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

jasonbourne52

I had a pair of Time Windows back in the early 80s, bought from a friend who has been my hi-fi mentor for 40 years. I replaced them with Vandersteen 2CEs, which I had for 20 years and then replaced with the newest Vandy 2CE Signature III. (I'm a creature of habit.)

I remember the Time Windows fondly...what inspired you to get another pair?

OHM A'S and F'S, But in the process of rebuilding a pair of A'S and f's that was given to me for freeeee!!!

Vandersteen Quatro's.

Green Mountain Audio Chromas. I liked them but thought they lacked sparkle. Replaced them with B&W 704 s2's and then bought Legacy Audio Signatures. I listed the Chromas for sale, but no takers. After a few years of owning the Legacies I compared them to the Chromas. The chromas won handily. They were more natural and never fatiguing.  Both the B&W and the Legacies were sold.

It took quite a while for the Magna Risers Airborne stands for my Maggie MMG’s to be built and shipped to me, and kudos to the company for what was exemplary communication throughout the wait. They care. 
 

I cannot state that they improved upon anything beyond the aesthetics of the stock Maggie stands, but this is by no means a knock. Those flimsy, Caspar Milquetoast stock stands are an abomination. 

I sold off the REL T5x because I rarely used it. These original model MMG’s won’t do Zeppelin justice, but they more than suffice for the genres of music that I listen to now. From what I’ve been reading about the new model LRS+,  it may be worth my while to place an order soon. Until then these ain’t moving. 
 

1 - I started with a pair of Lafayette Criterions - bookshelf

2 - I moved up to a pair of Wharfedales, can’t remember the model - bookshelf

3 - I moved up to a pair of Altec Lansing 604Cs - floor

4 - I switched to a pair of Duntechs can’t remember the model - floor

5 - I went back to the Altec Lansing 604Cs

6 - I got correct cabinets for the Altecs

#1-4: from the age of 14 through 26

#5: from age 27 to 38. #6 from 39 the present, I’m 68.

I never sold the Altecs, they just went in storage. The Criterions got thrown out when my parents died. I sold the others. I switched back to the Altecs because A) the Duntechs were terribly inefficient, and after 3 months of use, caused my Futtermans to collapse, and B) in the end, the Altecs sounded much better.

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com

i too fondly remember the merlin vsm's, lovely small form factor speakers that could play big and still sound natural , ....those, along with those from joseph audio’s were always really excellent sounding in their respective demo rooms at high end shows over the years

I really liked the sound of the VSM with Cardas cables and Joule tube gear. Great imaging, detail and so enjoyable. They sounded like high quality monitor speakers in the way they could disappear. However, they can sound a little thin with the wrong cables and electronics however.

Great Esotar tweeter that Bobby made sing.  

@grannyring Why's that?

Merlin VSM 

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

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. 

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. 
 

@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.

@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: 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!

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. 

Ohm walsh 5000

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

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

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

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

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. 

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.

@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? "

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.

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

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

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

@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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Snell EIIs

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!!! 

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  

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?

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*

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. ;-) 

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.

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.  

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

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

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. 

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

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.  

@tlhub 

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

My beloved Tekton Double Impact. Beloved 

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.   

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