If you had $20K to spend, what would you buy in audio?

[mtemur]

20K won´t buy you good speakers even second hand? Myself, Sonus Faber, Boenicke Audio, Dali, Dynaudio, Wilson Audio, Magico, Qualio Audio etc and this link beg to differ:

Hifi adverts | audio-markt.de

www.audio-markt.de

First of all I’m not talking about small, frequency and SPL limited bookshelf speakers.

IMHO there is only one speaker among all the speakers from the manufacturers in your list. It’s Sonus Faber Amati (the original one) and it’s not a great speaker at all. And maybe Wilson Audio Sophia (first version) sounds good up to a degree. Neither Amati nor Sophia are great sounding speakers but acceptable. Amati has bass controlling problems and softness expecting you to overcome. Sophia has the least amount of (but still have some) Wilson nasally sound with boomy bass.

Certainly no Dali, Dynaudio, Magico etc.

 

[Lee]

Lee, did you mean that as how would we spend $20k to improve our current systems or did you mean what would we buy for a $20k system?

If the former, probably two of the following: power/ground upgrades, preamp, network switch / infrastructure.

If the latter, I'd put the emphasis on a solid DAC with volume control, streaming (likely the basic BACCH-DSP for Mac system, running on an M4 Mac Mini, effectively hosting Roon fed by Qobuz), and the best speakers I could afford that then gave me a reasonable amp I could upgrade later.

Either.

 

[Lee]

20K won’t buy you good speakers, even second-hand. If you’re lucky, you might find a good pair of vintage speakers in nice shape that will do the job.

Aside from speakers, you can achieve very satisfying results with other components for little money. So, buying more records with 20K or saving more to buy nicer speakers is the thing I would do. And certainly I wouldn’t ruin any room filling with sponge called room treatment.

There are sorts of great offerings at $20K or less. Wilson Sabrina X, Magnepan 3.7s, Acora marble floorstander at $13k, Harbeth, etc.

 

[PeterA]

20K won’t buy you good speakers, even second-hand. If you’re lucky, you might find a good pair of vintage speakers in nice shape that will do the job.

Aside from speakers, you can achieve very satisfying results with other components for little money. So, buying more records with 20K or saving more to buy nicer speakers is the thing I would do. And certainly I wouldn’t ruin any room filling with sponge called room treatment.

I heard some great vintage speakers at Vintage Audio Systems that were under $20,000. Some were downright inexpensive by high-end standards and they sounded excellent.

If that was my budget for a pair of speakers, I would go vintage. If that were my budget for an entire system, I would certainly go vintage and create a vinyl only system around a Denon DD turntable.

 

[mtemur]

I heard some great vintage speakers at Vintage Audio Systems that were under $20,000. Some were downright inexpensive by high-end standards and they sounded excellent.

+1

 

[mtemur]

There are sorts of great offerings at $20K or less. Wilson Sabrina X, Magnepan 3.7s, Acora marble floorstander at $13k, Harbeth, etc.

WA Sabrina is a small speaker and not powerful enough. It doesn't have a serious sound to satisfy an audiophile to stop searching.

Just like all other panel speakers the Magnepans don't have the impact and bass heft. Considering the price point it sounds great in my opinion.

There is only one good Harbeth speaker and that is P3ESR. Obviously it's a small bookshelf. Other Harbeths have an uncontrollable boomy bass and plastic sound. It is advertised that bass problem is solved with each iteration (ex. 40.1, 40.2 etc) but nothing changes. Yes, I heard all of them (40, 30, SHL5, C-7ES) various times with various SS and tube amps. Mostly with SS.

I don't know/I don't remember how Acora marble sounds.

 

[Zuman]

I'd pay a highly-regarded professional to properly set up my system in my room and add room treatments as appropriate.
Yes, I think I've got it pretty good by myself, but I believe that there is real expertise out there and I'm humble enough to know that there are people who can open my ears further.

 

[Cantus]

Theodore Walton Denney the third's self effacing ego and modesty.

 

[J007B]

Theodore Walton Denney the third's self effacing ego and modesty.

What does this have to do with topic?

 

[Holmz]

First of all I’m not talking about small, frequency and SPL limited bookshelf speakers.

IMHO there is only one speaker among all the speakers from the manufacturers in your list. It’s Sonus Faber Amati (the original one) and it’s not a great speaker at all. And maybe Wilson Audio Sophia (first version) sounds good up to a degree. Neither Amati nor Sophia are great sounding speakers but acceptable. Amati has bass controlling problems and softness expecting you to overcome. Sophia has the least amount of (but still have some) Wilson nasally sound with boomy bass.

Certainly no Dali, Dynaudio, Magico etc.

