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Speakers 10 years old or older that can compete with todays best,

I attend High End Audio Shows whenever I get a chance.  I also regularly visit several of my local High End Audio parlors, so I get to hear quite a few different speaker brands all the time.  And these speakers are also at various price points. Of course, the new speakers with their current technology sound totally incredible. However, I strongly feel that my beloved Revel Salon 2 speakers, which have been around for over ten years, still sound just as good or even better than the vast majority of the newer speakers that I get a chance to hear or audition in todays market.  And that goes for speakers at, or well above the Salon 2s price point. I feel that my Revel Salon 2 speakers (especially for the money) are so incredibly outstanding compared to the current speaker offerings of today, that I will probably never part with them. Are there others who feel that your beloved older speakers compare favorably with todays, newfangled, shinny-penny, obscenely expensive models?

kennymacc
megabyte
96 posts
 

Just bought a pair of 805s nautilus’ new old stock, they are amazing and must be about 20 years old. 

emailists
923 posts
 

I’m rocking an over 12 year old pair of speakers, whose designer recently stated that it was the speaker he was most proud of. The designer: Andrew Jones. The speaker: TAD CR1.

fitzterry's avatar
fitzterry
11 posts
 

Epos M5 -- I’ve owned some great stand mounts and these remain where others have passed in and out. Proac, KEF, etc.. It’s no wonder the great, late Stereophile reviewer Robert Reina kept the M5 as his go-to stand mount reference for so long. Don’t be fooled by the size. These speakers are incredible in a medium sized room placed 12-18" from back wall. The mid bass alone makes you forget about deep bass. Midrange and highs produce lifelike image.

regafan's avatar
regafan
72 posts
 

When I first heard of the Sony SS-AR-1 I knew I should investigate. They were special.

yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,661 posts
 

I had these over 40 years ago. Still one of my favorite after owning many others since!!

Dahlquist DQ‑10

One should always be wary of pronouncing “firsts,” but, appearing in the early seventies, Jon Dahlquist’s DQ‑10 was to my knowledge the first dynamic speaker to employ multiple drivers in an open-baffle configuration (except the acoustic‑suspension woofer, which was enclosed) staggered for proper time‑alignment and phase coherence, in an attempt to realize the openness and freedom from boxiness that Dahlquist prized in his beloved Quad ESL-57s—with the added advantages of deeper bass and dynamic extension well beyond the Quad. (The physical resemblance to the Quad was both mandated by the design and an intentional homage.) Far from flawless (including conceptually), the DQ-10 was nevertheless a ground-breaking design that preceded dozens of subsequent speakers (perhaps most prominent among them models from KEF, B&W, Spica, Thiel, Vandersteen, and Wilson) continuing up to the present day. Few large, full-range dynamic speakers before or for some time afterward equaled its openness. Paul Seydor

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