What speakers have you mistakenly let go and then later repurchased?

Vandersteen 2ce Signature (II or III; can't remember which). I let them go in 1990 because I was going back to school and couldn't fit them in a dorm room. They were the first speakers I ever owned that hung a solid, deep, tall image in front of me and sounded good with either chamber music or The Chambers Brothers. So when I got out of school and had room once again...

Bose 901's

Never sold a a pair.  However, I have upgraded with three successive pairs of

Magnepans.  Love them all.  

Thiel CS something or other, but really good

Tonian Labs TL D-1

Owned a pair, sold them, then missed them. Then bought another pair. If they would have went a little louder without breakup. I would have never sold them.

Harbeth P3esr in my second system. There was something unassuming yet special about the speakers. I’ll probably buy another pair next year. 

spendor sp100's - but i did manage to get the back in the fold... 😁

oh man, i had an acoustic 320 and 2x15 cabinet, bought it for $400 in 1990 or 1991...a few years later pawned it. then bought it 10 years later from a completely different pawn shop. walked in lookin for something else and couldnt walk out without it. fantastic amp. got a 370 also, which, til it blew, sounded even better.

Whoa. Cey, all I had to do was call the buyer, you sent that amp out into the world!

Russ Alee designed some interesting gear. That 320 is similar to the little Acoustic Image Focus 2R I currently use. Mic and Instrument channels and a master out for the Upright. 

I had the internal amp and the Gene Czerwinski 18" driver rebuilt some time ago but it hasn't been out of the house in decades. Crazy loud.  

Totem Dreamcatchers and LSA 1s. both very good sounding speakers and good values. Regretted selling them and bought them again.

Spice TC-50

Magnepan MG 1.6 QR

B&W DM 602 S3

I have since moved on.  I currently own none of them and don't see owning them ever again.  My ear, tastes and listening spaces have changed many times over the years.

Audio Physic Scorpio,not the greatest speakers but they did everything well. I've had many speakers since (Acoustic Zen Adagio,Scorpio II,Audio Physic Avanti III & Canton Reference Jubilee) but they all lacked in some area compared to the Scorpios and I was only driving those with a Sunfire receiver at the time

Well I never repurchased a set of speakers but I should have kept the Acoustat 2+2s, for my living room (secondary listening room) from 35 years ago.  Sold them very cheap.

@fredapplegate I get your point but my new wife hated them because they lacked bass punch/depth, extremely beamy, a bright overall balance and limited dynamics.   This in a 540 sq. ft. room.  This was 25 years ago.  I replaced them with dynamic speakers and she was ecstatic over the choice.   

My beloved Tekton Double Impact. Beloved 

@tlhub 

if you haven't owned any of those twice, it doesn't apply here.

Purchased B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) 802 Nautilus in 2000.  Because I was downsizing and thinking they were ill fitting the new abode, I sold in 2015.  What a ludicrous mistake.  Tried out 803 Nautilus and 804 Nautilus to fit the new room, and not as good sounding.  So found a pair of 802 Nautilus this year and problem solved.  

Never, when it's time....it's time......

Vienna acoustic Mozart grand. Bought used around 2008. Sold 2012. Really didn’t need to and regretted selling them. Found a nice pair in 2018. These speakers had the widest sound stage of any narrow baffle smaller floor standers I tried. 2-3feet out past the sides. They are magical with a great low end. 

Magneplanar Tympani's. First ones T-I, replacements T-Id, then many years later T-IVa.

Spendor D7.  Didn't know what I had- sold them and 3 years later bought the D7.2 which are "it".  

Absence makes the heart grow fond, I should patent that. 

Every speaker I bought did something I liked that after time wasn't enough to keep the illusion alive, that said the speaker still excels at what I initially liked about them and each following speaker pair I buy gets me closer to all the things I liked best about each pair. 

so, if we're doing it right we should miss every pair we let go for whatever it was we liked about it in the first place, In my head I just keep going back to the ex girlfriend analogy.  