I think with the March Audio Sonituva speakers I could put together a pretty nice complete digital based system for $20k.
It would satisfy a lot of people.
They are not too frequency nor SPL limited.
And were quite nice to my wooden ear.

In my system $20k could get me a CD player and a tape machine.

 

[Alsatian]

$230,000 more so I could buy a dcs Varese. Sorry, I couldn’t resist .

 

[Another Johnson]

Keep in mind that the $20k could be used to augment a trade that involved the piece being upgraded. So $20k could get you into a better set of speakers.

FWIW, I’m happy enough with my system and my vinyl collection that $20k in extra discretionary money would be used to upgrade one of my other hobbies.

I think if I wanted to dump $20k into something, it would probably be my G scale train room. The 5 year old loves the G scale trains, so I would consider adding HVAC to the space where I’m running them … I took over a garage bay, and it will be uncomfortable in July and August. It would be hard to spend $20k though.

FWIW #2, I’d probably also add a turntable and roundhouse.

Honestly, $20k isn’t a big deal. I will probably upgrade hobby stuff in that range if interest dictates. I just sold my pcp air rifle collection, not for the money, but to get the space back. My guitar collection will be the next thing to get pared down in order to recapture space. Upgrading the g scale train room is probably #1 on my list.

 

[Gregadd]

20K won’t buy you good speakers, even second-hand. If you’re lucky, you might find a good pair of vintage speakers in nice shape that will do the job.

Aside from speakers, you can achieve very satisfying results with other components for little money. So, buying more records with 20K or saving more to buy nicer speakers is the thing I would do. And certainly I wouldn’t ruin any room filling with sponge called room treatment.

I can buy a killer speaker and have change left over.

 

[tima]

I heard some great vintage speakers at Vintage Audio Systems that were under $20,000. Some were downright inexpensive by high-end standards and they sounded excellent.

Yes. Mitsubishi Diatone speakers in 16 - 6 Ohm are really fine for surprisingly low cost. They go back to the 1950s with studio monitors. I canna remember which model we heard but it was early, iirc. Not this one...


That's a ~15-inch woofer

DIATONE DS-5000 Specifications Diatone

My recollection has not many Mitsubishi speakers imported to the states. They are relatively plentiful in the East and can be bought from there and yahoo Japan.

 

[ssfas]

6 TB Grimm MU2. Sounds slightly better with Roon than my Innuos Pulsar/Holo May KTE DAC does with the Sense App. Since I love Roon and hate Sense that would be a good upgrade for me. Second choice would be a used Audio Research Ref 10 line stage preamp. Probably a bigger sonic upgrade than the Grimm but getting better sound from Roon would be more valuable to me.

I also have Pulsar/Holo May. You could spend $1,000 on a Mac Mini and HQ Player and use the HQ Player endpoint with Roon as controller.

 

[ssfas]

WA Sabrina is a small speaker and not powerful enough. It doesn't have a serious sound to satisfy an audiophile to stop searching.

There is only one good Harbeth speaker and that is P3ESR. Obviously it's a small bookshelf. Other Harbeths have an uncontrollable boomy bass and plastic sound.

I had Harbeth SHL5+ from 2015 to 2020 and Sabrina from 2020 to now. Both were/are superb. Listening through my Sabrina now. An ideal speaker for my dedicated listening room, speakers 7' apart and listening 9' in front.

Absolutely no idea what I would spend $1,000 on, let alone $20,000. Totally happy here.

 

[andromedaaudio]

(Magazine subscriptions lol )

Tapes off course / listening room improvements

 

[mtemur]

Yes. Mitsubishi Diatone speakers in 16 - 6 Ohm are really fine for surprisingly low cost. They go back to the 1950s with studio monitors. I canna remember which model we heard but it was early, iirc. Not this one...

That's a ~15-inch woofer

Could it be this one that you're referring, Mitsubishi 2S-305?



It's a two way speaker with 12" bass driver. I listened 2S-305 for a while in Tokyo. Very nice speakers, especially for tube amplification. Price was very reasonable, at around 2-2.5K, but impossible to ship. At least for me.


This one looks great but I didn't listen.

 

[hopkins]

Could it be this one that you're referring, Mitsubishi 2S-305?

View attachment 147795View attachment 147796

It's a two way speaker with 12" bass driver. I listened 2S-305 for a while in Tokyo. Very nice speakers, especially for tube amplification. Price was very reasonable, at around 2-2.5K, but impossible to ship. At least for me.

View attachment 147799
This one looks great but I didn't listen.

Try this one instead:

A simple design, with a simple crossover, and good sound. The later models are of no interest, IMO.

 

[Argonaut]

Another thread morphs into an ‘Infomercial” for Karmeli vintage audio