$20K to spend on speakers…. . wait! There’s a catch!


Greetings,

Perfect sense says buy stuff only after you have heard it. Only after an in home audition.

Sometimes we are forced to wing it.

Admit it, best guess trigger pulling happens a bunch because not everything is everywhere.

For some unknown reasons we seem to feel we know what we want or need in spite of never having auditioned it.

Here are a couple scenarios based on a “this thing should work’, “shot in the semi dark” buying practices.

Premise: You have $20K and it MUST be spent entirely on loudspeakers.

Here are the options:
1. The used speakers option.
You have NOT heard them ever. At all. Nada.
The deal here is you’r egetting them for about 50% off retail in quite good esthetic (8/10) condition, excellent working orde according to the seller, and about three - four years old and landed or shipped.

The seller has good feedback. No negatives.

All of the speakers numbers are amenable to your existing power plants. They should do well in your room.

2. brandy new speaker option.

The brand new units you’re paying $20K for include a 25% discount from MSRP and sold by a brick & mortar dealership.

You did hear the brand new ones, but only with modest SS gear and nothing on the level of your own equipment which is tubes, or vice versa for sake of this argument.

These come with warranty. ..and in your color preference.

Lastly, neither of these two sets of speakers are what could be called very popular, loudspeakers. Meaning they aren’t littering the pages of the speaker for sale pages with any regularity.


The carrier arrives. The boxes are fully in tact. No issues at all. Still, there’s a nagging thought. Did I do the right thing?

Shouldn’t I have bought used speakers and obtained still more value given just a bit older speakers sell for much less than MSRP.

Or, I bet I should have bought the new speakers and put up with another long run in.

Man! I hope I did not messs this up!!


What is your choice and why?

Thanks for the ideas and insights..

blindjim
@sbrownnw > ProAc D48 and be done

Blindjim > I know less about this line of speakers than possibly any other. Thanks for the input.

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@inna > amp first… speakers will come.
Good call! Could be.
Perhaps. Everything is on the table presently any approach ought to be considered IMO.

Both amp & speaker are needed as nothing in house exists which could be considered upper range audio. Mid, maybe. If everyone was drinking.
.
Ultra high end, if they were drinking a lot.

Only a pr of former now antique (‘96) Phase tech PC 10.5 3 way towers, are here and they desperately need refurbishing.

Several two way stand mounts that are decent. IMHO, very enjoyable. Not what I’d refer to as superior. Just pleasant.

A lethargic and lengthy tact would be the usual ‘stepping stone’ plan.
Stick with something reasonably popular in power and speakers as pre owned, and in combo around 10 – 20K… and go from there.
EX. Sophia III + BHK stereo amp.

It would be a test bed for new wires too. Briefly.

This might be the most efficient path. It would certainly be educational. Again, but on a far more current premise.. It would dull the ‘Go get something right now man!’ urges.

Flipping both later, even one at a time that way ought not to pose too tremendous an obstacle. Or loss.

As long as I stick to buying used or get superb deals on new. Albeit, brandy new is fast losing its luster IMHO.

I’d remind you it will be some bit of time yet before I can start looking for the UPS or FEDEX driver. Easily, no sooner than next spring, probably.

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@simao
Thanks much.
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BTW.... HAPPY THANKSGIVING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. BE GRATEFUL FOR SOMETHING, AS THERE IS MUCH TO BE GREATFUL FOR, EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO.


@blindjim

Funny thread. Would active speakers be granted access to this experiment?

If so, easy for me; I would go with a new pair of ATC SCM150ASL Pro - in fact I believe they retail for close to if not exactly around $20,000/pair. With these speakers I believe there’re no aesthetic choices other than "working clothes" black. $20k is a lot of dough, but with the ATC’s in question, being active no less, I find they’re close to a bargain. They were the "runners-up" to my existing speakers - indeed a close call.
I like JOND's suggestion too.  A set of custom high efficiency speakers from Deja Vu Audio with vintage horns and drivers would be just the ticket.
ProAcs are known for their synergy with tubes, plus look and sound amazing.  There is a beautiful rosewood D48 with the ribbon tweeters brand new on ebay for $12000 with free shipping and 14 day return policy.  Unfortunately, ProAcs take a long time to break in, but once they do, the sound of string and double reed instruments will blow you away.  I like to use Soundocity SEV9 with my ProAc Studio 148s (a smaller and slimmer tower version).  Check my system page for details.
Check out milpai's posts.  He searched for two years, travelled to a bunch of places, and eventually settled on the D48R.  *That* is a recommendation.