Speakers 10 years old or older that can compete with todays best,


I attend High End Audio Shows whenever I get a chance.  I also regularly visit several of my local High End Audio parlors, so I get to hear quite a few different speaker brands all the time.  And these speakers are also at various price points. Of course, the new speakers with their current technology sound totally incredible. However, I strongly feel that my beloved Revel Salon 2 speakers, which have been around for over ten years, still sound just as good or even better than the vast majority of the newer speakers that I get a chance to hear or audition in todays market.  And that goes for speakers at, or well above the Salon 2s price point. I feel that my Revel Salon 2 speakers (especially for the money) are so incredibly outstanding compared to the current speaker offerings of today, that I will probably never part with them. Are there others who feel that your beloved older speakers compare favorably with todays, newfangled, shinny-penny, obscenely expensive models?

kennymacc

I love my Dunlavy SC-V speakers. I have them as front speakers in my really large media room. I play them in stereo all the time because they sound so good. They are really large and fill the room with sound. They are not high fidelity. My downstairs system has Sonus Faber Serafino speakers that sound special. 

Still have a pair of TDL compact monitors, 1988, with a good and powerful amplifier, they are beautiful! Original version of the mission 760s I still have, still one of the best sounding mini monitors IMO. The TDL Studio 1s needed Threshold power, but were amazing. Regret selling those… Working in a HIFI store, speakers I should have bought, but regrettably didn’t were, Morrison, Dahlquist, Tannoy, some of the original Paradigm’s, NHT 1.3 and 1.8. Oh and the Mission 767. And how could I forget my original entry into this world, my pair of Rogers LS4a. Proton 455 integrated, Phillips CD50 disc player, AKG k240 cans… the music of my college years..

Wilson Maxx II and III - the best balanced speakers Wilson made prior to the current generation. Starting to show their age now compared to the newest Daryl Wilson designs but still an exceptional loudspeaker.

Other suggestions: LS3/5a, Quad ESL 57, ProAc Response 2.5

 

To be honest, mot people have not maxed out the potential of their systems.  The components most people use are inferior to what they can be using to improve the sound in their systems.  We get to hear some many systems and components weekly and people are amazed when the hear our products and what their components sound like once we upgrade them.  So IMO the limiting factor is the components uses.  Our Class A mono block amplifiers were recently paired with a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage speakers.  This is a guy who works for an audio store so he has access to many components.  He purchased the mono blocks.  The sound coming out of the speakers completely changed to his preference.

You have to keep trying and learning what makes sound do what it does,

Happy Listening.