Speakers to hang on to for LIFE

Spica Angelus - a wonderful speaker that is no longer made. I've had a pair for about 15 years or so. I have never tired listening to them. Recently I paired them with a subwoofer and the listening experience has gone up a notch.

This speaker, an evolution from the TC-50 which I've heard and liked but never purchased, is a classic.

KEF 105's since 1972. Then three years ago I heard the Merlin VSM's at CES. Bought a pair soon there after. Doubt I will be parting with them anytime soon.

I've owned a pair of Polk Audio SDAIIs since the mid-80s. Finally made the move to upgrade. I'd upgraded other components of my system during the past 20 years and the Polks always seemed to step up and reveal the improvements - this includes recently going from ancient Monster cable to JPS Labs cable - I was shocked at the improvement that made. I've enjoyed the sound of these speakers - warmth with a decent amount of detail. To my ear their frequency response seems pretty well balanced and they provide reasonably good stereo imaging (with the interconnect and opposite channel drivers). I bought them used and consider it money well spent for the years of enjoyment they've given. Relative to pursuing increasing levels of equipment performance/quality, there is a point where source material and not component parts begin to have the greater impact on the quality of the music I hear. I'm not doing A/B comparisons of equipment when I listen and couldn't care less if everything I own isn't blessed by the Golden Ears at Absolute Sound and the like. I just want to enjoy the music. The Polks have allowed me to do that for a long time. You might be wondering why I'm upgrading if they were so enjoyable? When I bought my Jolida amp a few years ago, the dealer demo'd it using Totem Acoustic speakers. Hawks, I believe. They made an impression-especially how they seemed to disappear. The Polks do a pretty good disappearing act but are no match for the Totem's. At any rate - after a good long while I finally made the move and recently purchased some Totem Forests. Just breaking them in now (<25 hrs) though they sounded good out of the box. Totem imaging is more precise and bass tighter than the Polks. I've yet to really crank them up so am listening at what to me are relatively low volume levels. I do expect I will own these for at least the next 20 years. (Obviously, in terms of consumer buying behavior - I'm not what you would call an early adopter.)

I've owned the original Sequerra Met 7's and the matching T2 ribbon tweeters for over 15 years(maybe 20 as I got them when they first came out)they are still in use in conjunction with a pair of Mirage 8" subwoofers in my main system. I liked them so much that I acquired a 2nd pair to use in my bedroom system.

got tympani b's in 1981 after owning at least 15 different types of speakers 1n the 1k to 1.5k range in 1970's money.In 1990 I was able to get a good deal on my tympani4a(the last tympani before the switch to the 20series)I am about to move to my final home and my babies will be sent back to magnepan to be refurbished before coming home to a room just for them.The 4a is the best speaker magnepan has ever made.Like all maggies,they like lots of clean power,but you don't need to spend a ton.The drawback is that they are room killers due to their size,but the ability to move the tweeter panel around the other panels lets you find the best sound.I have a pair of velodyne uld15s to help out with bass(owned them since 91)They sound so right that you don't pay attention to where the sound is coming from,it's just there.I also own a set of mg3 (redone in 01)which I really like,BUT THEY DON'T COMPARE AT ALL TO THE TYMPANI.Now here is what drives me nuts--You can find a set of 4a for about 1500 and maggie will totally redo them for less than 1500--so you can have a new set of 4a for 3k.You will find nothing will compare at that price.