The 3A’s throw a huge soundstage. I’m set up for near field, they are exemplary especially at lower volume.
Which pair of speakers changed your Hifi life?
*** I am not trying to create a debate or a quarrel with anyone. My discussions are purely having a talks and to express one's experiences. Also to learn fellow audio lovers passion. Please do not disrespect with hurtful words or expressions. Please be more forgiving and understanding in this discussion thread. Thank you." ***
Hopefully one day, someone would say "Mon Acoustic speakers were the turning point in my Hifi life". 😃
My 2ch-audio journey began when my uncle bought his BOSE system at his home (don't even know the model or never really heard it) in early 90s. Bose was rear and expensive in Korea(South) back then. So I started my own system with Bose Cinematics 2.1. Then moved on to Goldenear Triton 3, then to Triton 1. But more utilizing the speakers for AV set ups, not 2 ch stereo.
When I had my first house, I bought a pair of Revel M105 speakers and I think these are the pair that really changed my audio life. My initial paring with M105 was Yamaha receiver. Then I tried goofie set up with center speaker 3.1 to see if it improves vocal in the songs I liked. We went through many combinations of system set up. I ended up with Chord Electronics set up.
I still own them. Always struggle time to time, whether to sell them or not due to the number of pairs I own(out of a guilt). I cannot argue how many pairs of shoes my wife owns. I pair them with NAD M10 (version 1) for my bedroom since my wife likes the warm and well rounded sound, and 80% its white design aspect.
So what are the speakers that have impacted your life?
228 responses Add your response
@jl1ny Thanks for sharing. Just reading up on your speakers, I’m unfamiliar with the Reference 3A Royal Virtuoso’s. They appear to have some range. And I’m sure after they’re positioned they don’t get moved around. Thinking the shape of cabinets allows for a wider soundstage? |
If I recall correctly, Singer had the Apogees paired with a full house Krell system. I’ll never forget the dynamic slam and massive / deep 3-D soundstage they put out. I’m sure nowadays there’s better but I’ve yet to experience anything like it. Singer had some really great rooms. As for me, currently I have Reference 3A Royal Virtuoso & Rel S510. |
@jl1ny Unfortunately I've never heard the Apogee's. What speakers are you using now? |
@jl1ny Totally agree about the 57's. My Quad technician, who is also a good friend, has a few pair. I'm hoping that he'll sell me a refurbished pair after he finishes his Stacked 57's endeavor. Or just sell me the Stack! |
I lived in a small apartment so I purchased a pair of Monitor Audio GR 10’s. They sounded good with an NAD integrated amp. Eventually I was able to afford my dream stereo and bought a pair of Quad 2905’s. I now live in a house and have the upstairs arranged just for hifi listening. There’s no comparing my Monitor Audio bookshelves to my Quads but the Monitor Audio’s are what put me on the path. |
The speaker that changed my hifi life is the speaker that changed my wife's attitude. For 25+ years she was tolerant of my hi-fi interest. Sometimes we listened together but mostly she used the system for background music. A couple of days after John Rutan of Audio Connection installed my Vandersteen 5A carbons I came home to find her in the sweet spot with the lights dimmed and a candle going. She then proceeded to tell me about all of the music I just “had to hear on these speakers.” No previous upgrades *ever* elicited *anything* like that kind of interest. And it stuck. I settled on Vandersteen's aftere three years of attending trade shows. I had to unlearn what I thought I knew from reading reviews and deal with the overwhelming number of choices. I waited until something caught my ear. I recommend this method - only you know what you will like .... I don’t know of another full range speaker (other than the model 7s) where the rear of the speaker could be 18 inches from the narrow wall in our 11x22 foot living room and produce what I’m hearing. By that I mean unbelievably good bass all the way down without DSP and a holographic presentation that sounds alive with a good recording. The 11 band analog equalizer evens out in room bass response and the powered subwoofer gives the impression of unlimited headroom. The balsa wood midrange is super low distortion and it gives you a taste of the model 7 or an electrostat. The key thing is that I didn’t think I could get this kind of performance in a non-dedicated listening room without DSP given the limited speaker placement options. John assured me it could be done and boy was he right!
