Personal speaker evolution

It's been a year and a half since I've posted my speaker evolution -- what a thread! I've since sold my Thiel CS-6's and traded in my PBN Monatan KAS's for the WAS's. I hope to stay with them for at least for the next 18 months ;-)

Ozfly: short story...my pair of 7s were among the first ever to be shipped and after several years I began having problems with them; the high end drivers of the coaxial high mid/tweeters burned out twice. I thought it might be the amps (Bryston 7BSTs at the time) but Thiel replaced the drivers each time for free but upon last replacement I decided to switch models as my wife and I were in the market for downsizing our residence. I traded them in for a pair of Dyanaudio Contour 3.0s. After a year of these I traded in for new CS6s because I simply missed the Thiels. Couldn't afford new 7s they go for 14K new. I am very happy with the 6s. I really think they sound better in fact.

I have owned :radio shack mc 1000's, homemade,AR3a,s,marantz 12"3way's,infinity 12"3way's,kef coda's,spectrum 108a's,spica-tc-50,apogee caliper's(used),vandersteen 2ci's(used),energy c-2's,ar m1's,alon petete,proac 1sc,proac 2.5,alon 2's(used),dq-10's(used),ads10"2way's,vintage electrovoice,jenson,fisher,ar's,allison 2'slarge advent's,nht super zero's,boston acoustics a60's,phase reaserch's.I sold most of them.I still have the spica tc-50's(great for the money).I wanted the challenge of building some, after all of the experience I have now.I modifyed a pair of Design Acoustics ps/6a's(doped the 6.5" cone,shallow horn on.75"soft dome,6/db octive crossover to tweeter,added port,minimal damping material,removed dust cap from woofer. Sounds very fast,and detailed. bought some 12"pa horns,replaced innards with a paper tweeter,and 6/db octave crossover. Another pair of 16"horns w/ 4"paper cone woofer. The horns are mounted next to the monitors,and hooked up to a low cost amp/equalizer. The 1khz, and 2kz tames most of the horn colorations. A slight boost around 10khz adds life. You can laugh if you want,but with most recordings,detail and dynamics,coherency,and rapid transients are more involving than anything i have owned! even with low cost wire. I can turn volume up and down on the horns, to hear the difference. They really do add a stunning liveliness. The only price to pay, is an occasional recording,brings "some" notes "out" a bit much.

1958 James Lansing speaker with home made enclosure
1970 ESS Tower Speaker
1975 Gale Bookshelf Speakers
1977 Kef speaker kit with transmission line enclosure
1982 Chapman T7 Speakers
1997 Chapman T6 Speakers
2003 Chapman Q6 Speakers (see my review in Audiogon)

Okay. Here is a list of the speakers that I have owned starting with the current set:

- Revel Salons
- Legacy Audio Focus
- Legacy Audio Studio Monitors
- Polk M5's & M3's

Over the last two years my system has completely changed four times.

With the Salons:

- Levinson 390S
- Levinson 33H's

With the Legacy Audio Focus:

- Meridian 561 pre/pro
- Meridian 596 dvd/cd player

With the Legacy Audio Studio Monitors:

- Meridian 502
- Meridian 506.24

With the Polk Audio Speakers:

- Yahama DSPA-3090 pre/pro & 7 channel amp

And I am still evolving. However, the speakers are forever remaining. I would ultimately like to end up with a dual purpose system where both music and movies are enjoyed. That'd bring me full circle.