The ATCs are ok and have uses in a studio, but if money were not an issue? Come on guys you are not trying hard enough!
As for the humble quad... you all keep forgetting money is not a problem! Get quad to build you a wall of them so you could have dynamics and maybe some bass. Tell Soundlab to make a special for you or Martin logan to build the CLX2 with your own power station to provide clean power. Come on Apogee build me the Ultra Fullrange ribbon with 110db/watt sensitivity. GOTO build me that horn loaded monster, the one with $90,000 tweeters.
All speakers, even the most expensive have limitations.
If money wasnt a problem, from the speakers I have heard I would buy the Verity Lohengrin, and from the speakers I havent heard either the Kharma Grand Exquisite or the Genesis 1.1.
getting back to "speakers", many years ago i heard a superb recording of "carmina burana" (the original early music) on harmonia mundi playing on watt/puppy 3/2's. the voices floated around the room with a purity and a "there-ness" i'd never heard before. so i re-iterate that transparency and resolution has been around for a very long while, although refinements have brought about more choices than just wilson audio or apogee's or quad's. therefore, if you have a nice space to listen in and a Good Recording beautifully performed, then you have already spent enough money. or you can go down to the airport and stand behind 747's when they take off if you want a more powerful experience.
I would like virginia peepelinee to sing for me than make love to me! Who's virginia peepelinee? Look at the front page of the news! "forty men die laying virginia pipeline!"
If money was not a problem, I'd simply build an acoustically perfect jazz club, fill it with the world's finest musicians, and sit and listen every night. Oh yeah, while sipping top shelf single malt scotch
If dollars were no problem ... I'd buy right now that Harley that I intend to buy next March ... as for music, I love the A318B/M33A synergy ... totally wonderful for me ... my specificities ...
Buy all the scientists in the world, buy all the beautiful singers in the world. Get the scientist to product the best speaker for you and get those singer sing in front of you when the scientist is working.
Jeff
Realistically, get different speakers for different kind of music. It's difficult to find one best speaker to fit every kind of music. Rock and piano have very requirement on speakers so ...
Until the replacement for my thiel 7.2s come out it is the one area i have no desire to change. Turntable, cartridge, preamp, amps, CDP...those are different stories. ;)
Seven Revel Salon 2 speakers in a 7.2 surround setup... Oh wait, that's exactly what I did! Soon to be a 7.3 setup once I find a custom instal Revel Sub 30 floating around somewhere...
Spending more money doesn't mean you are getting better quality speakers or more accurate speakers.
I guess if I could justify it, I would buy two more Salon2s so that I could have a 9.3 setup. This way I could have optimal 5.1 playback for music and optimal 5.1 and 7.1 THX playback for movies without having to sacrifice one's speaker positionings at the expense of the other's.
Perhaps I will do that at some point anyway if I find some used ones cheap enough... Money isn't the issue, I just feel stupid buying two more of these speakers for something so trivial. I would also have to change my couch size to something smaller at the same time, so that there would be access to the back of the room still. It is really a drop in the bucket at this point though considering the total expenses I've accrued on my entire room and setup...
Sogood51, well, I have probably exaggerated in saying that none of the solutions above would approach the system I suggest (in fact, I never tried the speakers you recommend). Still, I believe the magic of the Quads is hard to beat no matter how much you spend. We all know the issues of the Quads, their limitation etc. Despite that I have been looking for something that beats them and had no luck, even hyper-hyped, orders of magnitude more expensive speakers...this is at least what my ears tell me (and even the ears of well-reputed people like Ken Kessler and the like).
I would echo Glory...silly stuff going on here. You guys lack poetry. Get a pair of ESL 57, a top of the line EAR amplifier, a Shindo pre, and with less than 20K you get something that none of the solutions offered above can approach...and if you really want to splurge hire someone who can understand what woofer might be added to complement the quads...imho
Not sure I would ever be satified with only one pair of speakers, as there may likely not ever be one perfect design for all music. So, I'd have several rooms dedicated to audio, each one fitted with an optimally tweaked system for specific music: one room for jazz; one for female vocals, acoustic guitar, and chamber; one for decently recorded rock/blues; one for poorly recorded rock/blues/metal/punk; and one for classical and opera. And perhaps one room for vinyl, although I'm not sure I'd want to spend the time getting back into that. Oh, and one for Kenny G - the system would consist of a wood (plastic) chipper.
You all seem to have forgotten the unlimited funds. You would own it all. A different room for horns another for electrostats etc etc.
I have seen the guy in Japan who used the basement as his sub. He has a man hatch in the room to go down to inspect the drivers! I think they were 8x 15"JBL woofers in a horn the size of the room. He could stand in the passage. You have got to love that kind of dedication to the cause. There would still be change left over to fill up the wine cellar... if that too hadnt been turned into a sub...
True, but since money is no problem, I would install a recording studio to record the live sessions. Then I would use that recording to A/B .. C/D .. XYZ my Maggies, my MLs, and those funny looking sea-shell speakers that look like a Nautilus from that Brit company that everyone LOVES TO HATE ...
Then after my A/B sessions, I would decide to continue to book live musicians, because the staging and the dynamics aren't right with my speakers / amps.
unless the notion of near-limitless SPL's is the reason for the question, the answer for me is simple- the same speakers i already have. money is not the problem- it's the software- both variety and format- which is always changing, and not always for the better. that for me is the limiting factor- after you've been in the hobby for awhile of course and have the opportunity to audition what you want, and then waiting and saving. but for me, really good recordings by the most gifted artists of both classic as well as new music are the last pieces of the puzzle.
I just heard the Scaena loudspeakers with dCS Scarlotti, Nordost Odin cabling, and both VTL Siegfried and Wyred4Sound SX 250S. WOW! See Golden Ear Rewards in last issue of TAS.
Tidal T1 system - I guess that choice may be considered an acclamation for my present Contrivas - and I'd bring in Thomas Fast to treat the room. http://www.tidal-audio.de/english/t1-specs.htm Cables probably Argento Audio Serenity Master Reference or Virtual Dynamics Genesis or Stealth Dream + Dream Bass (I would have to audition all of these plus a few more, of course)
As a second system perhaps Black Forest "Helix To Heaven" + "Mammut C" for the kick of a full range system. http://www.blackforestaudio.de/cms/front_content.php?idart=130
And to accompany watching the occasional movie a 7.0 Klipschorn system :^)
I'd simply choose a talent to design and build the spkrs for me to my specs. I know what I want, I just don't know how to do all of it and can't afford what I DO know...
If money is not a problem, what brand of speakers would not be MY problem either. I would pay whatever to bring Preservation Hall Jazz Band to my mega-mansion for an exclusive, private performance. Then I would check with my publicist to see if she can book Michael Bolton at http://www.grabow.biz/Contemporary/MichaelBolton.htm.
Of course, the sound engineers that come with these packages can bi-amp their mega-wattage PA speakers for me. I wouldn't really care about THD or codecs, because in the end, it's only music.
Von Schweikert VR11. And the room to go with it. I'd move up to Art Audio's best electronics also. So please send me the money to do it. That is why you asked the question isn't it?
There's a guy who poured the concrete foundation of his listening room into 2 bass horns and mounted huge drivers into it. Claims -0 db down to 10 hz (I believe).
There's a blog and pictures somewhere out there, can't find it right now.
First, I would start with designing state of the art room. Hire a pro for acoustic treatment, sound proofing, best frq. respond and have the top speaker designers come up with the wining design to suit my needs and taste. Have custom amps build to get the most out of my spekers. Possibly have the amp and speaker designer working together on this project. You said money is NOT A PROBLEM , right??? Well, there you go.
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