You folks amaze me with your passion and generosity, I have lots of ideas, and thanks for the great links...
I thought I might quickly share some of the other speakers I own or have owned, to give you a bit about my taste.
I LIKE speakers, and while I realize that the ideal to be attained is "transparent and accurate" sound that transforms your listening room back to the recording studio or the concert hall, it won't really truly happen. A good facsimile, yes, but there's no real way to duplicate all the nuances of the original space and instruments. Too many variables and "steps" from the software to the interface of all the replay hardware.
So...my great joy is just changing from one speaker pair to another by merely unplugging my trusty bananas. No component more changes the personality of the system.
Some of you as old as me (sorry) might remember the old-fashioned "schools" of American acoustics. You were either in the East Coast (mellow, reserved sound) camp or the West Coast (vibrant, bright) camp. Ah, the good old days...
Anyway, I'd LOVE to own $50,000 speakers, but I won't rob banks and just can't figure any way to do it. I console myself that even the world's most expensive speaker screws up somewhere and a child or pet could STILL destroy a driver.
So, no speaker I've ever owned has retailed much over $3,000- and I've chased "B" stock or demos and paid less.
I own a pair of Gershman Avant Garde speakers from Canada, probably my finest pair. Nice! Truly "underground" yet they have the advantage of some name recognition. Brand exposure helps if you ever want to sell something. I think the only "drawback" to these is that they have a wonderful gloss "piano black" finish, whereas I prefer great cherry wood, rosewood, and some exotic veneers. In my experience, probably no-one will work as hard with a customer to provide a very personalized, exotic wood than Jim Salk of Salk Sound- although there are MANY companies offering very pretty loudspeakers.
Another favorite that I have is the French speaker by JM Reynaud, the model Euterpe, recently discontinued. Great sound, nice looks although lighter woods like beech aren't usually my first choice. I like the "nobody else on the block has these" appeal, because they're more deliciously obscure than the "easier" French choices like JM Labs... and they're also good speakers!
Or how many of you have heard of PE Leon? I own a small little tower called the "Enzy" with Seas drivers. Not very expensive, not really rock-and-rollers but I don't need Cerwin Vegas. Just very great value for money. A low-profile company with design and major components from France but assembly in Canada. French-Canadian. Now THERE'S attitude!
I've also owned along the years wonderful speakers from John Sollecito, a genius designer who owns Source Technologies in Connecticut but will probably forever be more famous for his gig with the legendary company Infinite Slope, which later turned into Joseph Audio.
Another great designer is/was Dave Fokos, formerly of the Synthesis division of conrad-johnson. I had the LM-200 small tower that looked like a Vandersteen with the sock-wrap. He went on to create Icon Acoustics, his own company, but I lost all track of him, sadly. He was also a very very polite, kind person.
Does anyone remember the Innovative Techniques company? Yep, I also owned those, in an attractive walnut. They were mighty nice.
And I owned the venerable Rega ELA loudspeaker, probably the "middle" version from about ten-twelve years ago, with the odd steel bars that screwed into the sides (not real well) to keep them upright. What can one say? Just really classics. Limited in output and frequency extremes but unbeatable in the right context and with sensible associated components.
Most people feel that these older ELAs well outperform the current very different looking speaker.
Heck, I've been at this over 30 years, over half my life! I've owned two pairs of AR speakers, two pairs of B&W's and probably a couple of others.
I'm NOT rich, just crazy. It's an addiction but I'm blessed with it...
Anybody still awake?
Jerry
