Call me crazy. But I would love a set of Klipschorns. I don't have a room for them. But I do have a set of old school Klipsch KG 5.5's. Perfect for that awesome AC\DC of Rush song at 100db. Not the best for a movie theater though. What speakers do you love? Old or new and why?
I'm still in love with M&K S150s. I'm on my second set of them in the past 26 years. There was nothing wrong with my first set other than age, but I was able to sell my old ones and upgrade to new ones for only $400 per speaker for the front soundstage that I knew they would last me well into my 70s. I'm still using my original SS150s for my four surround speakers.
I have never been able to sit down and listen to a set of M&K's. I think I need to now. What do you drive them with?
I've had a few, not as many as some audiophiles who swap gear almost every year or two though. Here are a few faves:In 1990 I bought my first real "high end" speakers, a pair of Mirage M3s. They were the scaled down sibling of the M1, which famously combines some of the attributes of dipole (ribbons, electrostats) speakers with dynamic speakers, looked the part with a wide but shallow profile, but at a more reasonable cost than the more exotic panel designs. They were a bipolar instead of dipole design (rear wave in phase instead of out of phase) which let them extend the bass a good deal while giving a big, open soundstage that I loved. When I eventually morphed my stereo into a surround system and then projection, I moved from the M3s to the OM6 (slimmer width but deeper) and then later the last great speaker Mirage made (IMO of course), the OMD-28. I finally sold those last fall so there was a 35 year run of Mirage speakers. When we moved to our current house in early 2014 I gained a room that I was able to use for setting up a dedicated 2 channel room, and I grabbed a demo pair of Martin Logan Summit Xs. The first time I heard electrostatic speakers was probably in the early 1980s as a teen, and that experience was so transformative I had always wanted to own a pair. I loved the Summit Xs for 12 years - in the sweet spot they are amazingly 3D / holographic. Like most electrostats that sweet spot is tiny, and I finally decided to move on. I currently have a pair of PS Audio Aspen FR30s that I found used at a great price. They are fantastic, clean, detailed, and more uniform sounding across a larger space. But they also seem to expose room issues that even the Summit Xs were a bit more forgiving of. They are definitely "end game" class speakers. I've had them for a couple of months and feel like I'm still settling in and have room to improve especially in addressing a couple of room modes in the bass.
Diysoundgroup 1099Dynamic for movies. Crystal clear for music. Perfect speaker and cheap
My favorite speakers are the KEF 104/2. Great imaging, dynamic, and accurate bass. They had a "conjugate load matching network" that gave the speaker a 4 ohm restive load. The impedance curve was almost a flat line! This made the speakers very easy to drive. They also came with an active equalizer "KUBE" (KEF euphonic bass equalizer) that extended the bass to 20Hz. Still, a very sought after collector's item. I've been enjoying them for about 35 years.
I'll have to look them up for sure. When did you get them?
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