I sold my beloved Apogee Caliper Sigs when Apogee went out of business because I was afraid of not being able to get support. Biggest stereo mistake I ever made. Finally purchased a pair of Duetta Sigs, a few years later to replace the gone Calipers. Now have Apogee Divas that I had lusted after when I owned the Calipers.

I don't think I will ever replace the Divas.

Every speaker I bought did something I liked that after time wasn't enough to keep the illusion alive, that said the speaker still excels at what I initially liked about them and each following speaker pair I buy gets me closer to all the things I liked best about each pair.

I think some people find speakers that check more of their boxes and get them closer to what they think they are after....so they keep them for a few years and then realize they are listening to music less....maybe looking at their cell phone more while listening.  

In my head I just keep going back to the ex girlfriend analogy.  

Yes, especially the unrefined trashy one that did a few things great. ;-) 

OP, only one girlfriend fits that description from the wayback, but that relationship got rudely interrupted by a rapist.

He got caught and sent away, but she went away sooner, sadly.

But, plus side, met sig other who's kept my company for 40 years and running.

Neg side for y'all puts me here and now....sorry. *L*

Spendor D7.  Didn't know what I had- sold them and 3 years later bought the D7.2 which are "it". 

You replaced the Harbeth SHL5s?

Others I would consider buying again Tekton DI

I sold my DIs some years ago and miss them.  Why did you get rid of them?  I'm hesitant about "upgrading" to Moabs or Encores since I'm not sure I would prefer the sound  

Joseph Audio Pulsars. I sold them when I convinced myself it was time to try something "different" in my system and got some Kef Reference 1's. I knew the Pulsars were great when I sold them, but after living without them in my system for about 2 years, I realized just how amazing they are and repurchased them and sold the Kefs. Won't happen again!!! 

Snell EIIs

I went from Altec 604Cs to a pair of Wharfedale floorstanding speakers, can’t remember the model but they were huge.

I never sold the 604Cs, I sold the Wharfedales and went back to the Altecs.

The thread is about speakers that you sold and bought again.

Sold a pair of Vandersteen 2ci.

Bought a pair of Vandersteen 2ce Signature.

It wasn't that I'd pined for the first set, it was the march of progress across the plains of availability. On the other hand I've truly had two sets of Large Advents, and two sets of Snell EII. They make wonderful gifts for friends. And I've just restored a set of Magnepan SMGa, and now I feel like I've been missing out on Magnepan in general. If I sell them, I might have to look for something similar. If I gift them, I may be able to listen now and then at a friend's house.

I had Advents, Dynaco 25, 35 & 50, ADS 620, all of which are long retired/gone (40+ years).  I consider someone keeping the older set rather than repurchasing it satisfactory for this forum discussion.

@fleschler

No, it isn’t satisfactory, because that was not the question. You're just listing a number of speakers that you own. Completely different thing.

Quad S-5.  Been trying to find a pair again ever since. 

B&W DM23...Yes, I am older than dirt.   : ^ )

ADS L980
Oh man.  Ten years ago found a pair, near perfect at a steal.  I really liked these (my first ADS) but knew I could make bank by reselling them. I did and IMMEDIATELY regretted. I tried over the years to buy them back, but nope. 

Found a pair this early spring for a more than fair price and went to his house at 8AM the next morning.  Original owner and in near perfect shape.  I will not let these go.  They are at Richard So's getting a renewal. 

These are not the best ive ever had but man do they sound correct

NEAR 50me. Tall slender budget (yet exotic) time aligned speaker with bespoke esoteric spiderless drivers from the mid to late 90’s. It took until 2021 for another manufacturer to succeed at this (Audio Physic). NEAR technically never quite succeeded in that you had to delicately align the woofer voice coils with your fingers.. or rotate the driver by 90deg increments to balance them so they didn’t scrape the magnet.

