Speakers to hang on to for LIFE

Nigel,

I am afraid you commited the crime of the century!

Totem Sttafs are my modest contribution. 15 years old, bearing honourable battle scars inflicted by growing, active kids, and now relegated to a humble second system. Yet when I fire them up they still sound wonderfully natural and enjoyable, even though subsequent upgrades have more of any given element; detail, bass extension, etc. I sometimes wonder why I didn't just upgrade electronics and stick with these old comforters.

I stil love my B&W 802 series IIIs after all these years.

I bought a pair of Infinity Monitor IIa's when in college in 1975. I didn't find a burning need to "upgrade" until the foam surrounds in the woofers disintegrated in 2003. I then bought a pair of Totem Sttaf's. The Totems are fantastic, but I found myself wanting that deep, deep bass the Monitor IIas produced for some types of music. Since the Infinity's are so big, I didn't know what to do with them, so I had the woofers rebuilt ($100). Their like new again. I alternate between the Sttafs and Monitor IIas. The Sttafs are better, but but the Monitor IIas are still great. I'll probably keep both of them for life, as long as I have the room, although I'm toying with the idea of moving up the Totem line.

Living Voice speakers, I had the Auditorium then upgraded to the Avatars. A plus to these speakers I do'nt see often expressed is their sensitivity. At 94/95db they match low output class A SS amps like my Pass Lab Aleph 3(another unit to keep for life) and even lower output tube amps. Yet they can still be used with SS muscle amps if you really must. Alright I've only used them for 3 years, not since 1903, but I wo'nt be upgrading, honest.