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Tarheel_
11-20-2010, 07:11 PM
me? I dream (pray) of a pair of Revel F52 or JMlab Utopia speakers in my living room.

Anyone else?

Ajani
11-20-2010, 07:53 PM
me? I dream (pray) of a pair of Revel F52 or JMlab Utopia speakers in my living room.

Anyone else?

Revel Ultima Studio 2 or Monitor Audio Platinum 200...

budgetaudio76
11-20-2010, 10:22 PM
if by dream speaker, you mean If only i had the money speakers.

I kept reading about tannoy speakers and i would think to my self. If onloy i had the money and i would day dream. Now i have a pair of Monitor gold 12 inchers. In mallorcan cabs.

So in other words i have my dream speakers. For a steal.:D

dakatabg
11-20-2010, 10:32 PM
I wouldn't mind if I get the kappas 9

http://i52.tinypic.com/qsl2j7.jpg

Luvin Da Blues
11-21-2010, 03:19 AM
....but a very strong running for my next speaker purchase. ML Vantage, if I can find a used/demo pair or the Ethos which replaced them.

Hyfi
11-21-2010, 04:14 AM
I have heard the Utopias and many other killer speakers but after owning these Cleafields that Von Schweikert, I would go for the VR9se
http://vonschweikertspeakers.com/images/vr-9-se.jpg

Geoffcin
11-21-2010, 07:03 AM
I'm sorry to say that I've never have a chance to listen to these yet. Still, I wouldn't turn them down if a pair came my way...

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/images/prod_1p202.jpg

02audionoob
11-21-2010, 07:27 AM
I'd like to have the Dali Mentor Menuet...

http://www.concertoaudio.com/images/productos/1924_dali_mentor_m.jpg

JohnMichael
11-21-2010, 07:41 AM
Devore Gibbon 3 and for a cost no object dream the Magico Mini's.

TheHills44060
11-21-2010, 01:43 PM
Audio Physic Kronos
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e140/shodulik/Picture1777.jpg

dakatabg
11-21-2010, 02:04 PM
I'm sorry to say that I've never have a chance to listen to these yet. Still, I wouldn't turn them down if a pair came my way...

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/images/prod_1p202.jpg


wow those look so good. So many tweeters! What is the brand and model? I have never seen them before!

JoeE SP9
11-21-2010, 02:04 PM
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt231/JoeESP9/Apogeestudiogrand.jpg
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt231/JoeESP9/irsbeta.jpg
IRS-V's or Apogee Grand's would be nice but my room just ain't big enough. I'd settle for the Studio Grand's or IRS Beta's. I couldn't find a better picture of the Studio Grand's

RGA
11-21-2010, 02:17 PM
Well It's my dream speaker and will be my next speaker - although if I had the cash I would certainly consider the Trenner and Freidl RA Box and Acapella High Violoncello II

But it will be an Audio Note AN E or upper J

Geoffcin
11-21-2010, 02:28 PM
wow those look so good. So many tweeters! What is the brand and model? I have never seen them before!

I'm sorry! These are the Genesis 1.2. Based on the Infinity IRS tech, this speaker has garnered awe since the late 70's when the first of these speakers were designed.

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/g1p2.html

Dynamic compression would occur somewhere north of a realistic level B1 flyover with full afterburners ignited. (I've heard that!)

Poultrygeist
11-21-2010, 04:19 PM
Field Coils

Feanor
11-21-2010, 05:01 PM
This sounds like fun!!

Accepting my current listening room as a given -- a concession to sanity -- I think I stick with a planar. Maybe Sound Lab M-2PX or Magneplanar MG 3.6R or Quad ESL-2805

http://www.soundlab-speakers.com/M-2PX%20white%20grille%20-%20black%20trim.jpg ... http://www.mw-audio.de/assets/big/g_magnepan_mg36.jpg ... http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/images/models/1/main.jpg

eisforelectronic
11-21-2010, 09:43 PM
Audio Physic Kronos
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e140/shodulik/Picture1777.jpg

Really? Have you heard the Kronos? I have been wondering how good it sounded. I have 2 friends that have the Caldera's. Very nice!!

Florian
11-21-2010, 10:46 PM
Hi Joe,

there is an SG in Europe for 6K... Let me know :2:

Luvin Da Blues
11-22-2010, 02:21 AM
Hi Joe,

there is an SG in Europe for 6K... Let me know :2:

Drool, the freight to NA would be a killer I think. SGs for the price of the ML Vantage, hmmmmm.

Very Tempting.

PS; Hey Flo, long time.

Raj J
11-24-2010, 11:57 PM
me? I dream (pray) of a pair of Revel F52 or JMlab Utopia speakers in my living room.

