"High End" Speakers you have owned

[Kingsrule]

Large Advents
EPI 150
Tympani 1C
Tympani 1D
DQ10 (several)
Myria Acoustics
Quad63
Quad 63 w/Decca Ribbon Tweeters
Acoustat2(?)
Magnapans (petty much all of them)
B&W 801 25th anniversary
ML CLS, CLS2
Shainian Obelisk
IRS Beta
Theil 3,5,6,7
Aerial 10T
Dynaudio Evidence Temptation
Wilson W/P 5,6,7,8,MAXX, Sasha, Alexia
Magico MProject

 

[jeff1225]

I am somewhat of a different breed. I took a well regarded, yet not Hi-Fi speaker and made it into one. With that said, I'm game for this thread.

Tyler Acoustics Signature Reference Series, 1 piece stock. Completely redone with external crossovers. More later and on a different thread. You may not buy the fact that these baby's are Hi-Fi but will put them up against some very heavy contenders and many will be shocked. Fidelity is key, not price IMO.

Tom

Listening to my friends Tyler's thought me an important less about audio: the success of audio equipment is more than the sum of its parts. I heard the Tyler's with their beautiful cabinets and top of the line Seas drivers and they were horrible. Then he completely remade the crossovers and I was blown away by the result.

 

[Al M.]

I have had relatively few speakers over a 35 year span.

Rogers LS3/5a
Infinity RS1b
ATC SCM 50 ALS
Eventus Audio Nebula / JL audio F112 subs

In the home theater, NHT all around

Craig

Welcome to WBF, Craig.

A fellow low-turnover audiophile, as I see...

 

[treitz3]

Listening to my friends Tyler's thought me an important less about audio: the success of audio equipment is more than the sum of its parts. I heard the Tyler's with their beautiful cabinets and top of the line Seas drivers and they were horrible. Then he completely remade the crossovers and I was blown away by the result.

Hello, Jeffrey and good morning to you sir. I can concur, although I wouldn't say that they were "horrible" stock. Decent and ho-hum perhaps but not horrible. Which model did he have, if you do not mind me asking?

Here is the original crossover of my Tyler's...as you can see, not much. Plus, it was apparent that Ty did not check the values of the components. Some were off by WAY more than normal tolerance. Some were off by more than 35%! Completely unacceptable in my book.

The picture above was the original crossover network for the entire speaker that was placed in an external crossover enclosure. As to not derail this thread, I will post the full upgrade on another thread. Yes, Ty left a lot to be desired IMO.

Tom

 

[Alpinist]

Spica TC-50
Apogee Duetta Signature
Aerial 10-T
Magnepan 3.7
Revel Ultima Salon 2
Raidho D-3
Vandersteen 7 Mk2

 

[KeithR]

Just kinda did this on another thread, but here it goes and without the HT speakers (I was HT before 2ch):

Wilson Cub 2
Dynaudio 1.3SE
Avantgarde Solo
Wilson Sophia
NHT towers
Dynaudio C1
Zu Audio Definition II and IV
DeVore Fidelity Gibbon X

 

[jeff1225]

They were the Ref 3's and they were horrible. Seeing your post above stating that the crossover values were up to 35% (!) off, I have to say that my ears did not lie.

But....with a good crossover they were speakers I could live with for a long time. Speakers don't have to be expensive. MDF, hardwood or plywood make excellent enclosures. One of the reason I dismiss Magico and YG is they they are over engineered for the sake of being over engineered. Using machined aluminum enclosures and making your own drivers is just silly. Especially making your own drivers, it , misses the first rule of manufacturing, leverage your supplier's scale.

 

[audioguy]

Large Advents
EPI 150
Tympani 1C
Tympani 1D
DQ10 (several)
Myria Acoustics
Quad63
Quad 63 w/Decca Ribbon Tweeters
Acoustat2(?)
Magnapans (petty much all of them)
B&W 801 25th anniversary
ML CLS, CLS2
Shainian Obelisk
IRS Beta
Theil 3,5,6,7
Aerial 10T
Dynaudio Evidence Temptation
Wilson W/P 5,6,7,8,MAXX, Sasha, Alexia
Magico MProject

Quite the list. Given your speakers, you must be a tad older than 30

 

[asiufy]

They were the Ref 3's and they were horrible. Seeing your post above stating that the crossover values were up to 35% (!) off, I have to say that my ears did not lie.

But....with a good crossover they were speakers I could live with for a long time. Speakers don't have to be expensive. MDF, hardwood or plywood make excellent enclosures. One of the reason I dismiss Magico and YG is they they are over engineered for the sake of being over engineered. Using machined aluminum enclosures and making your own drivers is just silly. Especially making your own drivers, it , misses the first rule of manufacturing, leverage your supplier's scale.

Hi Jeffrey!

I'll respectfully disagree. There's a ceiling you reach with a conventional wood box, off-the-shelf drivers, and stuffing in it. That ceiling might be acceptable to 99% of the folks out there, that's why there's still a huge market for those kinds of designs, but, IMHO, it's undeniable the benefits of aluminum enclosures and custom-made drivers.
Even in the case of Evolution Acoustics, where they do use the box/drivers design, they went all-out with their crossovers, and it's also noticeable the improvement of an "over engineered" crossover can do, everything else staying the same.
For the most part, and for most manufacturers, leveraging scale is required to keep those costs down and make the product affordable to most. But that last 1% of performance will require an even more customized approach, IMHO.
You're more than welcome to stop by the store and hear the YGs/Evolutions

cheers,
Alex

 

[Al M.]

One of the reason I dismiss Magico and YG is they they are over engineered for the sake of being over engineered. Using machined aluminum enclosures and making your own drivers is just silly. Especially making your own drivers, it , misses the first rule of manufacturing, leverage your supplier's scale.