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Magnepan MG 1's. Bought my first pair in 1999 and kept for years before upgrading to the MG 1.4. Then started a 20+ year course of my career that required multiple relocations. Couldn't carry large planar speakers on that path. Now retired, settled, and have Dynaudio Contour S1.4 LE w/ SVS sub which are great, but constantly fight the urge to go back to Magnepans. Almost afraid to go listen to a current version lest the wallet immediately opens! |
Got a couple tips for you that really improved my 3.4s. If your jumper cable to the XOs is the same crappy supplied stock jumpers, upgrade them to something ~ 3ft each. Then get the XOs off the bases, which vibrate like crazy, and get the speakers up with some nice iso devices. Can't wait to hear what they do for you hth
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I purchased a pair of 3 way speakers (Thiel's) in the late 80's (I think) after a great dealer room demo. I totally lacked any advance skills in evaluating them but they came in natural Brazilian rosewood and sounded great! That began a very frustrating, but ultimately rewarding 5 years of experience in most things audio. Speak amplification, speaker set up, ancillary equipment, source importance, and even cross over modification. When all was said and done, I moved on to Quads and sonically speaking was much happier but I sure hated to see those beautiful speakers leave! |
Having bought and sold a lot of speakers 2 speakers moderately priced impressed me for different reasons. Dynaudio audience 80 had the most amazing bass and at $2400 a pair Vienna Acoustics Beethoven the most tangible treble, My hifi journey has been looking for a speaker with the A80 bass with the Beethoven treble and a natural midrange. I might be there with the Kef Blades, but I really was hoping for audio nirvana at blue collar prices. |
Dumped my Seas Thors MTM for dual Full Range a 8 inch + 6 inch DavidLouis wood cone, clone of Voxativ.. Would not ever EVER consider going back to any/every woofer/tweeter thing. Been there DONE THAT. Full range for me is top of Mount Everest, The Pinnacle. Woofers/tweerrs fell off the cliff laying below in a pile of broken pieces. Poor Seas, poor Sacnspeak, what lousey fidelity with crappy sensitivity. Nice Day |
In 1981 I gave my 3-way Jensons to a girlfriend and bought Maggie SMG's and a Nakamichi 530 to drive them. They were the most natural sounding speakers I'd ever heard and kept me happy for ten years...until I built a house with a very large livingroom that really exposed how directional they were and how bad the old stands that made them point up were. I tried a few box speakers and went back to Maggie SMMG's and eventually 1.6's.. the vertical stands and quasi-ribbon tweeters overcame the SMG's flaws, and then some. Now, retiring and downsizing, the Maggies are gone, and some Kef R300's are working out nicely. |
Fortunately for me i was bread into the audio world at 8 years old being a son of single dad. In 1982 my dad bought the Ohm Walsh 2's, a Nakimichi tape deck and a pair of Carver Ma500 cube amps..and the Walsh 2's hooked me from there. And then we had a good friend that owned a Hiend Audio Store that carried B&W, Thiel, Linn, Magnapan, Martin Logan, Infinity, Acoustic Energy, Castle and Ariel Acoustics. All great speakers but my Favorites that i logged 100s of hours on the Aerial 7b the midbass speed on this speaker was incredible, the B&W Nautilus 805 the way they just disapeared into the room was unreal. The Infinity Overture 1 just a incredible all around speaker and quite the Bargain for the Class that it was playing in. But my Ultimate at that time the Aerial 10t it was ugly but it quite simply the best speaker i had heard and still 1 of the best to this day. Being young and broke the first great speaker i owned was the Paradigm Atom V2 just loved them...but then i got the bug pretty Fast and bought the Wharfedale Diamond 8.1 the first budget speaker to use Kevlar driversmost and they changed the way i listened to music it was different having that ear education at home i still own them till this day. And finally the speaker i bought showed me what i value most in a speaker... The Totem Arro they showed me what tone and Elite Soundstaging and imaging was...till this day they are still 1 of the very best in Soundstaging and Imaging i've heard..
