Journey ending speakers


Listening to to my  stereo last night thinking about what upgrade I may do in the future. May upgrade my CD player or change phono cart or a new arm? But one of the things I will never change is my speakers. My journey has ended with the speakers I have now. Are you like me and have your forever speakers? Oh mine are a set of 30 year old 4 way JBL  Studio Monitors 4345s.
ricpan
JBL S3100 in my room for almost 20 yrs now..   can't imagine better for me and I will keep them till I need smaller for some reason - 68 yrs old now. I have used this JBL with 3 watts, 9 watts, 30 and now 180 watts! Perreault PMF 1850. They all sounded good but the 180 watts takes the prize. Never would have guessed it!

I'm glad to read some are listening to older speaker designs. Audiophiles would serve their ears well by going back as much as going forward. Personally I'm not nearly as fond of some of the newer designs vs designs that are listener based. Speaking for myself, I much prefer starting with drivers that are basic in design. This means (most of the time) the vibratory value is wide as compared to starting with something that is stuck in a fixed signature that needs to be corrected elsewhere.

Give a look to how the driver industry is making their way back to some of the old school basket designs for example. There for a period of time drivers were pretty poor, and very expensive, frankly they were way over built and only sounded good in a few limited situations. People should keep in mind that a complicated crossover means that the drivers are having problems that need to be addressed.

I have a simple formula that makes the hobby easy for me. Tune the recorded code to the audio code, along the audio chain, all the way to the room and ears. Two things you will notice. One every listener will have a different setting to their system compared to anyone else. And second, when a recording does not sound right to you, you can variably tune it in to your liking.

have a great weekend

michael green

Pretty simple.  The world is on a retro. kick as things happening worldwide now are such a downer.  I would suggest we should all be careful letting that pervade the pursuit of audio excellence. If you crave that retro. sound, then have at it and enjoy.  I prefer the here and now and the advantages that advanced research and development have gifted to the audiophile's pursuit of the sound of live music in our listening rooms.
I put a nice retro rig right next  to my main up to date system. I guess I was on a nostalgia kick thinking back to my earlier days of the hobby. After about a year and a half I became very aware of all the short comings that system possessed. It truly validated all the upgrading I had done all these years and have no regrets.

+1 hifiman5
Cheers,
Tim
After years of hearing different speakers, I took the recommendation of a friend and test drove a pair of the Ohm Walsh Micro talls.  I was so impressed by these that I upgraded to a pair of the 1000's which I am absolutely thrilled with.  If I have the chance, I will upgrade to a pair of their 5000's.  Great soundstage, amazing presence and totally enjoyable to listen to for hours on end.  I will be keeping these speakers forever unless I hear something I think is better.