived last Monday at his place and he used his vintage 1980s Marantz receiver (Japanese made) with some cheap speaker wire that he already had. Even with this combination he was BLOWN AWAY with what he heard. This is his most expensive hi-fi purchase. The worst part is - he is currently using the "headphone out" from the projector as input to the Marantz. So today I carried my Auris bluMe bluetooth receiver, that he can connect using RCAs. Will wait to hear back from him.

Point is - Andrew Jones designs are pretty good. This forum is filled with folks having mega $$$ speakers (including me). We are trying to judge cheaper designs and compare them to the $$$ ones. To the folks on this forum a $1700 speaker might be a hype. But to the non-audiophiles even a $399 speaker is a hype. Why? Because their previous system is a all-in-one Walmart/Target system. We can do more justice to this hobby by directing the younger generation to start with cheaper loudspeakers. Eventually they will move into the high end category.

@thyname ,

Man, that sucks.

But to the common person, "it" (that is how they refer to audio systems) should make "loud music". That's all they care for. Such folks need to be educated. My colleagues told me that they had heard "about high end" audio, but never imagined what it could do.

Unless folks like us put some effort into educating the "not-in-the-know" folks, they will never know to differentiate sound/noise from music.

@grislybutter

Not sure why you should be disillusioned by what others are saying. IT's your choice - you should do what you feel like.

if you love music, you won’t be obsessed with gear, because music is perfectly and fully enjoyable with decent $200 desktop speakers, playing from youtube.

I spend quite some time with family watching movies or listening to the wife and kid's songs. We do that on the Pioneer bookshelf speakers that are a lot less $s than what you mention. And it is fun - I agree. But to get the "full on" experience, I go to my main system. With this system I can listen to new (to me, not others) music from artists and genres I have not heard before. It is an amazing experience. In fact Spotify wrapped 2022 tells me that this year I listened to 59 different genres and 1928 different artists, and this is NOT counting the first 3 months of the year that I was with Tidal.And also my collection of silver discs.

With a metaphor, imagine that you love playing soccer but your main focus is not playing but finding the best shoes.

I don't know about soccer. So I can probably relate to running shoes. Flip-flops are bad for running. But with a well designed shoe from Books compared to a cheaper one, you can go on for miles without straining your muscles and hurting the knees. Specialization helps and I have experienced it. So if you are into driving, are you saying that a Mitsubishi Mirage will provide you the same pleasure as a BMW M3 or Porsche GT3? That would be hard to believe.

People that don’t know don’t care IMO and IME. 

And my story does not support this. If they have not heard anything better, then yes, they would not know. This is the second time. Last time was in 2019, when a friend came over for a listen and was amazed what high end sounds like. We ended up getting a Revel F35/36 at the local dealer and a Hegel integrated (with onboard DAC) and Audio Envy cables. And this was right before the pandemic! I have posted about this story too, here on Audiogon. Yes. it is rare, but it does happen.