What vintage speaker might you use today

okeeteekid63 posts12-17-2015 3:25pm

I currently use a pair of Infinity IRS epsilons, I thought of selling them a while back only because they are 20 years old and Infinity no longer has any parts available for them but after listening to many new OVER PRICED speakers I gave up as I didn't want to have to spend upwards of $40,000 to best the sound of the epsilons.

You've certainly made a smart choice stepping up to the later IRS Epsilons. Despite being a bit bass shy, they are very well balanced & were the most refined classic Infinity speaker. Personally I don't have the room for those speakers, but it would have been fun to own a pair of IRS-Sigma's.

As you know, I previously owned a pair or R90's, but sold them and upgraded to Marten Coltrane Alto's, then later bought a pair of Magico S5's. However nothing stands still in high end, so I recently sold my S5's & have a pair of the new S5 Mk2's on the way!

Anyway, I haven't been keeping up with discussions over at Audiokarma. What amps are you driving the Epsilons with now? Drop me a pm if you get a minute.

DCM Time windows sounded great in the day and I heard a 30yr + pr recently and still sounds great !

Dahlquist DQ-10 or 20. Vandersteen 2. VMPS Tower II. Depends of program material.

I might get kicked off of here, but I liked my old Polk Monitor 10's.

I have Polk Monitor 10s still and they are good ones. 

Douglas_Schroeder, "Trelja, considering Quads, you couldn't get me to own a Quad. They� WERE a good speaker - that was LONG ago. The older models have severely compromised performance in terms of bass extension and power handling. And it sounds like it's coming from an orchestra pit, the speaker is so lowered. We're supposed to accept that in 2015? I will not. I don't give a speaker a pass simply because it has lovely mids. Nostalgia has carried them way too far. I have heard the older quads both he 57's and 63's and I wouldn't dream of owning them, not for great listening. The Kingsound King III tramples them. It has "all of that" in regards to the superb midrange, and much more, that is, an actual lower bass response, as well as a sound field that is above knee level. As far as new Quads, I wouldn't touch one."

While not a spendthrift, I recognize we generally need to spend more to get more.  Without merit or reason, over the past several years, I've been blessed to the point of gaining the ability to buy pretty much any high-end audio product I would want, loudspeaker or otherwise.

I can assure everyone neither economic constraints nor nostalgia drove me to the Quad ESL57.  I own, have owned, and have listened to a great many highly regarded loudspeakers, but use the Quads because they're simply the best sounding loudspeakers I have encountered.

Do I presume that my tastes will translate to another person or everyone else?  Of course not.  Do the Quads have limits and weaknesses?  Absolutely.  Doesn't every loudspeaker / high-end audio component?  As everyone has always known, the bottom octave lies beyond their capability, as do blow you back low frequencies.  The Quads are also limited in the absolute sense of how loud they can play, though the walk in the park effortlessness 95 dB at my listening chair should suffice for many. 

My priorities lie in the sonic realm, everything else takes a back seat to that.  Whether they came out of 2015 or 1915 matters to me not.  Nothing puts me closer to what feels like reality, as no other loudspeaker I have listened to approaches their truth of tone and overall rightness.  I won't say that I will never purchase another pair of loudspeakers, but the Quad ESL57 have more or less ended my desire for anything else.