Anyone else?

greetings from melbourne!
I have fortunately already achieved this! I have the Quad ESL 2905, driven with all conrad johnson amplification + the awesome state of the art ACT2 preamp from c-j, and everything else falls into place very nicely.
just the other night I was at the basement discs lounge listening to a small jazz group - piano, up-right bass (acoustic), guitar, drums & vocals by some lovely looking indonesian girl, sang everything from Astrud Gilberto's girl from Ipenama to Natalie Coles route 66, the sound was absolutely stunning!

went home and fired up my system - the ESL 2905's reproduced the same scale with ease, absolutely effortless... drive from the c-j amps. yes, I am already anjoying my dream system.

mind you some of those pics, especially the inifinity IRSV's I have heard them! they require a very large room, and some heavy amplification. personally I didn't like them at all! I preferred the inifinity renaisance 90's and the epsilons, much better focus and cohesiveness. then came along the sonus faber stradevari and blew the infinities out of the park! then came along the Wilson alexandria (current wilson top of the line speaker) and blows everything out of the planet! but hey, it's not just the speakers mate... you have to drive these top quality systems with some mega buck amplification, otherwise they will sound like a mediocre type; therefore with any of these huge setups, you are looking at around 300+ grand for a system, and that's excluding the cables/interconnects, add another 100 grand here so in total your lookign at around a cool 500 grand for a system like that - yea right! this is defintely a dream for many!

as for me, I did it under 60 grand and it manages to reproduce the "absolute sound".
cheers, and enjoy your MUSIC - NOT the system!
very few so called music lovers & audiophiles can really understand this...
RJ

Ajani
11-25-2010, 08:22 AM
as for me, I did it under 60 grand and it manages to reproduce the "absolute sound".
cheers, and enjoy your MUSIC - NOT the system!
very few so called music lovers & audiophiles can really understand this...
RJ

It's easy to say Enjoy your music - not the system, when you have a $60K setup... The challenge is to enjoy the music with a $600 setup...

Raj J
11-25-2010, 11:35 PM
yes! I do certainly agree on that no doubt.

BUT this is where those big money spendors go terribly wrong! my system on current retail value would cost close to 60 grand - I have not spent anywhere near that! It has taken me around 20 years to get to the system I currently have!
I have worked endless hours in approx 13 different jobs spanning the USA, UK, Canada Germany, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka & now Australia. hence I have worked hard and have earned it! I have mentioned before how exactly I upgrade my equipment with my respected dealers around the world. since I believe in customer relationships, being the marketing manager for a reputed training organization in Australia, it took me 5 years to get the Quads! when I buy something I carefully use it, and save as much as possible and then trade in with an upgrade purchase. if I was to buy it out right at current retail value, then my system in total would be well over 60 grand.

just because you have the big bucks and like to throw money around doesn't mean you are smart! I have come across many so called audiophiles who have outstanding speaker systems driven with some low-end yamaha or denon amplification for home theatre and they claim it sounds fantastic! to them yes perhaps, and they have spent nearly 30 grand just for the speakers and wires! but honestly a little highend tube system driving a pair of monitor grade sonus fabers or proacs beats it out of the park! in terms of musicality...

very few people in this ultra highend category ever get it right mate, believe me, and like you said since they have spent over 600 grand for a system, they cannot seem to enjoy the music when the next door neighbor is enjoying his two-in-one boom box and having parties & more chics than you can ever imagine!

all I can say is - "good on him!" well done mate and do enjoy your music.
I had a close associate (who sadly is no longer a friend due to getting my dam fingers burnt with his rich class ideals) - almost every 3-4 months or so he would purchase a new top of the line system. from magneplanars to infinity IRS, MBL, to Avant garde duo to the Trio classico, to VMPS and some other massive driver type. various amps, preamps, truntables, vacuum tube cd players, dacs, transports you name it, all top notch brands. he was a real show off and thought he had the best in the country! at the end of the day his music collection was just a handful of cd's & LP's nothing more than 20 or 30 albums, plus he never listened to one album at a stretch, not even one full track length; rather he would just listen to the opening track (couple minutes) and then switch discs to show off the bass or mids or highs or some slam here & there that the speakers can reproduce.

very sad indeed, because there was another fellow down the road who had a simple NAD system with some home made speakers and some very old proac speakers called "tablets". although this old chaps system's total cost was equivalent to 1.5m pair of audio note interconnects - the satisfaction he was getting out of his system was tremendous and this chap had more of a music collection than I have ever seen in my life! the walls were covered with either cd's, LP's or tapes... this guy had it all from Harry Bela Fonte to Gim Reeves! now this is what I call "enjoying your music"

the rich chap never ever really enjoyed his music, and this lesson I learnt the hard way. keep what you've got until you are mature enough to upgrade to the next level. stop dreaming and just be satisfied with what you have achieved. look back at those first years of your system, and see if you were enjoying your music more then compared to now with your mega grand system - if so something's terribly wrong somewhere...
plus who gives a rats about the next door's ultra highend... I am enjoying my music and that's all that matters - really!
cheers,
RJ

RGA
11-27-2010, 10:54 AM
Ajani

Don't associate price with quality or enjoyment. Quality is a factor and $600 is next to impossible to create a good system with but $6000 certainly is very possible to make a very accomplished set-up.

