Do any of these interest you at all? (If you had the money)(Which I don't)


128x128mijostyn
thanks for the link, some amazing and quirky stuff to be sure.

Even if I won the lottery, there are only a few I would consider listening to. I would like to SEE many of the fantastic designs, just to appreciate the design, construction, but more like at a museum, not bother listening.

I called a Cicada ugly once, then stopped, realized, it was an amazing creation by mother nature. Nature created the minds that created these, so, ugly or amazing? Perhaps man made synthetic drugs altered nature for some of these.

As an Interior Designer, when I see the various designs, my mind instinctively tries to create an appropriate space. Try it, it can give you 'out of body' experiences.


I would love to hear what those high-end speakers sound like compared to the affordable ones I own.
Lak, If you keep your eyes closed not all that much better. 
Gadios, I have a yellow 911 and in a way you are right. In my case it is because I am tired of getting rear ended. 
Anyway most of this is just one more derivation of the 3 or 4 way dynamic loudspeaker in a fancy enclosure. I have listened to the Lyngdorf speakers and was not impressed. Just in comparing different floor to ceiling line source speakers there is a magic in ESLs that you do not hear in all the others probably due to multiple factors such as no crossover, lowest distortion of all driver types, best impedance match to air, best transient response, and total control of the diaphragm down to molecular levels. There are several line sources in this group but no ESLs. I wonder why. I can only hypothesize. To my mind why would anyone fork up that kind of money for a devices so compromised by their very own design. You can spend $10K building the best crossover ever but no crossover is still better and a lot cheaper. In reality very few of these speakers are sold and I would gander that most of those that are are not sold to people who are discerning audiophiles. I would actually bet that most are sold through interior designers who are trying to fill a space with something.....interesting. I saw that plenty of times when I lived in Miami, Fl. I myself installed a pair of Beveridge ESLs because the designer wanted them. The client had no idea what was going on and could care less how they sounded and I know for a fact the designer was getting a kick back. These people are so rich they just hire a designer to build or remodel a house and never look at the bottom line. 
For those of us that are not filthy rich you can take comfort in the fact that there is more reasonably priced gear that sounds just as good if not better..... as long as you keep your eyes closed.
Very interesting article - thanks for posting.

I went to AXPONA in 2017 and then to the Tampa show in 2018. I heard several amazing six-figure systems that I will never aspire to own but the most important takeaway for me was that my system sounds pretty darn good. Not quite up there with the best but certainly in the ballpark. There were also a few megabuck systems that sounded awful but I'll give them a pass due to show conditions. Most of these systems had cabling and power conditioning that cost more than my entire setup.

I lusted after some of that gear but it was encouraging to see that the price/value curve really flattens out at at the high end of the range. If someone has the money to buy a $1.2 million pair of speakers I don't begrudge them for one minute. They are supporting skilled craftsmen making a living wage producing amazing products. But the exciting thing is that we live in a golden age of audio where we have a huge selection of excellent sounding gear - both new and used - that most people who are serious about the hobby can afford and love.
lak,

"I would love to hear what those high-end speakers sound like compared to the affordable ones I own."
Don't forget, those speakers are affordable to some.