Owning too many speakers


I have multiple sets of speakers that I own and listen to. I have a garage full (my listening space) of Thiel cs3.5, Klipsch Cornwall II's and Heresies, Carver AL-III, Dahlquist dq-10, Allied 2300c, vintage Infinity, B&w, Soundwave pointsource 3.0 - let alone the ones in other systems in the house and what I've sold over the last 12 months - I've bought none of these new (pawnshops, newspaper, garage sales, thrift stores,consignment) I've found every speaker has its own sound/characteristics (image, soundstage, accuracy) and depending on the day i enjoy listening to each. Are there others with this type of speaker interest?
thymanst
Snell E-III, DCM Timeframe TF 400, Maggie 1.6, Vandersteen 3A Sigs, Tannoy Reveal, Polk Bookshelf, Insignia (?) all in different systems. I can't help it. They are all enjoyable in their own way.
When I was selling audio equipment at Innovative Audio in Brooklyn N.Y(now in Manhattan)many many years ago, the show rooms were set up when only a single set of speakers were in the room playing at the same time. We would wheel them in and out for a demo. Anyone with 2 or more sets of speakers in their room(with only 1 pair playing), the other speakers will also play, from the air pressure created from the playing pair. Room size and listening volume all have a more or less effect on this. Put you finger tip on a woofer ever so lightly of a non playing pair while others on playing and see what you feel. If the driver is vibrating, you are listening to it. Other than multi channel, multiple speakers in a room will add smearing and distortions, to these ears anyway.... remove the non playing speakers from the room and the playing pair will sound better.
Yea, it can get hilarious with them all. They are all over the house. None in the bathrooms...yet. Maybe some bookshelves ?

8 pairs in the bedroom. 6 in the living room. 1 in the dinign room. Lots more in the basement.

Seems like it's a lot easier to buy than sell :) I had some L100's here but no buyers. I think as I have no feedback people are gun-shy ?
Mikey44

"I think I have 25 pairs, all full size (some even FULLER like 2 pairs of AR9's) except 1 set of Dahlquist M903 bookshelves."

Where do you store all these full size speakers? How do you swap them out? Do you have them all on dolleys and can then wheel them out? I keep thinking of the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where there are tons of crates and one man rolling the boxed up Ark through it all.
In my largest listening area I own Klipsch Lascalas with powered subs. In another room I own Signet SL280 floor standers. A third room I have Yamaha NS20M studio monitors with Janis W3 sub woofers. In a 4th room I have Infinity towers. All the rooms are used at different times for different purposes, however I spend the most serious "listening" time in the Klipsch and Signet rooms. All rooms each have dedicated equipment. It is years of collecting I guess. I have other speakers and equipment not used at this time......
Ok, here we go - SPEAKERS ANONYMOUS.

I think I have 25 pairs, all full size (some even FULLER like 2 pairs of AR9's) except 1 set of Dahlquist M903 bookshelves.
Only one question, where on earth do you find the space for all these speakers? I have trouble fitting one pair into my listening room.
I suppose you have the advantage of living in a BIG country with BIG houses. In the UK, space really is at a premium.
The older I get, the more I believe that owning multiple speakers is the way to go. There is no such thing as the "best" speaker. Each design has its own strength and weaknesses. Having speakers of different designs allows you to mate different music to the particular speaker strengths. It also provides some welcome diversity to your listening routine.

IMO,owning both a high efficiency speaker (preferably with SET amplification) and a planar/ESL/OB speaker gives you tremendous musical flexibility and allows you to
enjoy the best of both very distinct speaker worlds.
I'm trying to control myself and not have too many speakers in my house but the itch to buy and try speakers

At my peak I had pairs of the following speakers.

KEF 104/2, KEF Q-90, Tannoy Mercury M1, B&W DM 303, PSB 500, Ohm Walsh 2s.

I have since gotten rid of all of them except for the KEF speakers. I didn't want too but the boss kept nagging and nagging.
Is this thread still 'alive' ? Been almost 5 years, not sure the members are still with AG...If so, I could post quite a list :)
I use to own 9 pairs I finally let go and sold a pair. Of the 8 left I really only use 6! (All at once in parallel of course)
Interesting. HeHeHe. I hope you guys are moving all those "other" speakers out of the room when evaluting each pair.
Man, reading this is cathartic...I thought it was just me. I had three pairs in the living room until a couple of weeks ago, now just one + the Europas in the home theatre. But I'm sure there will be more soon enough. And now I can tell my wife it's normal!
Snell Type Aii in main listening room; KEF Reference 3.5 in master bedroom; JM Lab for surround sound for my TV; KEF surround sound for kid's TV.
Hello. My name is HoseHead, and I am a serial speaker purchaser...