Design, Room size, how much bass is needed, design, type of music you need it to play, and did I mention design.

Design is a key factor because if you "like" something of a certain design type then you may very well like a certain design of speaker at $4k over other designs at $30,000. I would not trade my speakers in for the majority of speakers in the $10k - $40k range that I heard at CES and other locations. Some in that range I liked a whole lot as well but still didn't do enough things better that would convince me to say it is truly worth spending the extra money. Some were designed for bigger rooms of course which if I had such a big room would make me switch. But the "design" and the quality of sound trumps the quantity of sound.

This also applies to SET amplification where to my ear relatively modest Single ended power has a certain magic and truth not captured by drop jaw prices of high powered Solid State. I also find that with the design of zero oversampling CD players. The result is that I could put together a $15k -20k system that I would take in a second over the top Wilson, Soundlab, Avalon, Vandersteen, Scaena, Infinity IRS beta(in Seoul), Quad, JM Labs rooms I heard at very very high end prices. Spending more within a company line will get you more.

The top Vandersteen or JM Labs etc will sound generally better than their lower models so if you like the house sound it is worth the money but if you prefer a competing brand's house sound better than the house sound of Vandersteen then it is very possible to like a $5k speaker over a $45k+ speaker.

The other aspect is some companies are simply more efficient or less greedy. Two companies could build very similar loudspeakers and one company may charge $4k and another may charge $14k. One company may be smaller and own their shop and have a smaller 5-1 mark-up another company may be spending more on advertising, spending large on overhead and expecting a personal salary of $5million per year while the other guy is happy to make $200,000 a year. Factor in the companies operating in China, quantity of sales or pricing to where they feel their product fits against the competition. Also, some designs may require more expensive parts to get the result they want (even if it isn't as good as what another company can achieve using less expensive parts).

To give you an example of people's views on design and price audiofederation has done a series of reviews of high power solid state and lower powered tube amps. They list them from least good to best in given areas. They have sold and auditioned them all. You will see for example that they feel ASL and Manley does better in certain areas than much more expensive Cary amplifiers. http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/741 they note that a dash means the differences are not that large. A dash with an arrow means that basically the amps following the dash-arrow is a major step up. Price still factors in because there are no cheapies at the top but there is still a lot of cheaper amps that do better than much more expensive ones. It's an interesting way to try and evaluate and compare stuff. They did the larger power amps here and again very expensive didn't always do well - some were pretty poor for them http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/656

Ajani
11-27-2010, 02:11 PM
yes! I do certainly agree on that no doubt.

BUT this is where those big money spendors go terribly wrong! my system on current retail value would cost close to 60 grand - I have not spent anywhere near that! It has taken me around 20 years to get to the system I currently have!
I have worked endless hours in approx 13 different jobs spanning the USA, UK, Canada Germany, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka & now Australia. hence I have worked hard and have earned it! I have mentioned before how exactly I upgrade my equipment with my respected dealers around the world. since I believe in customer relationships, being the marketing manager for a reputed training organization in Australia, it took me 5 years to get the Quads! when I buy something I carefully use it, and save as much as possible and then trade in with an upgrade purchase. if I was to buy it out right at current retail value, then my system in total would be well over 60 grand.

just because you have the big bucks and like to throw money around doesn't mean you are smart! I have come across many so called audiophiles who have outstanding speaker systems driven with some low-end yamaha or denon amplification for home theatre and they claim it sounds fantastic! to them yes perhaps, and they have spent nearly 30 grand just for the speakers and wires! but honestly a little highend tube system driving a pair of monitor grade sonus fabers or proacs beats it out of the park! in terms of musicality...

very few people in this ultra highend category ever get it right mate, believe me, and like you said since they have spent over 600 grand for a system, they cannot seem to enjoy the music when the next door neighbor is enjoying his two-in-one boom box and having parties & more chics than you can ever imagine!

all I can say is - "good on him!" well done mate and do enjoy your music.
I had a close associate (who sadly is no longer a friend due to getting my dam fingers burnt with his rich class ideals) - almost every 3-4 months or so he would purchase a new top of the line system. from magneplanars to infinity IRS, MBL, to Avant garde duo to the Trio classico, to VMPS and some other massive driver type. various amps, preamps, truntables, vacuum tube cd players, dacs, transports you name it, all top notch brands. he was a real show off and thought he had the best in the country! at the end of the day his music collection was just a handful of cd's & LP's nothing more than 20 or 30 albums, plus he never listened to one album at a stretch, not even one full track length; rather he would just listen to the opening track (couple minutes) and then switch discs to show off the bass or mids or highs or some slam here & there that the speakers can reproduce.

