What speakers for 10k?

I know you've been down on planar, but Maggie 20 or even 3.7 will keep you satisfied.

There's a pair of Sonus Faber Elipsa's up for sale on this site now. It's hard to do better than those for $10K.

"01-26-15: Ivan_nosnibor
Haven't heard the Beethovens myself. But, the reasons I think you'll love the GT's (Gen. 2 or SE) are because the entire presentation is uncommonly uncompromised, i.e. there seems to be no significant gaps or holes within it. (My quickie review here). They are neutrally transparent and will pass on whatever your components are doing exceptionally well.

The 2 drivers are well matched in that the woofer's phase response is mild and smooth and it hands over to a tweeter's phase response that is quite literally "ruler flat" over the entire operating range of the tweeter (you can find the response graphs of the tweeter at Dayton Audio's website). And some listening time will reveal that the very minimalist crossovers and the Mihorns are, in all likelihood, doing very little indeed to interfere with that unusually good, combined phase response. That results in a strikingly stable, complete, unperturbed and perfectly symmetrical soundstage. Simply not the norm, IME. The Mihorns can also easily be used to create a rather vividly 3D central image as well. Excellent spatial qualities.

I won't get into the details about "how" right now, but the Mihorns tend to "speed up" the sound of everything upstream from them. By that I mean that I'm using some amps at the moment that don't exactly have "HiFi pedigree" written all over them, yet the subjective sensation of system speed is as though I'd spent much more coin on them than I did...I'm still running some experiments along those lines, but I may be able to draw a conclusion or two about how they manage that trick a little later on. If your components are already top notch in that regard, then the Mihorns possibly may not accelerate much beyond a certain point, but, that they do so at all, I've found to be rather unique, so far, IME. Maybe other horns are known to do this??

But, tonally, harmonically and texturally revealing?? Oh yeah!! In spades. And very dynamic.

Look at it this way. They are very small and not only easy to place in the room, but easy and inexpensive to return if you don't like...but, I'll bet you won't return, at all.

Oh, I'll continue to listen to other speakers whenever I get the chance, just out of curiosity, but, even though I'm using a good pair of subs with them that only helps to seal it for me, I already know these are the last speakers I'll ever need to buy, period.

Can't really speak directly to the Beethovens (After_hrs may well be right about them), but I'll throw in my recommendation for the GT's, along with him, without reservation!
Ivan_nosnibor (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

Truthfully, I feel as if there've been too many threads lately in which Wavetouch all of a sudden assumes high prominence, with a few posters offering sales pitches that sound like, well, sales pitches.

Look, I'll sound off on speakers that sound awesome, but I'm not going to proselytize about them to the extent that I come across as a shill for the product. You don't have to own my set of speakers to make me feel validated.

And, as several posters have pointed out, if the OP has $10K to spend, then he or she should spend that $10K on well-reviewed, peer-vetted speakers that have more to them than a webpage of buyer feedback and a few minor reviews.

Again, I imagine Wavetouch are quality products and that their designer is a passionate and devoted craftsman and technician, but the way these things are being trumpeted, you'd think they're the second coming of hi-end audio.

I mean, really? They best Avantegarde or Kharma Ceramique? They blow Wilsons out of the water?

If I'm going to spend $10K on "end-game" speakers, they're not going to be little Baltic birch monitors with an unproven track record.

Hrs,

Yours was a temperate and moderated response. I wasn;t targeting you, per se; simply the over-the-top championing as of late in a few threads here on Agon of Wavetouch.

I've spoken and wwritten with Alex about his speakers and though I'm not ready to let my de Capo BE's go (and may never be), Alex came across as a generally nice and thoughtful man who was a comfortable blend of salesman and audiophile.

Still, if someone's asking where he can spend his $10K, I'm going to try to see that he gets his money worth -- all $10K of it.

I'm also surprised no one has mentioned Devore speakers. The O93 and O96 are Stereophile Class A speakers and are reference for a few Stereophile and Absolute Sound reviewers. For $10K, you could get a beautiful new set of the O96's and be happy until your hearing goes.

"and how does anyone know if WT is legit or not without hearing them? they offer a 40 day in home. comes down to track record, did apple have a track record? or what about Microsoft and this windows idea?"

That's a specious analogy, Jughead. Apple and MS both offered products that were unmatched and unparalleled in their respective marketplaces. They didn't need to claim to be better than similar products costing many times as much because there weren't many of those with reputations to match.

Wavetouch is not setting the bar here; Wavetouch is attempting to convince everyone that it's exceeding a bar already set by larger, more expensive speakers.

In many ways this entire thread has separated the skeptics from the outliers. If Wavetouch proves to be a game-changer in x-amount of years, then you and other customers can look back and know you were trailblazers. Until then, though, I'm simply not comfortable even laying down money I may get back until I hear the product in the first place. Or, until its reviewed by someone professional besides Parttime Audiophile (praise be upon him, of course, for his devotion to this hobby).

The mainstream audiophile journalists assault on science regarding this hobby is the only reason ridiculous constructs such as the Wavetouch speakers are every allowed to pass mustard in the first place.

I believe that's "pass muster" - which means to be accepted as adequate based on military parlance. But please, pass the mustard and catsup/ketchup, too!