Whats your speaker Journey??

Hi 3D, are you sure you made the right choice here?







Only kidding

 

Tannoy 611's (dual concentric, hex shaped cabints)
Roksan ojan 3's (lasted about 2 weeks, too bass'y for my room)
Tannoy 611's (Back into service)
Monitor Audio studio 20SE's
Quad ESL988's

 

Tannoy 633.
Tannoy SRM10B (10" DC monitors).
Tannoy Mercury 2.5 (for second system).
Mission 774s for the second system to replace the Mercury 2.5s.
Tannoy Mercury 2.5s back in the second system, Missions sold.
Tannoy D700 to replace the SRMs (which, I cannot bring myself to sell).

 

first ever were Wharfedale Linton GX - great at the time. not subtle but good boingy bass and went loud, which suited student duties
Monitor Audio MA14 - far more subtle and musical at least when new. over time, developed boomy muddy character. ended up in a spare system for a while before being replaced by Mission M55 on a good deal, which are very competent and probably deserve a better amp and source
main system went on to Celestion A3 - big, hansome, very nice midrange, treble could be a bit sharp and I never did really get the bass out of them that they shouldl have been able to deliver, so went out in favour of current
B&W N802 - after a change of amps to get more bass (and then some!), very happy with these

 

Hi,

Actually, I think it was the right choice....

Even though the development for my current speakers was driven primarily by a search for good sound in a wife friendly package (3' wide and >5' tall corner speakers do not float her boat all that well as you can imagine) to make sure the wife remains friendly to me, the sonic return was significant too. Sometimes the side benfits of getting married are most peculiar.

Ciao T

 

well, I probably rival merlin for the most speakers.

I started I think!!! with jpw sonatas, from richers, I opted for the smaller one, but then went back to the sonata for more bass.

I can't remember what happened from there, but highlights are:

lots of proacs....studio 100, tablette 50 sig, tablette ref8 sig, response 3 in a tiny room, worked great!! massive these are, they mostly use seas and scanspeak.

atc active 50s, dissappointing. fine but not what I thoguth.

wilmslow prestige, quite nice. home made. volt, atc and scanspeak revelator

living voice auditorium used to like but not so much now, vifa units, avatar obx, bit delicate, but would probably like more now.

hifi world kls3, as good as the harbeths, home made, audax carbon drivers.

kelly kt2, very good, unknown MF speakers 93db big, bit too rich tone severe 4 ohms load, audax aerogel.

sensitivity doesn't seem to make a big difference to some amps, you have to crank them up and its only maximum loudness that is higher. good job with klipshces. they were usable.

ns1000s...good but overrated, great integration of drive units sound very coherent.

klipsch la scalas...don't take a valve out whilst switched on, or bang!! very loud indeed.

en route b/w 601, mission 753, castle avon,heybrook solo, suprisingly good for £40, kef coax reference 1 didn't like, MShorts, jpw millenium 1010, biguns, jamo concert 8, concert 11(didn't like) and harbeth compact 7. 2 of the best I have had.

I tend to try them out and move on really, speakers to me are by far the most personal thing, and personally, I like soundstage and projection, fat harmonic richness, fat brass, I hate anything flat on the plane of the speakers, electronics inc., and thinness/weediness/smallness.don't like delicacy.

I have had problems finding speakers that do real bass, even the atc's and wilmslow's didn't at domestic levels.
currently residing with proac t50 sigs after some AE aegis 3 which were a bit dull, like the proac sound, soundstage and naturalness.

my bro has proac r1sc, interesting to see Merlin has gone from d100 to r1sc....how do you rate the downgrade Merlin?...I found the r1sc as good as the R3 but different, didn't miss the bass.

