Contrary to most here, the speakers I dreamed of owning 20+ years ago now look like junk to me. Well, that’s a bit of exaggeration but the fact is they don’t appeal to me anymore. It’s more to the looks than sound quality.
I recall reading about the JM Labs Mezzo Utopia in the hifi magazines when they were launched. I could only dream of owning it as during that time it was way out of my budget. Looking at it now, they look out of date and ugly, and although I can afford them now they don’t appeal to me anymore. I usually don’t look at hifi that doesn’t look good to me. Sound quality is another matter.
The current Utopia range looks great though.
Also, it is worth considering that most old speakers would have gone through some deterioration. The drivers and internal parts etc. have life span. Depending on the design of the speakers, the rubber around the drivers may harden with time, and foam used as padding inside the speakers may deteriorate to tiny bits and pieces through time. The foam inside my B&W CDM 1SE decayed as tiny bits flew out from the front port when music was playing. I eventually got the replacement foam installed. The speaker was about 10 to 15 years old when the foam showed deterioration.
I recall reading about the JM Labs Mezzo Utopia in the hifi magazines when they were launched. I could only dream of owning it as during that time it was way out of my budget. Looking at it now, they look out of date and ugly, and although I can afford them now they don’t appeal to me anymore. I usually don’t look at hifi that doesn’t look good to me. Sound quality is another matter.
The current Utopia range looks great though.
Also, it is worth considering that most old speakers would have gone through some deterioration. The drivers and internal parts etc. have life span. Depending on the design of the speakers, the rubber around the drivers may harden with time, and foam used as padding inside the speakers may deteriorate to tiny bits and pieces through time. The foam inside my B&W CDM 1SE decayed as tiny bits flew out from the front port when music was playing. I eventually got the replacement foam installed. The speaker was about 10 to 15 years old when the foam showed deterioration.