It is hard enough buying new speakers, let alone older speakers to use as an upgrade


The above subject title about the potential difficult in  purchasing an older speaker, that is, a speaker that is at least 10-15 years old (and now discontinued) but garnered very good to excellent reviews when it came to market. I have often seen good reviews and personal recommendations for Linn's Magik 140 speaker and the Joseph Audio RM-25si Signature II. speaker, both approximately in the same or close to the same retail price, but no longer available.

It would be an audiophile's dream to have a small warehouse to store several of these overachievers so as to audition them. Another speaker, I have come across for sale on AG and elsewhere (and is far more expensive) is the Vandersteen Treo, a beautiful looking speaker that reviewed well, but was discontinued in favor of the Treo CT , and now I think the "Vandy" 5a  Its main caveat like several of Vandersteen's models is difficulty getting the room placement dialed in as a consequence of the use of first order crossovers. The original Treo (used) would be at the outer limits of my budget,.... but how might the Linn and Joseph Audio speakers mentioned above, measure up in overall value.

sunnyjim
Did Linn ever make a great loudspeaker?
Did Joseph Audio ever make a bad loudspeaker?

You’re right about that warehouse dream. If only there were dealers that would be prepared to hire out speakers. If only we had more money. If only we knew what we wanted. If only all loudspeakers weren’t always a compromise.

Choosing loudspeakers is like choosing partners, but far easier to change.
In my 40 years of audio history,  I had gone through about 15 speakers.

But there are only two speakers that I had used for more than 10 years.

The first one is Apogee Duetta Signature that I had used from 1988 to 1998.

The second one is Lansche Audio 4.1 which I have been happy since 2007.


It is very hard for me to get out of Lansche because of excellent treble out of Plasma tweeter and overall balance.

I may use it until it stop working (it is an active speaker).
" Choosing loudspeakers is like choosing partners, but far easier to change."
And cheaper too ... ;-)