very sad indeed, because there was another fellow down the road who had a simple NAD system with some home made speakers and some very old proac speakers called "tablets". although this old chaps system's total cost was equivalent to 1.5m pair of audio note interconnects - the satisfaction he was getting out of his system was tremendous and this chap had more of a music collection than I have ever seen in my life! the walls were covered with either cd's, LP's or tapes... this guy had it all from Harry Bela Fonte to Gim Reeves! now this is what I call "enjoying your music"

the rich chap never ever really enjoyed his music, and this lesson I learnt the hard way. keep what you've got until you are mature enough to upgrade to the next level. stop dreaming and just be satisfied with what you have achieved. look back at those first years of your system, and see if you were enjoying your music more then compared to now with your mega grand system - if so something's terribly wrong somewhere...
plus who gives a rats about the next door's ultra highend... I am enjoying my music and that's all that matters - really!
cheers,
RJ

RJ,

I understand that you put a lot of work into building your dream setup. Clearly you are not one of the "idle rich" who swaps out $100K speakers as often as a pair of socks. However, my point is really that criticizing such persons, when you have now accumulated a $60K setup, opens you up to unnecessary ridicule... Keep in mind that for most persons (even many audiophiles) $60K is a ridiculous amount of money for a stereo... So whether your stereo is worth $60K, $160K or $460K becomes irrelevant and you get lumped in the same category as the crazy rich... Unfortunate since you had to work hard for your system...

Ajani
11-27-2010, 02:18 PM
Ajani

Don't associate price with quality or enjoyment. Quality is a factor and $600 is next to impossible to create a good system with but $6000 certainly is very possible to make a very accomplished set-up.

Design, Room size, how much bass is needed, design, type of music you need it to play, and did I mention design.

Design is a key factor because if you "like" something of a certain design type then you may very well like a certain design of speaker at $4k over other designs at $30,000. I would not trade my speakers in for the majority of speakers in the $10k - $40k range that I heard at CES and other locations. Some in that range I liked a whole lot as well but still didn't do enough things better that would convince me to say it is truly worth spending the extra money. Some were designed for bigger rooms of course which if I had such a big room would make me switch. But the "design" and the quality of sound trumps the quantity of sound.

This also applies to SET amplification where to my ear relatively modest Single ended power has a certain magic and truth not captured by drop jaw prices of high powered Solid State. I also find that with the design of zero oversampling CD players. The result is that I could put together a $15k -20k system that I would take in a second over the top Wilson, Soundlab, Avalon, Vandersteen, Scaena, Infinity IRS beta(in Seoul), Quad, JM Labs rooms I heard at very very high end prices. Spending more within a company line will get you more.

The top Vandersteen or JM Labs etc will sound generally better than their lower models so if you like the house sound it is worth the money but if you prefer a competing brand's house sound better than the house sound of Vandersteen then it is very possible to like a $5k speaker over a $45k+ speaker.

The other aspect is some companies are simply more efficient or less greedy. Two companies could build very similar loudspeakers and one company may charge $4k and another may charge $14k. One company may be smaller and own their shop and have a smaller 5-1 mark-up another company may be spending more on advertising, spending large on overhead and expecting a personal salary of $5million per year while the other guy is happy to make $200,000 a year. Factor in the companies operating in China, quantity of sales or pricing to where they feel their product fits against the competition. Also, some designs may require more expensive parts to get the result they want (even if it isn't as good as what another company can achieve using less expensive parts).

To give you an example of people's views on design and price audiofederation has done a series of reviews of high power solid state and lower powered tube amps. They list them from least good to best in given areas. They have sold and auditioned them all. You will see for example that they feel ASL and Manley does better in certain areas than much more expensive Cary amplifiers. http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/741 they note that a dash means the differences are not that large. A dash with an arrow means that basically the amps following the dash-arrow is a major step up. Price still factors in because there are no cheapies at the top but there is still a lot of cheaper amps that do better than much more expensive ones. It's an interesting way to try and evaluate and compare stuff. They did the larger power amps here and again very expensive didn't always do well - some were pretty poor for them http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/656

I don't equate price with quality or enjoyment... I've heard expensive gear that sounds like crap to me... Also I agree that (other than buying used/DIY and putting a LOT of sweat equity into the project) it is next to impossible to build a truly satisfying system for $600... Also I totally agree that $6K is a very reasonable price point. My favourite small room stereo costed exactly $6K (when the components were available)...

