Speakers to hang on to for LIFE

The four best speakers I have ever owned were the Joseph Audio Pearls, the Magnepan MG20.1, The Avalon Eidolons and the Sonus Faber Guarneri Mementos. All were definitely "keepers"

See my list of speakers in the personal speaker evolution thread:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1017943672&openflup&527&4#527

I sold the Joseph Pearls and have regretted that fact since the day I shipped them out.

I also sold the Magnepans and while they were wonderful they do make a real visual barrier in your room - no real support from my wife on these.

I kept the Avalon Eidolons and Sonus Faber Guarneri Mementos and may well hang on to them for life.

allison ones, threes, or fours

Tannoy Pepper pot waveguide dual concentric and Diy peerless HDS computer monitors. with the right amplification, resolution, detail, natural timbre and 3D imaging are features of both. For a 2 way in a smaller room which is what I designed them for not much comes close to the DIY's. If that interests you contact me. For larger rooms Tannoy's rule. At the moment the only way anyone is getting my Tannoy Cantebury SE's is to pry them from my dead fingers! Music sounds ALIVE with a huge sound stage. The only ones I would go for are as mentioned above units with pepper pot waveguide tweeter. The Glenairs with the tulip waveguide didn't sound anywhere near as good. In the end it is difficult giving advice as you have not specified a budget and what floats my boat may not move you in the same way. My suggestion is listen to as much as you can for as long as you can with known sources. Whatever you decide let your ears and no one else's opinion be the judge.
Cheers

I doubt if the materials in any speaker could stand a lifetime of use. Maybe Lowther based speakers.

All speakers have a finite life. but some seem to fair better in the long run than others Altec's,Klipsh, Tannoy's and the ones I tested, the Kef B110s I sold for $400 the pair on eBay a while back. They were still within manufacturers specification after 35 years. I was impressed but still featured their infamous peak in the mid-band. My old Vaf 151 Studio Monitors bought cheap second hand because a tweeter had the polarity reversed featured Seas drivers. I had them for 6 years and were right on spec like this while I owned them. The old B&W DM4's I had did not fare so well but I suspect that was due to the caps in the crossover drifting off spec.