 

JBL LX22s
LS7s
LS2/A2s
MA 14 Gold
NS1000M
Some dodgy Kefs
LS3/5A's +AB1s
Audes Jazz
And now back to NS1000M for a bit

 

From the Book of Hobby, Generous, Chapter 10, commencing at the first verse:

This is the account of Tones of Belfast and Melbourne, unbeliever, heretic and destined for the Lake of Molten Vinyl:

1. In the beginning was The Kit
2. And the Kit had drivers that were Peerless, from the land of Pe-Zulu.
3. And Tones listened, and behold it was good.
4. Then there came the LS3/5A, from the tribe of Roger
5. And Tones did bring them back to the Land of Oz as cabin baggage
6. And although they were small of stature, yet did they make a mighty noise. Such a mighty noise did they make that, when the father of the wife of Tones, listening to music from the LS3/5As on top of the Kit of Peerless, saith unto Tones, "Verily, this is truly wonderful, Now let us hear the ones of small stature," and was told, "those are the ones of small stature," his gast was truly flabbered, and his jaw did drop, even unto the ends of the earth.
7. And Tones did depart from the Land of the Oz to the Land of the Chocolate, the Yodel, the Watch and the Numbered Bank Account, and there did Tones build a new system.
8. The speakers for this new system came, as did the rest of the system, from the House of St. Ivor of the Deep Fountain, Holder of the Sacred Lore of the Sondek, in darkest Caledonia.
9. And because they caused people to dance with joy, St. Ivor named them Keilidh.
10. And the Keilidhs did come to the house of Tones and were made active, while the LS3/5As downstairs did acquire unto themselves a series of subwoofers.
11. First there came the Yamaha, then the home-made and finally the Sizmik, from the House of St. Ivor.
12. Then Tones acquired unto himself the Little Wonders of St. Peter the Walker, which he sent forth into the darkest depths of Teutonia, there to be freshly bewitched by trolls and goblins skilled in the incantations and sacred lore of the Quad.
13. Thus did Tones end his speaker-buying days in great joy and contentment, surrounded by his Keilidhs upstairs and his LS3/5As and his ESLs downstairs, and listened to them recreate the wonders of St. Johann Sebastian, St. Claudio, St. George Frideric and St. Ludwig and divers others to the end of his days.

Here endeth the lesson.

 

Mission 70
My first proper hifi speakers – quite nice but a little lightweight.

Celestion Ditton 33
Loaned from my parents – man sized speakers – big sound.

Mission 770 Freedom (finished in ‘80s grey ash!)
Great bass offset by truly horrible (bright) treble.

Rogers LS4a
Great little standmounts – nothing below 70Hz but that seemed to be their only weakness.

Spendor 2030
Smooth sound, deep bass (slightly thumpy) – very polite – not very exciting.

Mission 752F
Nice top end, very expressive mid range, bass very light for their size – benefited from a (Q50) sub.

M&K 750 (with an REL Q200)
Really good for movies – great wall of sound effect (THX Select) – no good in stereo – imaging very poor.

KEF Ref 2-2
Best imaging I’ve heard from traditional speakers – not placement sensitive – lovely sounding speakers – bass perhaps not as deep as you would expect given their engineering. I only sold them as I couldn’t get the so called matching centre speaker to sound very good.

M&K MPS1510 (with a Velodyne HGS15)
Stunning little professional near-field monitors – beautifully open sound and they really excelled with the quality sub that was underpinning them. Only sold because they were grille-less and I had a two year old!

Monitor Audio GR10
Very nice – very good imaging (both focus and depth), amazing bass for such a small standmount. Highly regarded and you can hear why. They only went because I wanted to sell the whole surround set up and return to stereo only.

Harbeth C7 ES-2
Wow – midrange to die for. Treble beautifully smooth but still detailed. Bass impressive and low enough for most music. If it wasn’t for their awkward dimensions they would still be gracing my lounge.

PMC GB1
More wife/lounge friendly speakers you will struggle to find. Small and very slim but has a good go at really deep bass and it isn’t ‘one note’ bass – very musical, lovely flow to the music. Treble very good, midrange good too but not as good as the Harbeths. Fine all rounders in fairness.

Meadowlark Kestrel 2
Still running in but I love them already. Incredibly open and ‘un-boxy’ – it’s an over used description but the speakers really do disappear. Imaging very good but with a wide soundstage too. They play music – it’s as simple as that. I can’t see myself changing these for a very long time.

 

Jamo D165 - See here - Big, loud, ugly...bass seemed incredible to me at the time I got these, not having listened to much else, but it was definitely overblown and pretty much one note, and after hearing a lot more hifi speakers I realised these were very crude speakers indeed. Had incredibly naff spring clip cable terminals as well. Treble as very harsh indeed. It sounds like I hate them, but I don't, they're poor but were good fun and still do duties in the loft at home on occasion.

