Speakers to hang on for life

[RGA]

E-Stat

With regards to crossover - it depends if you're upgrading to fix a problem that if otherwise un fixed would lead you to sell the loudspeaker for something else or if you are upgrading to get an improvement merely because you can afford to. The design is the same the parts are improved - In the 20.1's case is the design altered or is just improved parts?

With the AN E part of the reason is that two things are changed - the woofer is changed for a different material which means a different crossover and or the type of woofer. The AN E has 6 different woofers at increased costs as one moves up the line. When you change a woofer it also requires a different crossover.

The AN E was originally designed by an opera house designer and acoustics expert L.L. beranek- Peter Qvortrup has one of the worl's largest collections of classical music. The original distributor Leonard Norwitz was and is a classical music reviewer. I think it's pretty safe to say the speaker is designed first and foremost with classical music in mind. It just happens to be able to do other things not just classical music. I don't see why one can't have their cake and eat it too. Art Dudly seems to enjoy listening to classical music on them as well.

My comparison is an assortment usually Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Albinoni Oboe concertos (I played the Oboe), Barber. I am by no means "expert" on classical music beyond the emotional gut level. One poster on AA Soundmind/Skeptic would go on about the superiority of Piano over people who played violins and judged talent by the difficulty of the instrument. And his all Rock was rubbish and Coltrane is a talentless hack routine. If it moves me then I like it - for me that's the point of music.

Nevertheless, the dynamics in other kinds of music and recordings are important because if the system can't reproduce say Sarah McLachlan's "Silence" or Big Band, then it likely isn't doing classical justice either. It may be that the classical only speaker is shying away from the heavey lifting by compressing the sound into something pleasing but not giving you most of what's on the disc.

Granted I also usually bring something like Loreena McKennitt's The Lady of Shalott, Jackson Browne Acoustic stuff, Gloria Estefan, Madonna. I don't believe this music should suffer so greatly because franly it isn't that difficult to reproduce. Which means the speaker that can't do it can't do complex full range classical music either. As a classical music listener it is usually the first genre of music I play. Piano - the full rich tonality of the instrument. It's the acoustic instruments that makes the AN E stand out at Soundhounds. The Cremona has good bass and can play rock loud - you could as a rocker make the case for them or the B&W 802D that Soundhounds also carries. Quad and Magnepan have the exapnsive soundstages.

For me with acoustic instruments and human voice the only thing there that is in the running is the 2905 at double the price. But it is seriously compromised on Sarah McLachlan type stuff, rock, Madonna etc. Preferences - bottom line.

[E-Stat]

With regards to crossover - it depends if you're upgrading to fix a problem that if otherwise un fixed would lead you to sell the loudspeaker for something else or if you are upgrading to get an improvement merely because you can afford to.

There is nothing to *fix* other than to improve the quality of the parts. Just like with the Sound Lab hot rod option. There is no requirement to use Vishay resistors or Jensen inductors any more than there is the need for $40,000 worth of silver wire.

My comparison is an assortment usually...

Very well. Different music requires different gear. I like the fact that the AN design is a simple two-way affair.

rw

[nightflier]

I just got this from AudioAdvisor. Apparently they are now carrying Thiel speakers, at the same price as Crutchfield, BTW. What caught my eye is that Wes Phillips considers the CS3.7s speakers to hold onto for life. Considering he's hear some of the best speakers in the world, including ones that cost in the tens of thousands, it's a remarkable endorsement for a speaker that "only" costs $13K (that being about the price-point above which most people here seem to agree the price does not equate the value):

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/...335xFeInaVo%3D

Anyhow, for those who won't go planar, which it seems many people here consider the speaker to hold onto for life, maybe this is one alternative. I've only heard these at briefly in a show setting, so I can't really say much about them, but they did not sound special or different to me. Maybe I should give them a try.

On a more practical note, I wonder what their little SCS4s can do? In that size, I had always considered the little Harbeth HL-P3ES-2s the speaker to hold onto for life. But I'm not familiar with either.