Went to Von Schweikert, Magnapan, but then back to the NEARS. Twice. Thus I’ve owned three pairs. They did it all. The last pair I bought around 2014.. the shipping costs were more than their purchase.. which is laughable given I still go to shows now and often hear speakers for 10x the cost of the NEAR 50me’s (as new).. and yet they often don’t sound as good as these I’ve got which are now decades old.

Company no longer makes these.. only outdoor speakers now. Some of them looked like rocks. Literally.. they’re rocks.

I even had the original designer rebuild my midranges once to keep them alive. He is quite a creative thinker. Alas they are on their last midranges.

Ocean Way Audio Eurekas waiting in the wings once the NEAR’s finally do let go.. they have a similar vibrancy, imaging, and transparency yet a bit ’thicker’ less detailed sound. We will see.. but I’ve little choice in a near full-range dynamic speaker under 10k. With the 50me’s it’s the ferrofluid in the midranges that eventually kills them (after about 25 years).

Very transparent, near full range (if not slightly distant) speakers.. budget greats which few have experienced. Very smooth speaker for vocals.. very present.. realistic vocals. The latest model had a different one-piece inverted dome mid.. not the same.

Forever Indebted to Marty at Hi-Q Audio in Thousand Oaks, CA for enlightening me and selling his only demo pair.. way back when.

@roxy54 

The OP also asked about speakers you wished you hadn't sold.

"What speakers have you mistakenly let go and then later repurchased?

Or maybe wished you wouldn't have sold? "

I've never sold then repurchased a pair of speakers but do wish I still had the Silverline SR11s that I sold. At the time, I didn't have a sub and moved to a pair (Revel M20) that had more bass on their own. I'd really like to hear how the SR11s sound in my current setup with a sub and better amplification.

Totem Model 1 Signature. Sold a pair years ago. Bought another pair a year or so afterwards. Eventually sold those. It's been years since I sold the second pair. Every now and then I look for another pair. There is something amazing about the way those speakers image. 

Sold pair Apogee Calapers ….big mistake.Tried maggies etc

found pair  rebuilt apogees Diva’s.cannot see ever moving on!

Thiel CS 3.7, thanks to my wife i bought a second pair after having sold the first pair lol

Beveridge Electrostats. Sold my 2sw's and later bought the original 2's.

Ohm walsh 5000

Much to my chagrin…Thiel CS 3.5 and Magnepan MMG. As Joni Mitchell once remarked, “ you don’t what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Currently I have a pair of MMG back in my setup, the eventual return of the 3.5 will come when the stars, the moon, and my wallet aligns. 

@oblgny: If you have room for them (51" wide each), keep your eyes peeled for a pair of the Magneplanar Tympani T-IVa, or it’s predecessor T-IV (48" wide). It is the first Magnepan offered in the style of the current MG30.7---three individual panels, two for bass, one for mids and hi’s. Only a few hundred pair (fewer than 500) were made, and show up for sale every few years. Fantastic sound from the legendary Magnepan ribbon tweeter, with two large magnetic-planar drivers that produce clean, lean, taut bass. You’ve never heard an upright bass (and kick drum, etc.) sound as real as it does from a Tympani!

@bdp24…

After I had my first pair of MMG’s I moved up the line, the .7, followed by the 1.7i model. To my humble ears the .7 presented better than the 1.7i - although either model possessed the Maggie magic.

One of the issues I have with Maggies is their size - when I had the 1.7i’s I got a weird fright one morning as I was coming downstairs. In the shadowy, fuzzy morning light it appeared that two people were standing near my stereo. It was only for a coupla’ seconds but…  I have seen the Tympanis up for sale once in a while, and at what appear to be bargain prices. Alas, I don’t have the room for anything that size in my space. (14 ft wide, 24 ft long with a ceiling that goes from 9ft to a 17 ft apex.) 

