With $20,000 in your hand, what speaker would you


I've recently gone into retirement. I am a 52-year-old diehard audiophile. I've had just about every statement level speaker the American market has offered over the last 10 to 15 years. The speaker I have found the most satisfying overall is my presently owned modified pair of Maggie 3.6R. I've also had their 20s and started with the Mg 3A. for my second favorite speaker I would have to pick the Avalon radian HC, and not the Eidolon( I had problems with the ceramic midrange distorting with dynamic vocals and the base was not perfect). I had dozens and dozens of conventional and electrostatic speakers so many I could bore you with the list. So let's just say I've been around the block a few times.

Let's assume that I made no mistakes meeting the speakers with the proper equipment, power conditioning and acoustical environment treatment. I have been mostly a tube person but I switched over to the new passlabs equipment because I found that I am
the equivalent sound or better than my reference tube amplifiers, without the heartbreaking experience of blowing up and $2000 tube replacements.(As I said I am retired now, I can't afford the maintenance fees anymore.

What I'm asking of my fellow audiophiles that have been listening with reference great audio systems is that they e-mail me back and give me their opinion on what conventional loudspeaker they would own if they had say $20,000 or so to spend(20,000 retail). Semi-full range down to say 35 Hz or so.

I'm going to keep the Maggies but, they don't feel the need when it comes to wanting a more compact/dynamic speaker that I could also drive with my Belcanto SET. Although, they don't need to be ultra efficient.

I would really appreciate anybody's input, I would find all of your input invaluable in making my decision.

by the way what do you all think of the Grand Veena 3A speaker. Is it better than anything for under $20-$30,000?

Thank you very much for all of your help,

Regards,
Andrew

thanks again,
Andy

PS I am still keeping the Maggies.
acollen

Showing 10 responses by mapman

I'd give the Avalons another listen to see if they are worth it to me or not.

If not, I'd buy a pair of $5000 OHMs and do something else fun with the rest of the money.
Whatever Shindos I might buy for $20000 is another I might consider.

Can $20000 buy a pair of Shindos with the field coil drivers?

I don't know if they'd fit in my house but I would sure love to audition a pair of Jadis Eurythmies as well. Their design and appearance truly make a unique statement.

The Audiokinesis speaks just caught my attention also thanks to Tvad. I'd kind of like to hear them also. They would seemingly leave some change as well starting with $20000.
Avalons just sounded very unique and different to me when I heard them. So if I had the bucks, I would want to give another listen to see what it was really all about.

I do not recall dynamics as being the thing that made them sound different. It was either tonality/voicing, detail/resolution or perhaps some combination of both. Not sure. Just know that they were different enough to make me take notice. I liked the unique cabinet shape and design as well.
Seriously, with the economy these days, most anyone should think 3 or 4 times before dropping more than $6-8 or maybe $10 grand on speakers. I think there is something to meet most anyone's needs realistically in this price range.
Having heard mbls and liking them and also having owned OHMs for years now, if I had the means and the proper room to house them, I'm not sure I would jump from OHM to mbl either. I'd probably use the money elsewhere (like to build a bigger better listening room for the OHMs).
If the ops still out there my recommendation above from 2010 has not changed. Boring...... 😉
Most likely, the only way I think I might ever really need speakers costing that much is if I am looking for something full range to run them off a flea powered SET amp or something along that line. Or if my room were really really big, like an auditorium.

I'd probably go for very high efficiency horns along the line of Avantegarde or something similar, maybe Jadis Eurythmie.
Ok. With only $20K that leaves me with a pair of tin cans for the speakers then.

Oh well......

maybe I'll just stick with headphones.
I'd like to audition a pair of avantgarde or used Jadis Eurythmie. If these did not wean me off the dark side I'd just upgrade to ohm 5015 save 10 grand and call it a day. 😎
I saw a pair of mbl 116 up for sale here the other day for under $10k. That got my attention.