Jeffrey, I am afraid you are mistaken, on both fronts.

1. Reference 3A, from whom I have my current monitors, and will have my future ones, make their own drivers too. Cost of my speakers: just $ 3K. They're outrageously good, just ask anyone who has heard my system.

2. The machined aluminum enclosures of the Magico M Project result in the most uncolored and coherent sounding speakers I have heard. There is obviously a good reason for such engineering.

 

[asiufy]

And more to the point of this thread... I'm amazed how you guys all remember all these speakers you've had... I can't, for the life of me, remember everything I've had in my room!

At some point, I became friends with a dealer who had a lot of used/traded-in merchandise, and I'd literally try new speakers every other weekend. And amps, players, etc... I should've taken notes

 

[marty]

Interesting thread to see Audiophile histories w speakers

Large Advents
Heil AMT
Tympani 1U
Tympani 1C
Dahlquist DQ 10
Acoustat X
Martin Logan CLS
Wilson MAXX
Martin Logan Quest w VMPS subs
Nearfield Acoustics Pipedreams w JL Gotham subs
Wilson Alexandria S2 w JL Gotham subs

 

[KeithR]

But....with a good crossover they were speakers I could live with for a long time. Speakers don't have to be expensive. MDF, hardwood or plywood make excellent enclosures. One of the reason I dismiss Magico and YG is they they are over engineered for the sake of being over engineered. Using machined aluminum enclosures and making your own drivers is just silly. Especially making your own drivers, it , misses the first rule of manufacturing, leverage your supplier's scale.

Jeff, this is probably better to explore in its own thread.

 

[jeff1225]

Hi Jeffrey!

I'll respectfully disagree. There's a ceiling you reach with a conventional wood box, off-the-shelf drivers, and stuffing in it. That ceiling might be acceptable to 99% of the folks out there, that's why there's still a huge market for those kinds of designs, but, IMHO, it's undeniable the benefits of aluminum enclosures and custom-made drivers.
Even in the case of Evolution Acoustics, where they do use the box/drivers design, they went all-out with their crossovers, and it's also noticeable the improvement of an "over engineered" crossover can do, everything else staying the same.
For the most part, and for most manufacturers, leveraging scale is required to keep those costs down and make the product affordable to most. But that last 1% of performance will require an even more customized approach, IMHO.
You're more than welcome to stop by the store and hear the YGs/Evolutions

cheers,
Alex

The Evolution Acoustics i a great example of my argument! Off the shelf drivers, off the shelf crossover parts, wood enclosure and off the shelf amplifier for the bass. Everything is availble from Parts Express or Madinsound, but it it the art of the creator that brings it all together. I think they sound great!

 

[jeff1225]

Jeff, this is probably better to explore in its own thread.

One of the moderators lead us down this path so I think I'm OK.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

the early years.....

AR3a--dorm room
K-Horns---at a house I shared with friends
Bose 901's (ceiling hung)---when the kids were babies

during the 15 years while the kids were growing up I had a B & O system and that was it.

my audiophile years starting in 1994;

previous home, medium size den.

Wilson WP 3/2's
W/P 5.1's
W/P 6.0's

Kharma Exquisite 1D's

moved to new home with barn, built 2-channel only dedicated room. had the Kharma's in there for the first 9 months.

then....

Von Schweikert VR9SE's
tried to buy VR11SE's (ordered; but they never built them.......a long story)
Evolution Acoustics MM3's
(tried multi-channel for 18 months with Marten Dukes (stand mounted monitor) as the rear channel speakers w/MM3's)
Evolution Acoustics MM7's--current speakers

I do have Dynaudio bookshelf speakers in my family room that I use with my TV which sound great.

and a fine sounding 7.1 Revel speaker system in my dedicated home theatre in the house.

 

[jeff1225]

Jeffrey, I am afraid you are mistaken, on both fronts.

1. Reference 3A, from whom I have my current monitors, and will have my future ones, make their own drivers too. Cost of my speakers: just $ 3K. They're outrageously good, just ask anyone who has heard my system.

2. The machined aluminum enclosures of the Magico M Project result in the most uncolored and coherent sounding speakers I have heard. There is obviously a good reason for such engineering.

Al,
You are incorrect regarding your 3A speakers. These very sharp Canadians leverage their suppliers' scale and modify other manufacturers' drivers in house. From the Stereophile review:

"The tweeter, for its part - a 1" fabric dome that the company says is made to their specifications - is saddled with only a single capacitor as a high-pass filter."

Just like David Wilson does with his tweeter. Smart!

 

[ack]

70s: Akai, KEF
80s: KEF, Dahlquist DQ10s, Magnepan MG IIIa Entec sub (still have it)
90s: B&W 805s; Logan SL3
00s: Logan Odyssey, since then highly modified to the point of no real resemblance to the original; REL sub

 

[Al M.]

Al,
You are incorrect regarding your 3A speakers. These very sharp Canadians leverage their suppliers' scale and modify other manufacturers' drivers in house. From the Stereophile review:

"The tweeter, for its part - a 1" fabric dome that the company says is made to their specifications - is saddled with only a single capacitor as a high-pass filter."

Just like David Wilson does with his tweeter. Smart!

Thanks for that info. In any case, this is for a 14 year old model, not the current ones I have. The mid-woofer seems to be a proprietary driver:

http://www.reference3a.com/features.html

 

[Barry]

Not so many for me.

mid- late 60s - Acoustic Research AR5s
early 70s - Infinity 2000As (hybrid electrostatics, still own)
70-80s - Magneplanar Tympani T-1Ds (still own)
90s - Magnepan 3.5 + Kinergetic Research 800 subs
2000s and beyond Magnepan 3.6 (very modified) and above subs