I just connected my just received Schiit Modius DAC to my Aurender N100H server. 
(See the pattern here?  I always start out in the cheap seats and move forward if I like what I tried.)  I have to be mindful of the fact that the Jolida FX Glass Tube Dac is an older piece of equipment, exactly how old I don’t know. I felt that I had too many tubed components altogether, so I decided to come up to date with a current model Dac. (The Belles 250i Integrated’s preamp is tubed, and my Pro Ject turntable uses a Pro Ject DS tube phonostage) Don’t get me wrong, I like tubed equipment. The first piece that started me chasing the hi-fi dragon here was a Cayin A50T integrated.

I actually purchased a Mytek Liberty Dac off of USaudiomart after researching a few, but I could not load the required drivers onto my iPad so that, unfortunately, didn’t work out. I over-spent my budget with the purchase (used) of the Aurender, so the budget for my Dac shrank accordingly. I narrowed down my search to Mytek, Benchmark, and Schiit. 

I decided upon the Schiit Modius for a number of reasons, first and foremost being that it was brand new direct from the manufacturer. It is also “plug n’ play” like the Jolida was. I operate the Aurender and Qobuz through my 9th generation iPad,  the Mytek, and from what I got from research the Benchmark, would have had me use a laptop. For all intents and purposes I will be using the Aurender server way more often than I’ll be streaming Qobuz from it.

Anyway…with all fairness accorded the old and still 100% functioning Jolida, my immediate impression is that this is probably the best $229 I ever invested in my stereo. It is a remarkable improvement. I don’t want to imply that the Schiit is “warmer” than the Jolida, but the tracks - by different artists - that I use to judge stuff by displayed better separation, better depth, and perhaps a buffing of the treble in tunes that had previously sounded a little “etchy” to me. (“Crocus” by Ani DiFranco for one, “Cyril Davis” by Ginger Baker for another) I never minded the “etchy” treble I sometimes caught on those tracks and others before, but I noticed a definite difference playing through the Schiit.

The sonics are SO improved with the addition of the Schiit that I haven’t even bothered to employ the subwoofer. (The MMG’s go down to 50hz, which some people may feel ain’t too deep)  This is real good.

I know all too well myself’s past pattern of starting out with an “economical” piece, then moving up the product line. Right now I’m really happy. The next model up the Schiit Dac line is the Bifrost, roughly six hundred dollars more than this.

That’s gonna be awhile…

@oblgny: Yeah, my current room isn’t big enough for the Tympani’s, so they sit packed in their cartons. But the Eminent Technology LFT-8b works quite well in a 14’ wide room (the size of mine also), and I much prefer it to the MG1.7 I compared it to.

I have to apologize to the op for going off in a different direction on my previous post. For the record, I’ve had three pairs of the CS 3.5 Thiels; my nephew has my first pair, the other pairs I sold off here and elsewhere for a number of misguided reasons. I had Thiel CS 2.2 and CS 2.3 prior to the CS 3.5 - and up until the 3.5 each was a step in the right direction. The 2.3 improved upon the 2.2, the 3.5 vastly improved upon them both.

I sold my last pair of the 3.5 to fund the purchase of the CS 3.6, assuming that the difference between them and the 3.5 would be equally significant to my previous experiences moving up the Thiel food chain. The thing that the 3.5 does so well is present everything at low volume, while the 3.6 managed to achieve that only at volume levels that I just don’t listen at. Anymore, anyways.

I think that I sold off my pairs of MMG to fund a Thiel purchase. Now that I’m back with them I know I’ll be holding onto them. I’m awaiting a pair of Magna-Riser aborne stands for them as I write this  At the moment I have them raised up three inches on a pair of maple amp stands that I never really need because the 6+ foot wide Salamander cabinet where my stuff sits is pretty dense enough. 

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m hanging onto my MMG. 
 

Reference 3A de Capo-I's. Had a beautiful cherry set that I sold when I moved to Acoustic Zen Adagios. Seven years and six sets of speakers later, I saw a pair in maple show up and I couldn't resist. They're now ensconced in my new, smaller listening room and I'm so happy with the sound that is as good as I remember. 

None. Owned twelve different models since  the 70s. No regrets.