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Rogers Sound Lab 3600 Studio Monitors built to compete at the time with JBL 100s. Everyone that heard then in a comparison with the JBLs bought the Rogers which were offered at a slight price advantage. It led me to realize how good a system I had and gave me the motivation to start taking it further. Still have them set up in my sound lab as a speaker to evaluate various pieces I pick up here and there. Extremely accurate with a natural sound quality. Still handles solo piano and challenging classical and jazz pieces beautifully. |
I think this might be the least useful of all the advice here... The first "revelation" speakers for me were my Voigt pipes. (I built them based on Derek Walton's Voigt pipes.) Used them for two decades until the surround gave up. (Cloth surround.) These are so-called "Full range" speakers with a single driver (Fostex FE-204) that in my application (system & room) gave a 30Hz-18kHz response. While that seems as a joke to many, what is no half joke is the integrity of the sound you get from a crossoverless loudspeaker. Coupled with a Darling amplifier, I had as much joy with it as humanly possible. It took me from the slicing sausages attitude of gear comparison to embracing music into my heart and soul, and the night turned into sceances instead of the love/hate listening sessions we are used to. Second paradigm shift: the Voice of Lancelot speakers (which are my creation), which despite two way have the purity and serenity of single driver speakers - with deep bass (and infrasonic bass) added to the mix along with the ability to play so loud to put the fear of death in me (and that volume without listening fatigue). These two have opened up an entirely different range of experiences.... it needs not play loud, I usually listen moderate / quiet, but can cover all the experience ranges when that's what I'm looking for....
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LOL, the needle in my arm was referencing our audio addiction, which Ive had since the mid 60s! The glowing tubes I mentioned were cherry(scary) red as in something upstream was over heating them I think I neglected to mention Mad Scientist Audio’s Graphene Enhanced Contact treatment. A 2 ounce bottle is only $75. First clean all your contacts with 90% isoprophyl, then apply according to directions
As to the Nordost cables on Ali Express, they offer Free returns. TRY THEM
My musical tastes are all over the map, except for cRAP
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Magnapan mmg. I had my system in my treated and dedicated room. Using heavy modified speakers with ALL better parts custom made point to point mounted and so on.
I got the tip that if you buy a second pair HiFi Speakers then it is a good idea that they are if a different type then the ones I currently have.
The idea is that the sound difference might be a greater contrast. Than just buying yet another "box" speaker that is same same but different..
In came dipole magnapan mmg second hand that were ~40 years old (uncommon speaker in my part of the world)
I put them up it took me less than a song and I just go "Wow i thought that I HAD HiFi but those magnapan showed me that it were not the case. (The box speaker went into the closet and yes I have two OB 18" for bottom end in the system). |
The Optimus 10’s were my first “proper” speakers. Have zero recollection of their sound. But I sure did play them loud, much louder than I should have I suspect. The first speakers that had my jaw hit the floor were the Wilson Grand Slams. This would have been one of the first versions of this speaker as it was a long time ago. Was “window shopping” in a high end store, and it was a slow day there. A sales person knew that I was not in a position to buy such a pair of speakers, but I guess he understood my excitement for audio gear and took me into the listening room so I could listen to them. They were powered by some giant Krell. I was blown away by what I heard. Most recently, the ESL-57’s I picked up for a comparative steal in 2021. They are everything written about them, both positive as well as their shortcomings. With the exception that I do not find them lacking in bass. Granted, I am not a bass head, and listen to them in a small room. I look forward to hearing the next speakers that move me.
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@tsacremento Wow, I think it sums up your audio life nicely. I envy you in a sense that you know what you want clearly. I like many different speakers depending on the music I like. I personally think that I have many years to get acquanted with different speakers and get to know my own taste little better. 104.2 speakers are fantastic. I don't know why, but even the design is somewhat striking to me.
@tylermunns Usher is a brand that gives sonic satisfaction to many audio listeners for sure. @tweak1 What do you mean by a needle firmly inserted into your arm? Are you on a medical condition? The way you describe your sonic satisfaction visualizes your audio space to me. Who can resist that tube light when you listen to a good music? Not sure about the knock off cable, but as long as it is safe and gives you what you need. Your set up sounds legit. I think you need to recommend me some of the music you listen to. I want that experience myself. |
As a teenager in the 70’s a friend’s Dad had a pair of Klipch LaScalas...I was floored, or more like the old advertisement of the guy sitting in a big chair with sunglasses on, in front of a pair of speakers, and getting his long hair blown back. It took 25 years, but I did get a pair in 2001, and Khorns, Hersey II's, etc. Now being older, I've grown away from horns, and love the addition of my Monitor Audio Platinum PL300ii's. |
