I doubt if the materials in any speaker could stand a lifetime of use. Maybe Lowther based speakers. |
Dalecrommie, if the cello is playing in your room, they are the "best" speakers ever. I like the Volti Audio Vittoras ideas. |
Are you really HP? They don't image very well. |
Lewm, With the exception of the Coincident and Rockports, I have had all the speakers you say you could live with. Additionally, I have had the Infinity Servostatics, Acustats, and Martin Logan electrostatics. As you say, no speaker is perfect. I have also had five sets of horn speakers. They have a speed and dynamics that electrostats lack, IMHO. I have also had omni speakers, open baffle speakers, and many box dynamic speakers, which is where I am now. I have, of course, never said that I can live with what I have, as I never had done so. I figure that I have had 27 different speakers since I was eighteen. |
Thomas Edison used to invite people to presentations where he had a singer and orchestra. At some point they would walk off stage while the music continued. People would be shocked that it was not a real concert. People cannot hear. |
Closdesducs, about ten years ago I reentered the world of compression drivers and horn speakers for the second time with the first having been in the early '70s. Yes, efficiency and quickness are great!
Yes, SETs are in your future and will be very satisfying. But ultimately you will realize that their is a price to pay. Unless you are willing to add compression drivers at the bottom end, you will have to do without deep bass. Even the top end doesn't extend very high.
But have fun. I remember them fondly. |
Being in my fifth year as an audiophile and having owned 29 different speakers, I think a speaker that one would stick with for life is very unlikely. I will be getting my latest, BMC Arcadias shortly and will expect to spend many months optimizing them. I expect better bass extension and top to bottom linearity with these. I guess at some point any speaker becomes a keeper for the rest of your life. |
Ronniec15, I too had a pair and really think they were great, but, of course, Appogee moved on. I sold mine to a guy in Houston and lost contact with him. They were among my many different speakers as I switched between horns, ribbons, dynamic drivers, etc.
My last several speakers have been dynamic drivers with special tweeters. I suspect that with my BMC Arcadia speakers, I will stick with them for a long time. |
Arcamadeus, with 53 years or more in this hobby, I too conclude that my BMC Arcadia speakers will be for life. Of course, that may not be for long. I'm still having fun. |
Rdiiorio, KLH 9 for 42 years! Any repairs? I replaced mine with Infinity ServoStatics. I doubt if many of them can even be found working or not. |
Astrallite, I guess it is a matter of how old you are when you decide they are for the rest of your life. Maybe my Rectilinear IIIs are still working or my Fulton Premiers but certainly not my Infinity ServoStatic 1s.
But in reality I cannot imagine living with the particular compromise in the speaker you own for a long time. |
Phusis, I too went through discovering the speed of compression drivers in horns and once came very close to buying a five way compression horn array from GOTO. At the time I had Avantegarde Trios and learned a lesson about an array of horns. Unless you are quite a distance from them, instruments will switch positions at different notes. In short, not having a fifty feet long listening room, I could not enjoy either my Trios or a five compression driver horn system. I have seen pictures of Japanese audiophiles sweeping the dust out of the mouths of their horn speakers with listening chairs only about ten feet in front of them. So apparently some can tolerate this, but not me.
I have had single driver horn systems, full range electrostats, line arrays of ribbons and dynamic tweeters and midrange drivers, horns with and without compression drivers, and many dynamic driver systems. What I think is needed is the counterpart to a microphone, namely a point source capable of 110 db peaks and flat from 20 to 100,000 Hz. I know of no such device. |
I must admit that some twenty-five speakers ago, when I bought Infinity ServoStatics, I was set for life, or at least that I was satisfied. These were speakers that need frequent repair of the midrange driver, but if was the appeal of the ServoStatic 1As that brought me to sell the 1s. There really is no such thing for an audiophile of one last speaker system, but if you get old it does happen. I own two systems now and one of them is no doubt the last. |
I am 76 now and can realistically think that I will have my B.M.C. Arcadias for the rest of my life. The thought of a speaker for the rest of my life seemed quite unrealistic until I got old, as I had 28 different speakers over a life with audio since 1961. I've had seven pair of full range dynamic speaker; three pair with special tweeters, five pair of largely full range horn speakers, six pair of largely full range electrostatic speaker and one pair of full range electrostatic. Three sets of single driver full range speakers. One pair if omni-directional full range speakers. Two pair of wall mounted speakers from Duntech. Two pair of powered speakers and two pair of speakers with woofers in a gas bag. Two pair of stand mounted book shelf speakers. And one pair of self-made two way speakers. The lightest speakers were about 20 pounds each and the heaviest were 350 points each. |
Ctsooner, horns have a speed that is lacking by other speakers, but typically you need to be fifteen or more feet from them.
I like the Vandersteen 7s but think the B.M.C. Aracadias are better but fundamentally different sounding. But I recognize that we all seldom agree. I had Vandersteen 2Cs in the early 70s. |