B&W 602 S1 - Isaacs old speakers, didn't realise they were as old as they really are I wonder if they could do with a service of some kind? Sounded very harsh when I got them but more detailed as well, the harshness went after getting a half decent source to replace my appalling marantz CD4000 , and getting rid of the FFRC speaker cable. Still do the business really, a bit big for my uni room though and not so good at low volumes.

 

At the time it wasn't funny but at least my flat is not on the floor below as it would have been had I kept the D100's.

The 1sc's sound damned good across a wide variet of music, but IMO benefit from being crossed over to good subs below 100hz.

 

My nephew got my MS25is this year, as a just-13 year old

Which brings me to MY list:
1991-1996 Sony SS-A305 speakers from an LBT-D305CD midi system
1996-97 JPW Gold Monitors on their dedicated stands (wish I'd not got rid of them)
1997-2001 Mordaunt-Short MS25i (see above - he he!)
2001-2002 Epos ES14/dedicated stands
2002-2004 Rega Ela
2004-2005 Epos ES14/SO stands
2005-> Dynaudio Audience 52/SO stands

The Epos' should have been it. I've never come across a more frustrating speaker in my life. No matter how much money (at a level I could afford) I threw at amps, sources, and rooms, I couldn't get the sods to sound interesting. Gave up and swapped them with a colleague for his Dyns (he has much higher end Naim/Linn stuff to my Naim/Rega - and the little gits now sound GREAT on his rig - too much money needed to get my system where his is, so I gave up!).

I've had around 5 other sets of speakers in other systems, but can't be bothered to list those.

 

Very dull so far....

B&W 303's, hardly used still in their boxes in my spare room.
AE Evo 3's, I paid £275 when they came out and are a terrific speaker.

Next up are diy full range using fostex 206e's. Im planning on using Martin Kings's design for these although still not 100%, should be starting in the next couple of months.

To follow on from that ive got plans to make a 300w sub using the peerless 10" driver and the peerless 10" radiator.

 

Ignoring the series of all in one systems (Fergusson, Aiwa, etc) I had when I was younger, mine have been:

Mordaunt Short MS20i (4 years)

Yamaha NS-300 (14 months)

Linn Kabers (later model with 3 bar tweeter - 18 months and counting) - can't see myself changing these ones at any point soon, although I have changed all the things upstream on a few occasions to get more from them.

 

Cambridge Audio MicroWorks - My first taste of decent audio. Little active sub-sat PC speakers with a big-ass sub (well, seemed big at the time) that were waaaay better than any other PC speakers at the time. Pretty much started the trend for PC speakers designed with sound quality in mind. Got 'em for Christmas, probably '97.

Mission 773e - My first proper "hifi" speakers. Got them along with my first proper hifi, courtesy of Mr. Richer. After spending all of 1st year at uni drooling at the Richer Sounds shop around the corner from my flat (my room was too small to accommodate proper speakers) I splurged on a 900 quid system consisting of Cambridge Audio D500 CD player, A500 amp, and the Missions. Sounded stunning to my young ears, though I quickly succumbed to upgrade urges with the electronics...

ATC Active 10 - After moving flat to a smaller room and utterly failing to stop the reflex-loaded, twin-woofer, floorstanding Missions from booming madly, I took the opportunity to launch an ambitious 2-month search of every hifi shop in Edinburgh and Glasgow for the perfect quality standmounts - budget initially 500 quid, ended up considering the 1200 quid Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk IIs....

Anyway, after much demoing and a couple potentials, I ended up in the Audio Salon in Glasgow listening to a pair of ATC's brand new Active 10s driven by Sugden Bijou electronics. It was a eureka moment - after all the various "house sounds" I'd heard over the preceding months, these speakers just sounded right. Like they made a point of not leaving their mark on the music. It was such a relief I bought them on the spot for the princely sum of 995 quid (note the current price is nearly 2K....!) They worked perfectly in my room and inspired a total system upgrade soon thereafter.

