Speakers to hang on to for LIFE


After 9 years with my Proac Response 3s, I recently decided to change speakers. As you can tell, I'm not an upgrade fever patient. I want something I can live with for years & I think the best advice I'm gonna get will be from those who have & are still living with their speakers for an extended period of time. Please tell me why too. Thanks.Bob.
ryllau
For me with no questions asked it is Apogee speakers (and always will be)! It was my dream to own them once I had heard them back some years ago and I had at the time a georgous pair of Infinity Kappa 8s. I made a deal and have a set of Apogee Slant 6s that have been with me ever since. I've changed the front end electronics a number of times and cables but the Apogees have always been the focal point of a system that continues to grow and refine and thier performance has never disappointed me even as I've adutioned other speakers.
Apogee Centaur Majors in mahogany for me as well. Owned the same pair for approx 16 years and while I have enjoyed others, I always come back to them. I have owned a pair of Centaurs before that and also played around with the Mini Grands.
I've had Spendor SP100's for almost a decade,love them. If I were shopping today, I would start with the Harbeth 30.1 or the Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 depending on the size of my room. The "classic" British speakers do not have the sizzle of some other high end speakers, but I've noticed that many of the speakers listed on this thread can be found for sale on eBay, et al., but if you search for Harbeth, or Spendor, etc., there are few, if any. Which suggest people keep them.
That is very dificult to answer! Twice I have speakers for 16 years. The big issue was I got very comfortable with the speakers. Like an old pair of shoes or that old winter coat. Nothing wrong with that OK? But, to do that you take yourself out of the mainstream of speaker development. Thus missing out on the improvements made. Not to say you would jump out and buy. But can really leave the market you worked so hard to figure out? Tough question. Plus as we age we fine tune our ears and what we listen for or even the genre of music listened to. I am so happy to have made my last jump to the new Coincident Pure Reference. Expensive? Yes, but I am so happy that I move to my next life knowing I have had the chance to finally get my ultimate! When your kids are gone, you spoil grand kids and send them home! And sit back in narvana. No more compromises, or at least a lot fewer. After all the biggest deterrent to obtainging the big fancy system is the acknowledgement that everything else come first! But it is worth the wait! So enjoy the growth you won't regret it one bit.