$10,000 loudspeakers

Lets look at all the available loudspeakers NEW and USED, at and below $10k and figure out what are keepers at the price and what could be bettered for less money? Totally selfish thread since i'm looking for a $10k speaker investment and want to narrow down the list of contenders. New focal Kanta, Dyna C60, revel F228 be. Used Salon 2, sopra 2, 207/2, Sasha 3, etc. Obviously speakers respond to different electronics differently and rooms always present challenges, but lets see what you would spend $10k lottery money on a pair of speakers.

 

The 66000 heard in two rooms, at least with jadis ja120, emotiva, Thrax 50w amp (it couldn't handle it), and a Swiss class D amp, were pretty bad. Apart from emotiva the others were compared in the same room. That said, I have heard a great DIY big horn with vintage JBL drivers, Allnico for bass, awesome. Expensive though.

I have also heard the DD66000 and not liked it very much. I heard the K2 9800 sound quite good though but both times I heard them without really great electronics...so I reserve judgement. K2 with a SET could be quite special.

The DD55000 has always been fascinating though and I think in a solid room (ie. not a timber framed home) it could be truly awesome. The old Hartsfield is one of the better speakers I have heard. A Klipschorn style speaker done with the best drivers and execution that JBL knew how to do...fantastic.

 

snip- I heard the K2 9800 sound quite good though but both times I heard them without really great electronics...so I reserve judgement. K2 with a SET could be quite special. -snip

Last fall I was in Japan visiting a good friend. We were in small town just looking around and we decided to grab a coffee. Went into a café and they had K2 9500 sitting on a side wall about 4' apart and being powered by a cheap pa amp and a mixer with an ipod attached. Worst sound ever. Its amazing how bad actually.

No JBL disrespect but in this kludged up system a sonos speaker would have sounded better It actually was frustrating for me as the kids in the place were not getting anywhere near what should have been...

 

There are a couple of pairs of Magico A3's on Audiogon which can be had for less than $10k. I would really think about that option.

 

I would put on that list Vienna Acoustics Imperial Liszt - heard them and bought them without second thought

 

For $10k, this mint pair of Lansche No.3's from a Dealer would be hard to beat!

 

It's a pair of VA beethovens that have proven so difficult to replace! The room that was displaying VA didn't have any on display when I was at the show friday either. I found a pretty good price on a pair of dsp8000's and the cost of the upgrade is more than my total speaker allowance not to mention the odds of getting a pair of these in good quality is already a stretch.