ATC Active 20 - After 2 and a half years with the 10s, and having some difficulty getting them to sound good in my new flat, I felt it was time to test the waters and see what else was out there. I bought a 2nd hand Classe' power amp and tried out a number of passive speakers, including JM Lab Elektra 905s (the very ones Ditton ended up buying and then selling on) and ATC SCM-12s. They were different, and I liked the bigger weight and scale of the bigger woofers, but nothing I heard was as good as the actives.

I then got the idea of trading in my then-mighty home cinema system (inc. three Active 10s and my ATC Concept 4 sub - a real beast!) towards a pair of Active 20s (then 2700 quid). I had doubts about whether the 20s would be a significant improvement over the 10s, but after hearing them in the shop driven by an EAR valve preamp I knew I needn't doubt - compared to the 10s the treble was sublime and the bass some of the best (deepest, cleanest, tightest, most dynamic) I'd ever heard. They also had a sense of ease and utter confidence that the 10s lacked (presumably due to their smaller woofer and cab). So I goodbye ass-kicking home cinema, hello Active 20s!

After a solid year of experimenting, I finally got them positioned just right, and they were sounding gloooorious. Then I got kicked out of the flat. I've since been living in a new flat with a bigger, much more accommodating room, and got them set up right after just a couple weeks of tinkering. They sound gorgeous and I have yet to hear speakers I prefer (though Bub's 100s are seriously drool-worthy and Neat Ultimatum MFSs are also extremely good).

Eventually I hope to get myself some 2nd hand Active 50s or 100s, as the current room can almost certainly handle them. No hurry though!

Dunc

 

dunkyboy, I've heard the 50's with an EAR pre - sounded amazingly life like. Im searching out other valve pre's as well at the moment.

 

this is a fun thread! Clearly very different behaviour evident.

for the record, the Electra 905s are not (yet) sold. they are doing duty in dining room, and I really should get active in selling them. wonder whether some buyer will beat a path to by door ...

Dunc, no doubt you still recall the bake-off when the dax decade and your actives mated so well!

 

This could take a long long time,

Celestion Ditton 15's
Celestion Ditton 44's
Keesonic KRF (I think)
Monitor Audio MA1
Acoustic Research 10Pi
Nightingale NM1
Mordaunt Short Pageant
Gale 401
Heybrook HB2
Heybrook HB3
Meridian M2
Cambridge Audio R50
Magnaplannar SMGb
Dahlquist DQ10
Mordaunt Short 5
Audiomaster LS3/5A
Heybrook HB1
Monitor Audio R700 (Fantastic stand mount - now with my Son)
Monitor Audio MA4 (the Original)
Magnaplannar MG1
Dahlquist DQ10
TDL 3
Apogee Centaur Minor
Apogee Centaur Minor (no not the same ones & not a mis print - a long story)
Apogee Mini Grand (current)
Rega ELA
Genexxa(sp) with the Linaeum(sp) ribbon mid tweeter (current)
TDL 0.5 (current)
Yamaha NS1000
Mirage OM5 (current)
Spendor BC1(current)

A lot of the above have been owned at the same time I didn't really go from Dahlquist DQ10's to Mordaunt Short 5's

I think most of the ones marked 'current' will be gone within the month to make way for a pair of Wilson Sophia's

 

Look's like Merlin has some competition.

 

I wonder if Timpy will make a return to post on this thread?

I think the first speakers I owned were a set of Fishers.

That sounds familiar! Picked the up in a sale and remember being well chuffed at the time. Not sure if it was the 165s, but they were pretty similar.

Next was another set of JaMOs. Studio 160s. Looked a bit MOre hifi, but pretty shite. I think I got these for half price at £100. They're still floating about, being used occasionaly. Again, "naff spring clips terminals".

Mission 702e. For the MOney (RS price) a decent speaker.

Mission 780. Current speakers. They do some things really well, but not one for the bass`eads. I'll either be adding a sub or changing them altogether at some point.

A few others have come and gone on short term stints, either having been borrowed/swopped/deMO'd etc... Kefs (Cresta and Q), Sony's, and B&O (not sure of the MOdel, pretty flat, square things).

The speaker end is where I expect to change things next in the system. But it's not really at the top of my current priorities.