Whats your speaker Journey??

Priceless

 

Haven't had that many myself...

1993- Genexxa standmounts from Tandy(remember them?)
Pretty good bass as i remember. My first 'proper' speakers, stupidly sold for nowhere near the £100 i spent.

1994- JPW mini monitors.
Not bad but lacking in bass. Again sold for silly money.

2000- Wharfefale delta 30.
Not great but were given to me so better than nowt. Now gathering dust in a cupboard.

2001- Acoustic Research Red box.
Infinite baffle boxes i never could find any info on. The foam surrounds on the woofers were disintegrating when i got them. Didn't last long!

2002- Mordaunt Short 902 signature.
I rather like these. Dynamically limited but good bass extension for their size and quite transparent for the price. Imaging a little vague though. Still used in the second system.

2003- tried B&W 602 S3(too big & wooly for my room)& Kef Q1(good, but small sounding bass & slightly odd treble) before settling with 601s. Still not 100% happy, especially when i compared them with the cheaper Mordaunts. Just over a year later, my nephews poked in both the metal domes so...

2004- Monitor Audio S2.
Loved these when i heard them and didn't even bother comparing to the similarly priced Quad 11l.
Very dynamic,nice bass and lovely smooth treble, although looking back the lower mids were a bit coloured. Fun speakers though and a big jump forward from the B&Ws.

2006 Monitor Audio GR10.
When i saw these reduced by £200 in Sevenoaks i had to have a listen. The most transparent speaker i've heard yet (although i'm itching to hear a set of Meadowlarks after reading a fair bit about them) and they're sounding better than ever thanks to a few tweaks.
I know there's better speakers out there but for now, i'm happy with what i've got

 

1980:
Celestion Ditton 15, inherited from my dad
1984:
Mission 70 Mk2
1985:
Mission 737 (barf - friggin' awful things)
Celestion SL6
Monitor Audio R352
JPW P1
Linn Index
1986:
BLQ Q1 - wonderful little speakers, amazingly still doing good service in a mate's system.
Boston A40
Tannoy Mercury
1992:
Mission 760 (still got them in the bedroom)
1993:
ProAc Super Tablette - dad's got these now, I really miss them as they worked superbly in our small room.
2003:
ProAc Tablette 50 Sigs
2005:
Linn Kan Mk1
2006:
Quad 21L (still got)
2007:
Audio Note AX-2 (still got)
Castle Howard S2 (only just got)

 

kef codas
B&W 602's
AE ae1,too power hungry.
Mordaunt short 908's
kef ref 203's,still current and going nowhere anytime soon.

 

Mission 761
TDL Studio 0.5
B&W Nautilus 803 and wont be changing the 803's for the foreseable future

 

...

 

Well, this is going to make me look like a real lightweight, but here goes.

Heybrook Quartets - classy looking standmounters, but no great shakes in the sound department. The hifi mags would probably call them 'polite'. They sounded good, but they didn't rock. Too much restraint for my taste.

Klipsch La Scalas - big, ugly, three-way horns. But the sound....whoo-hoo! Blew my socks off first time I heard them, they're so lively and immediate. A few amp swaps have shown just how revealing they are of your amplification (4 valve amps, all sounding mightily different - the speed and slam with the Rogue Audio pre/power was awesome, Marilyn Manson never sounded so dangerous or Motorhead so driven. Ashkenazy wasn't at this best, though). I've had the La Scalas for about 8 years now and never felt the urge to change, I love 'em. Oh, and those big flat tops are perfect for stacking records and CDs on.

 

Marantz - can't remember the ref poss SP5? - Starters.
Tannoy Oxfords - too dull.
Wharfedale Teesdales - fondly remembered.
Linn Kan (Mk1) - needed a lot of amp but could be thrilling.
Rourk Sabre - impressive at first, but couldn't get right.
Epos - enjoyed, but a little dull.
Naim IBLs - great in a smallish room.
Naim SBLs (1988)
Naim SBLs (one of the last pairs) - Naim's best speaker per £.
ART Emotion Signatures - fantastic.

Steve

 

Oooh, can't remember if I did this before.

Wharfdale Delta 30's
Mission M71's
Rega Kytes (Like these, but too small for the room when we moved)
Kef Q 35-2's
Meadowlark Kestrel Hotrods

Currently playing with a pair of Klipsch Heresy II's just need some new mid drivers then all will be well with the world

 

Jamo Floorstanders
Mission Cyrus bookshelfs
Ruark Epilogues
Ruark Epilogue 2s
Audiovector Mi1 Supers
Audiovector Mi1 Avantguardes
Gamut L3s

 

Tannoy Eyris 1's - Funny looking but nice sound.
Monitor Audio S6's - Good speaker - took quite a bit to better these.
PMC OB1 - Excellent at the time, got the upgrade itch though.
Linn Akurate 242 - Stunning, but move forced change.
Revel M22 - Best speaker i've owned.