However, I would expect that if you have $60K available there really is no excuse for not being able to put together an utterly brilliant system... Sure, you might be so rich that you trade out gear for the hell of it, but if you aren't then I would expect you to put together a fantastic system...

TheHills44060
11-28-2010, 11:11 AM
Really? Have you heard the Kronos? I have been wondering how good it sounded. I have 2 friends that have the Caldera's. Very nice!!
Yep...I heard them when I visited Hong Kong earlier this year. All I can is wow wow wow. Totally blown away. The only thing is that I wasn't too impressed with the finish choices and wish their were more options but I could certainly let that slide lol.

I've never heard the caldera's but they sure as hell look nice. In fact the only Audio Physic speaker I've heard is the Kronos so that's my only frame of reference.

eisforelectronic
11-28-2010, 06:22 PM
Yep...I heard them when I visited Hong Kong earlier this year. All I can is wow wow wow. Totally blown away. The only thing is that I wasn't too impressed with the finish choices and wish their were more options but I could certainly let that slide lol.

I've never heard the caldera's but they sure as hell look nice. In fact the only Audio Physic speaker I've heard is the Kronos so that's my only frame of reference.

All of the Audio Physic models I've heard have been very consistent in tonal quality. I know owners of Caldera's, Avanti's, Scorpio's and I own Tempo's.

Raj J
11-29-2010, 12:21 AM
many thanks for all your messages, makes a lot of sense indeed.

you see in all the countries I've lived in, Australia is the most affordable in tems of high-end audio, quality of life and overall sense of happiness! you must be thinking I am crazy because melbourne & sydney actually ranks as being most expensive amongst the top 10 if I am correct..., but when you land a good job here and get paid in $AUD and not $USD, there's a huge difference!

in my home country it would cost MILLIONS of local currency to get to the system I currently have, and those people would still be dreaming! only for the super rich, not even the well off could afford brand new. they all purchase second hand junk that comes from all over the globe, and spend the rest of their hard earned savings reparing the stuff. boy was I lucky to fall in this place!

I even remember when I was living in Chicago, high-end audio was not cheap, nor was it affordable. it was quite expensive even if you still earned in $USD. England & the rest of Europe is even worse, after your basic wages, spending on audio - it would be good enough to be able to afford a new album on cd or dvd for that matter.

in Australia this is not the case. there are a lot of good things that are equally distributed amongst the classess. therefore, if you have the bucks sky is the limit you can go nuts! but according to your means if you do have a budget (as most sane people should have) then there are very good systems that give the best sound for the money.

the importer/dealer where I purchased all my gear from, has the most amount of brands that I have ever seen in a single store. he has stuff all over the place, you'd be lucky not to tread over a small tube amp from Jadis, or silver wires from Nordost. you really have to look where you're going it's like a mine field! but when you finally find your way to the main listening room, ah! now there's so much of space and so many speakers & systems set up individually, that you can only listen to one type of system at a time, which brings out the best quality. he doesn't have much of new stock, you buy what's being demoed because that is what is new!
he's probably got every brand, other than the ultra high-end like Wilson's or similar category.

the great thing is, they are very friendly and willing to listen to your requirements, eventaully end up being good buddies not just another store. therefore, I would then recommend this place to another, and the good word spreads and before you know it they are out of stock! he has sold the most number of Quad ESL 2905's compared to any one in the entire country! why because they believe in good customer relationships, price comes second. I guarantee you will not walk away from this place empty handed!

whereas unlike in some other countries I have lived in, they won't even bother to talk to you unless you drove up in a merc or BMW, & especially high-end!
I remember this store in Chicago when I was a student at the time, I could not afford conrad johnson, but I was very intrigued by its sound and wanted to know more about it & the design. the store manager just laughed and said "even after 20 years you wouldd't be able to afford those monoblocks, forget it pal!" ha! who's having the last laugh now, and yes, that store sadly closed down during the financial meltdown that initiated in the US!

I even offered the store some financial assistance to get out of debt and pay for some of its staff, but he was far too up in the nose to accpet my help and at the end it was too late.
the staff were really nice people, but the manager needed a major brain overhaul.
he was sadly turning away customers every day because of his attitude.

all I can say: whoever you are or whatever you do, do it with honesty, integrity and respect for others & your loved ones. afterall family comes first, & then audio. then yes of course just "enjoy the music".

my friends complain that I still wear the same jacket that I bought in Naperville, who gives a rats, as long as my system is reproducing the absolute sound! if it is winter and you want to keep warm, got a jacket? who cares if it isn't leather or plush lined, just keep warm mate... my priorities are functional and a bit different to most.
now it's late here 7:21pm. need to hit the gym, read a bedtime story to my daughter, enjoy some dinner the good wifey has made, and yes of course enjoy the music at 10pm.
cheers mates!
Raj J

JoeE SP9
11-30-2010, 06:24 PM
Hey Raj, you're coming up on Summer anyway. What do you need a jacket for? Spend your jacket money on music. What you folks down under call Winter we call early Fall. Chicago has a real Winter. It's much colder and has lots more snow than Philadelphia. At least usually! Last Winter doesn't count. We had three major snowstorms. One storm dropped more than three feet of snow. I just stayed home and played lots of music. Us retired guys do that.