I'm not going to dive any deeper into the gutter and totally embarrass myself by listing 'em all (and come on - how much more embarrassing can it be than to admit you're a hosehead?) but let's face it - we're all just in line waiting to be committed. It's what we do, we can't help it, and we can't stop.

And yes, I am looking at a deal for this really cool pair of...
Verity Parsifal Encores, Audio Physic Virgos, Proac Response 2.5s, Proac Response 1SC, Unity Audio Signature One's. Plus a whole set of Definitive Technology HT speakers and subs. If I add another pair something has to go, I wonder if my wife was referring to me :>)
Parsifal Encores, VSM SEs, Zingali 3s, Sonatinas, plus Red Rose minis, Infinity Modulus, old Sonus Faber bookshelves and 3A de Capos. There may be some others hiding in a corner somehwere.

Definitely a problem.
Still, can't help thinking about Soundlab.

Marty

I keep trying to rationalize it to friends who aren't interested in audio gear by asking whether they'd expect someone to play golf with just one club.
Sounds like there are a few speaker building and speaker collecting addicts around here. I'm the type that can't stop building speakers. And so the house is full of boxes and crossovers that lay on the floor, outside the cabinet, so I can tweek on them. I'm at the point where I firmly believe that it is impossible to have one speaker that sounds impressive on a wide variety of recorded music. The CDs are, I assume, all mixed differently, and then there is analog. For me, anyway, the big challenge is to find that middle ground where I can be reasonably happy with a wide variety of music. If I were buying speakers instead of building them, I would probably have a garage full also, cause I could never be happy with only one version of sound. And if I were buying speakers I would still play with the crossovers because I'll bet a lot of them could sound better. Anyway, here is my latest nightmare. I finished a pair of speakers a couple of weeks ago and set them up in my basement (first time in the basement) on a $20.00 old Luxman receiver and CD player. After a little playing around with the crossovers, I felt like I had the best sound I have ever had from a pair of DIY speakers, on an old Luzman! Image snapped right to center, soundstage was deep, and I wasn't aware of anything actually coming from the speakers. Pretty happy guy. Then I took the speakers to my upstairs living room, with some equipment I have spent a lot of money on, and the magic disappeared! Well, after 15 years of building speakers, I guess I have finally learned that room acoustics, is the one thing a really good pair of speakers cannot overcome. That basement room is unfinished, with two full walls of pink insulation and a cement floor. So now, I get to choose between becoming a base trap builder, and just moving the equipment into the basement and having permanent frozen feet. Question for you guys......if wanted to sell DIY speakers on audiogon, should I put them in an auction or in the classifieds? I need to sell a pair of monsters, that I can't imagine I will be able to ship, so I guess there is another question. Has anyone shipped any big ones, like maybe 200 lbs and 55 inches tall?
I have 6 pairs of speakers that I consider relevant at this point, plus some cheapos. All are more or less in use in a separate system/room. I just bought 2 new pairs makes 8 so will need to sell one or 2 sets soon to make room. I too like the variety. 2 pairs are DIY, 2 pairs Totem (Sttaf, Mani-2), 2 pairs Von Schweikert (VR3, VR4-III), and my trusty vintage Infinty Montor IIa. oh, and plus Regas in the home theater.
I own a pair of B&W 802Ds and will purcfhase a pair of Wilson Watt Pupp 7s. I currently have the 802Ds for sale in the classified articles, but I have been considering keeping them since earlier today.

I enjoy the sound of both speakers immensely and like you have found I enjoy their distinct sound characteristics when I'm in different moods. I figure it doesn't matter a whole lot if the surround speakers don't match 100% as long as the 3 front channels in the surround system match extremely well. Perhaps in two years I can have a separate surround system for each pair of speakers.
"Are there others with this type of speaker interest?" LOL!!!
Are you kidding??? Welcome to the jungle brother! You are at home here! Most of us here are similarly afflicted. BTW, in answer to the title of your post - you CAN'T own too many speakers!

As for me: Rogers Studio 1a, Quad 12L, ATC SCM20SL, Krix Equinox (2 pair), D.A.S Monitor 8, and various other no name brands...
Not at your level but here is my speakers
Aerial 10T,JBL L7,Mission 753,JBL 5 theater surrounds can't remember the model but they are from the pro market,and yes a Bose HT set-up.
George
I have a pair of Quad ESL 57 and a pair of Triangle Celius 202.Depends on the type of music I play.
I try to keep at least one pair of speakers available that are not currently in active systems.

Why?
Variety & Backup
I only have two pr., mains and rears, but found..."depending on the day i enjoy listening to each"...interesting. Thanks for sharing.