 

1979 - Marantz 3 way midsize box
1981 - Boston Acoustics 3 way, 100x50x15 cms, flat against the wall
1984 - Pentagram, 5 side pyramid, ribbon tweeter, dome mid, 8"woofer, 12" passive radiator on the bottom, 3 way
1986 - KEF 104.2, 3 way
2000 - Sonus Faber Concerto, 2 way
2002 - Sonus Faber EAII, 2 way
2006 - Schallwand Sangreal single driver open box, 1 way

I am loosing drivers...

 

Dates approximate - memory going...

1975 - Castle (small 2-way 'bookshelf' with strange cubist grills)
1976 - Some large cheap 3 way thing with a 12" woofer that looked like a Spendor BC1 but sounded quite bad
1979 - B & W DM4 (I think) sounded great - should have kept them longer (really sang with Trio KA3300)
1987 - KEF C3
1992 - Vintage KEFKit 3's passed to me by my Mother as they were too big for her flat. Fantastic - didn't appreciate how good they were at the time due to rest of my kit. Built new cabs. She took them back when she moved and still uses them.
1997 - KEF Q50: pretty good
2000 - KEF Q65 II: not as good as the above for some reason
2001 - Spendor S8: much better - thought I'd finished until I heard...
2003 - Wilson-Benesch Orator: everything I wanted at the time
2005 - Wilson-Benesch Orator: different finish to please GF (!!!!) - also they were later model in taller cabs.

Very happy with these but moving soon... bigger room... planning to go DIY and build a pair of Linkwitz Orion, which will of course be the last pair of speakers...

 

I think I did this a few years ago... but..

Heybrook HB1
Epos ES11
Tannoy 611
Acoustic Energy AE1
Ruark Talisman II
Cadence Diva
Living Voice Avatar
Lowther Acousta
Altec Valencia/ JBL 2405/ Revel B15a
B&W CDM1
Mission 761

 

1971:Home-made corner horn speakers (KEF and SEAS drivers, homemade crossover) from a magazine design. My grandfather was a carpenter and he made the four cabinets for the twin-driver speakers.
1977: domestically pressured to eliminate the corner horns, I changed to Gale 402s then 1980's Epos ES14s.
1994 swapped the Epos for active ATC SCM50A's. This put smiles on my face, I rediscovered my music collection in that haze of joy, and settled down to listening to music for several years.
Then came the time I decided I wanted home cinema and two-channel in the same room, though that room was across the Atlantic. I bought B&W CDM1SE pair plus Velodyne sub for stereo listening and front pair, plus some B&W DS6 rear speakers. The musicality of the Velodyne sub amazed me at the time and blended well with the superb CDMs, the surround sound effect was new and fun for DVDs.
I kept the four B&Ws which are in use in our second home.
The ATCs are also still in use as a stereo pair but combine with M&K sub and surround speakers for the main AV system.
The last addition was a system for the bedroom the more controversial Monitor Audio Silver RS5's (chosen in part because of looks and size).

 

my speaker journey..?

short and efficient I'd like to think...
eltax symphony 6.2
kef q4
focal chorus 714s

 

They look interesting. Are you getting them shipped over from the States (assuming you're in the UK?), or is there a UK supplier?

 

long and winding road

ram bookshelf monitors......crap
chartwell pm110mkii ..still got them
Ruark Broadswords..... great but power hungry
own design horn speakers
own design transmission line verision1
proffesionally built own design transmission lines
Martin Logan Aerius i's... you'll not hear better imaging and upper mid but little bass.

 

Began 1996...

* Tannoy 632? - hex shaped things, ok, but one speaker blew.
* Acoustic Energy AE100i - very good when cranked up a bit.

Changed to AV system:-

* Mordaunt-Short Avant 906, 905, 903 srround setup. Great for AV.

Changed back to stereo!

* Epos ELS3 (great speakers for the money)
* Epos M5 (better still - VERY musical)
* Neat Mystique II (great treble and mid, bass a bit shy)
* Focal 806V on demo (excellent treble, very open)
* Revolver R33 (current speakers, which are staying for a good while!!... probably )

I find the Revolvers the most fun and lively sounding, and very musical. Great mid and bass. Very punch and fast. Im happy!

 

JPW P1
Had these for a 8 years, and they still hold their own some 20 years on. I sold mine on to my brother, and they are still going stong!They do lean on the side of a bright presentation.


Tannoy DC2000
These replaced the JPW's, and I now have them in my AV set-up,they are quite well balanced speaker,tending not to sound ruthless in the low/highs, midrange is average.

Genexxa LX10
Bought these 2nd hand after reading a good review in HI-FI Choice, I still have them now as Rear Speakers in my AV set-up. In a 2 Channel set-up,they have no bass at all, but the Midrange and Treble and imaging are superb.This is down to the ribbon dipole tweeter.

Monitor Audio 20SEC
Still using now, again purchased them 2nd hand. I have also replaced the internal wiring from QED to 4n Pure silver wiring. These speakers really are great at dishing out detail, and I would imagine it could be too much detail for some, I plan to replace Capictors some day,but overall and until the lottery win,I will be staying with them.