Raj J
11-30-2010, 10:35 PM
Hey Raj, you're coming up on Summer anyway. What do you need a jacket for? Spend your jacket money on music. What you folks down under call Winter we call early Fall. Chicago has a real Winter. It's much colder and has lots more snow than Philadelphia. At least usually! Last Winter doesn't count. We had three major snowstorms. One storm dropped more than three feet of snow. I just stayed home and played lots of music. Us retired guys do that.

good day Joe,
yes! Australia is down unda, and is one bloody crazy country that's all I can say mate.
it is certainly good to live in considering...
the seasons are all topsey turvey! we have summer right now! it started in Oct and will get to 46C degrees between Jan & Feb, USA equivalent to 140F+. we actually do boil over here and have one of the biggest skin cancer rates in the world. last year in Feb we had the worst bush fire season and lost close to 300 lives in melbourne, victoria. it was referred to as "black saturday". this season was not too bad, it has been raining constantly and we have been lucky with the mercury guage so far... but it is getting hotter though.

this intense heat lasts for only a few months, and then gets much cooler right after March. I know about the states, I lived in "the windy city" Chicago for nearly 8 years. boy is it clod over there! minus something usually. here in Australia it never drops to minus, very very rarely, perhaps up in the mountains. coldest weather ever recorded is still bearable with a decent jacket. although you still would need a benie cap that's the most extreme. and yes that is certainly a great time to fire up the system & have a good serious listen for endless hours...

cheers mate!
RJ

JohnMichael
12-01-2010, 03:57 AM
And now back to speakers.

Ajani
12-01-2010, 09:31 AM
OK, I've changed my dream speakers...

Something about these speakers just calls to me, and I just have to have it:

http://www.msshifi.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/c/a/cabassebalticevolutionspeakers_jessie.jpg

GMichael
12-01-2010, 09:38 AM
OK, I've changed my dream speakers...

Something about these speakers just calls to me, and I just have to have it:

http://www.msshifi.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/c/a/cabassebalticevolutionspeakers_jessie.jpg
They're so very round..:arf:

Glen B
12-01-2010, 12:10 PM
I have always longed for a pair of Hales Audio Transcendence 5's or Transcendence 8's, both long discontinued. Fat chance of that ever happening.

Raj J
12-01-2010, 07:17 PM
yes, sorry about that folks, back to speakers then!

ah the Hales! very nice indeed. I have listened extensively to these driven with conrad johnson premier 8 monoblocks back in 1996. the sound was glorious, preamp was from burmester, cd player was from classe, all cable/interconnects were from audio quest.
everything was great except one thing, the soundstage is no where equivalent or even close to Quad ESL's. hence they also had the same system driving a pair of Martin Logan CLIIz ESL's - the sound was stunning! that's when I decided to defintely once and for all change from dynamic drivers to panel desings, they are far more open and real, plus the soundstage is top notch, and this is what I want to achieve during playback.

whereas for others Hales and similar designs like Thiel are as good a dynamic design can get. cheers,
Raj J

MrAcoustat
10-31-2011, 06:32 PM
Here is an old one, revived by Mr.Jocelyn Jeanson of Kingsbury Quebec Canada Acoustat model 6 J.J.Special


http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz61/MrAcoustat/Serge01.jpg

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz61/MrAcoustat/Serge21.jpg

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz61/MrAcoustat/Serge10.jpg

Ajani
10-31-2011, 06:44 PM
me? I dream (pray) of a pair of Revel F52

Looks like Mr. Peabody is living that dream...

frenchmon
11-01-2011, 05:05 AM
I would love to have these...

http://reference.canton.de/assets/images/produkte/farben/reference-1.2-dc-F1.png

bfalls
11-01-2011, 07:46 AM
OK, I've changed my dream speakers...

Something about these speakers just calls to me, and I just have to have it:

http://www.msshifi.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/c/a/cabassebalticevolutionspeakers_jessie.jpg

Nice Cones!

Feanor
11-01-2011, 09:05 AM
Since this thread is revived, I'm going to revise my "ideal" speaker choice away from the planars I mentioned almost a year ago.

Nothing wrong with the planar sound, but I, (and I suspect my wife though she rarely says anything), are getting weary of the space requirements -- in our smallish living room, (12'x 22'x 8'), something smaller the could be placed closer to the wall would be nice.


