Used vs New vs Vintage vs Floorstanding vs Bookshelf vs ..... OMG!
audiosaurusrex Great minds think alike. I am 65 yrs old. I started farming inn 1978. When I sold my first load of corn I too bought an AU 717 & Technics SB 7000s. |
Ok I’m 67...been around mono and stereo equipment my whole life.With houses and apts of all different sizes.I now own a townhouse with catheral ceiling...30’x15’ with balcony...Its like a concert hall,and alot of speakers just don’t cut it.I need big speakers with plenty of amp rms ...JBLs ,ARs,Sono Faber,Cerwin Vegas,Polk,KLH,Yamamha,Pioneer,B&W,Klipshorn,Dyanco,Bose ,Sansui,Radio Shack,Lafayettes,Bozaks,Elacs,Fulance,Sonys,Tannoys,Marantzs,Cambridge,etc,etc,etc...when you listen to music over alot of different speakers .Large woofers , its like going to a live concert like MSG but live music as we know sounds different at different stadiums like Yankee stadium vs Randels Is.Size of the places does make a difference like a Sound Engineer....the amp power...ive been at the Meadowlands for Bruce Springsteen and could hear a pin drop....But been at The Paramount in Huntington and people wouldn’t shut up.or put there Cell Phones away. .. . OMG lol..old,new ,vintage they all sound different but can start sounding the same...again price ! Do $500,000 sound better ? I have heard speaker Systems costing in the millions sound like crap because of a lousy sound man. Lol and a Four Seasons song sound fantastic on my RCA pocket radio.. Remember them.? |
I am in a similar position. I am 60 years old and setting up a quiet sitting room for my wife and I to get away from two adult children and two grandchildren. Love them but can't get rid of them. I have a bryston system with a 14b cubed amp so I have plenty of power. I need speakers. My budget is a little better and I have a good offer on proac and a level floorstanders. Open to suggestions. |
1. Read. Read reliable solid info like Robert Harley's Complete Guide to High End Audio. Study that book like your life depends on it. Literally decades since my first read and still not a day goes by I don't see questions here that are answered in that book. 2. Disregard. A lot of stuff on the web is dudes with no experience to back up what they nevertheless are quite eager to tell you as if they have a clue when they don't. #1 above will help you separate the wheat from the chaff. 3. Listen. While you are reading up spend as much time as you can listening to as much gear as you can. Pay attention to everything- all the associated components, how they are set up - especially the speakers - the room, even things like do they leave the SS gear on overnight or was it just turned on, are the components on cones and the cables elevated up off the floor and is the system complete or are there stock factory power cords. Even doing this its almost impossible to get a handle on what you're hearing unless you have them swap out some components. So always ask to hear the system with a different power cord, interconnect, speaker cable, etc. This one simple step will massively accelerate your learning curve. 4. Budget. You mention being new and wanting to buy speakers. But why speakers? Its common to place way too much importance on speakers. They are important for sure, but really not much more so than anything else. You will never get good sound without also having very good speaker cables, amp, interconnects, power cords, and a turntable. Beyond that you will be surprised how much an already good system can be improved by "accessories" and "tweaks" like fuses, cones, and other neat stuff. Guess what? Covered in Harley's book! Pretty much everything I'm saying is covered in his book! Including to budget serious money for all the stuff above. 5. Reality. The $3k speakers you are now up to would be at home in a really sweet $15k system. The other $12k going into all the wire and cones and fuses, etc. Each individual component if bought as above will indeed be an improvement. But the truth is with the right purchases and a synergistic balance of all components you could have a sweet system complete and done for that same $3k. Most never figure this out, instead chase after grail after grail, never getting good results because they spend so much on each grail they never have the money to fill in what is needed to get the most out of the grails. Its a balancing act with you on the wire and not much of a net below. That's why its best to start with the wire nice and low and practice, practice, practice is better than spend, spend, spend. |
Based on my recent speaker shopping experience, some of the older speakers that you are likely to encounter probably are outdated. I tend to replace my speakers every 10 years. My last speakers were DALI Helicon 400's. They initially retailed for $4500 and had creeped up around $6,000 by the time they were discontinued. So, I assumed I'd need to shop for speakers in the $10,000 range for a significant improvement. Boy was I wrong. One of the speakers I auditioned was the new Focal Kanta # 2. I was very impressed with that speaker; but, I didn't think it was quite worth the $10K list price. So, I tried the Focal Electra 1038 BE, which the Kanta is replacing. I found the 1038 BE's to be stunningly disappointing when compared to the Kanta's. Unfortunately, I have not heard their Aria line. As I continued to shop, I was very surprised at how good Revel Performa F 206 & 208's sounded @ $3500 & $5000 respectively. So, some speaker brands (perhaps most of them) appear to have taken a large leap in the last 10 years. So, as many others have said, listen to as many speakers as you can. I know it's time consuming and often frustrating; but, I bet your patience will be rewarded |
