What an interesting post, thanks OP.
The journey for me:
Late 60s started with a home made gigantic box, looked great, probably sounded awful. Then Wharfedale Dovedale, AR MST, AR 3a Improved, Wharfedale E90 (A serious mistake, looked awesome, sounded dreadful!). Up to the 80s now and life gets good; Yamaha NS1000M, sounded beautiful with looks to match. Longest lastings speakers ever, sold them 5 years ago for effectively more than I paid for them. Up to the 2000s now; Quad ESL 63, B&W N801, still have these, about to be replaced with B&W N802D speakers.
Then in 2017 I decided to get back into vinyl and purchased a pair of completely refurbished Gale GS401A speakers (
www.vintagegale.com) for a second system. Extremely happy with this system. Here are the full details on this system:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/second-system-that-sounds-and-looks-spectacular-i-am-thereHaving fun with HiFi all over again.
Dream speakers for me; Magico Q7 or fully refurbished Apogee’s, the big ones, or The Apogee as it is called.