I don't have a sort list of "ideal" speakers but think high quality "pro" speakers might just fill the bill pretty well. Active, (i.e. self-powered), pro speakers can have the following characteristics:

Relatively small sized
Custom crossovers designed for the drivers
Separate amps with power, etc., attuned to the specific drivers
Bass adjustment depending on placement, i.e. proximity to walls & corners
Controlled dispersion to minimized wall, ceiling, floor reflections.
Additionally some have DSP equalization systems to precisely tune response.
On these bases a pair (for stereo) of 8240A (http://www.genelec.com/products/2-way-monitors/8240a/) (with DSP) look close to "ideal" combined with their 7270A (http://www.genelec.com/products/subwoofers/7270a/) subwoofer (with DSP), plus their GLM (http://www.genelec.com/products/dsp-products/glm-software/).SE EQ system -- this is the combo recommended by Genelec according to my listening room and listening requirements.

http://www.genelec.com/documents/images/products/8240.jpg

http://www.genelec.com/documents/images/products/7270.jpg

http://www.genelec.com/documents/images/learningcenter/autocal_screenshots.jpg

Ajani
11-01-2011, 11:08 AM
Since this thread is revived, I'm going to revise my "ideal" speaker choice away from the planars I mentioned almost a year ago.

Nothing wrong with the planar sound, but I, (and I suspect my wife though she rarely says anything), are getting weary of the space requirements -- in our smallish living room, (12'x 22'x 8'), something smaller the could be placed closer to the wall would be nice.


I don't have a sort list of "ideal" speakers but think high quality "pro" speakers might just fill the bill pretty well. Active, (i.e. self-powered), pro speakers can have the following characteristics:

Relatively small sized
Custom crossovers designed for the drivers
Separate amps with power, etc., attuned to the specific drivers
Bass adjustment depending on placement, i.e. proximity to walls & corners
Controlled dispersion to minimized wall, ceiling, floor reflections.
Additionally some have DSP equalization systems to precisely tune response.
On these bases a pair (for stereo) of 8240A (http://www.genelec.com/products/2-way-monitors/8240a/) (with DSP) look close to "ideal" combined with their 7270A (http://www.genelec.com/products/subwoofers/7270a/) subwoofer (with DSP), plus their GLM (http://www.genelec.com/products/dsp-products/glm-software/).SE EQ system -- this is the combo recommended by Genelec according to my listening room and listening requirements.

http://www.genelec.com/documents/images/products/8240.jpg

http://www.genelec.com/documents/images/products/7270.jpg

http://www.genelec.com/documents/images/learningcenter/autocal_screenshots.jpg

Looks like a cool option... Pro speakers have a lot of appeal, especially when space (and cost) is a concern...

Another option you could consider, since you already have a small amp would be something like Revel Performa M22 monitors (as they have some basic tone controls on the back for placing near to a wall)...

Feanor
11-01-2011, 12:15 PM
Looks like a cool option... Pro speakers have a lot of appeal, especially when space (and cost) is a concern...

Another option you could consider, since you already have a small amp would be something like Revel Performa M22 monitors (as they have some basic tone controls on the back for placing near to a wall)...
Well Genelec isn't especially cheap, e.g. the 8240A's are $1600 each.

The Revel M22's look pretty good; (unlike some people, I don't have an intense hatred of speakers from Harmon International).

PieterVG
11-02-2011, 11:08 AM
What if you hook all these speakers on one system and play dubstep on max volume...

RoyY51
11-04-2011, 05:45 PM
My "dream" speakers would be a pair of GoldenEar Triton Two loudspeakers. I auditioned them at a local retailer and was blown away by the top to bottom coherence. I thought briefly about buying them, but, after being married for 33 years, the thought of having to start over kept my credit card safely in my wallet.

RGA
11-05-2011, 05:40 PM
I'd like to add a few alternates if I had a larger room and cost is no object


Acapella Sphaeron Excalibur
Trenner and Freidle RA BOX
Silbatone Acoustics "Aporia" single driver full range
Perfect 8 Technologies "The Force" loudspeakers - Bass module not shown.

filecat13
11-07-2011, 10:31 AM
Since I've already shot my wad (no reference to Ajani's posted picture from MSShifi) on my dream speakers, I'm going to have to stand pat. Fortunately, I'm still in bliss... and apparently still horny.

RGA
12-17-2011, 07:04 PM
Rather than just the speakers - what about dream system? I heard something similar here in Hong Kong and I want it. Can anyone lend me ~$400,000 US? And by lend I mean give.

Audio Note Ongaku Kensei - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAuPIXXiWGE&feature=related)

Feanor
12-18-2011, 06:26 AM
Rather than just the speakers - what about dream system? I heard something similar here in Hong Kong and I want it. Can anyone lend me ~$400,000 US? And by lend I mean give.

Audio Note Ongaku Kensei - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAuPIXXiWGE&feature=related)
Well, it wouldn't be any of that Audio Note waste-of-money poop. In the first place, I'd go multi-channel. And I wouldn't need to spend $400k either, (unless you count the cost of a new house & listening room into it).

I'd be looking at, say, the top-of-the-line Anthem prepro plus Genelec active speakers. Complementing these, of course, would be a great TV and video player.

RGA
12-18-2011, 07:08 AM
Yeah I understand that Feanor.

A system you've never heard is poop and a system you've never heard is what you salivate after. I have heard Genelec active speakers and Anthem Pre-Pro combinations before and after Paradigm took them over.

Although if you do go that route I would suggest ATC over Genelec. Or I should say - Audition it before you buy the Genelec.

This company is THE company for MC sound IME - so far. ATC Loudspeakers. ATC Monitors. ATC SCM. ATC Speakers. Manufacturers of speakers, monitors, drive units and amplifiers. (http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/scm150.php) Granted I have not heard a ton of them - on a budget M&K would be worth a listen as well. It's the speaker of choice of George Lucas - not B&W despite the hype.

Geoffcin
12-18-2011, 09:24 AM
Well I've got another "Dream" speaker and it's the new Magnepan 3.7! http://www.avguide.com/sites/next-tech-guide/files/rsz_212_hp_maggie_371.jpg

Feanor
12-18-2011, 11:12 AM
Yeah I understand that Feanor.

A system you've never heard is poop and a system you've never heard is what you salivate after. I have heard Genelec active speakers and Anthem Pre-Pro combinations before and after Paradigm took them over.

Although if you do go that route I would suggest ATC over Genelec. Or I should say - Audition it before you buy the Genelec.

This company is THE company for MC sound IME - so far. ATC Loudspeakers. ATC Monitors. ATC SCM. ATC Speakers. Manufacturers of speakers, monitors, drive units and amplifiers. (http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/scm150.php) Granted I have not heard a ton of them - on a budget M&K would be worth a listen as well. It's the speaker of choice of George Lucas - not B&W despite the hype.
ATC would be well worth considering given the M/C and HT orientation I was talking about. I won't be getting much in the way of equipment upgrades in the near future, big or small.

When we're talking about hobbies, nobody is right or wrong. (That is, unless they hurt people or bankrupt their families.) So Audio Note or various other vinyl/tube/high-efficiency are valid if they appeal.

RoyY51
07-14-2012, 04:42 PM
Sorry for the Double Revival of this thread, but I've changed my mind about the Triton 2's. After having attended T.H.E. Show in Newport and visiting the KEF room, I now positively lust after the Blades. Scary -real sounding from any spot in the room, including the doorway. If anyone has $30,000 they could "loan" me, they will immediately be added to my Christmas card list.

Oh, I'll also need an additional $10,000. These puppies require some serious amplification!

JohnMichael
07-14-2012, 06:05 PM
Sorry for the Double Revival of this thread, but I've changed my mind about the Triton 2's. After having attended T.H.E. Show in Newport and visiting the KEF room, I now positively lust after the Blades. Scary -real sounding from any spot in the room, including the doorway. If anyone has $30,000 they could "loan" me, they will immediately be added to my Christmas card list.

Oh, I'll also need an additional $10,000. These puppies require some serious amplification!


This speaker by KEF is reported to have the same driver as the Blade minus the side mounted woofers. I would like to hear a pair.

KEF LS50 (http://www.kefdirect.com/ls50.html?gclid=CJCCpsDHmrECFQ5j7AodxHsRlw)

RoyY51
07-14-2012, 06:13 PM
Me too...I'm just afraid that my subwoofers would not integrate as well as the wondrous 4 side firing woofers on each Blade. But I'd be willing to give it a shot...

P.S....you don't happen to have $40,000 that you don't need...do 'ya?

Poultrygeist
07-16-2012, 02:54 AM
Photos (http://www.feastrex.com/photos/photos.html)

Tarheel_
08-06-2012, 03:34 PM
after spending time earlier this year listening to all type / price level speakers, here is my new favorite / dream speaker.

Aerial Acoustics Model 9 In Rosewood | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34457544@N02/3433262439/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34457544@N02/3434159130/

JohnMichael
08-06-2012, 03:48 PM
after spending time earlier this year listening to all type / price level speakers, here is my new favorite / dream speaker.

Aerial Acoustics Model 9 In Rosewood | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34457544@N02/3433262439/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34457544@N02/3434159130/



Beautiful!

RGA
08-06-2012, 04:31 PM
The Little Kef was not very good at CAS - I had to leave it was pretty bad - no lows - brittle highs no depth poor dynamics - Plenty of far better sub $1000 speakers out there than the small Kef.. The Blade was much better and in a not so good room - in a better (smaller) room they could have been terrific I think.