Which one to choose between two 80K$ tube amps?

@mglik

Thanks for your recommendation.

I had listened to many Avant-garde speakers at dealer showroom.

They have too much coloration out of horn to my taste.

I am going to get WE vintage horn system.

The problem is they cost 300k$ or so to get a good one( not replica, no recommendation of replica please, I want genuine vintage one).

I had better stop spending money on small gadgets and save money for my dream one.

What particular vintage WE horn system are you looking at?  Are you looking for a complete vintage system, or are you looking to build a system from vintage drivers and horns?  I have heard many systems built from vintage drivers and horns and these can be very nice. 

But, as far as sound quality goes, there is no reason to avoid considering replicas made by G.I.P. Laboratories; they make terrific replicas of Western Electric field coil drivers.  These replicas cost about as much as genuine vintage drivers.  They make a few updated and improved versions of certain Western Electric drivers, but, these are exorbitantly priced.  I have heard the upgraded version of the 597 tweeter and it is very good (the upgraded tweeter sells for $58,000 for a pair).

I have a sort of modern system, based on old school design.  It uses twin 12" woofers with alnico magnets, and pleated paper surrounds in a Onken bass reflex cabinet.  The midrange compression driver is a Western Electric 713b (my favorite driver) feeding a Western Electric KS 120125 horn.  The tweeter is a Fostex bullet-type tweeter.  I am having a crossover designed around Western Electric paper in oil capacitors built for me.  I will probably also upgrade the wiring of the speaker (Audio Note silver wire).

@larryi


No recommendation for replica.


I had listened to GIP in Korea but not my cup of tea.

I want a complete vintage system with original box.

Actually I had listened to one in Seoul, Korea 2 years ago for 2 hours and I liked it.

But I could not shell out 300K $ at that time.

I need to save money before searching  one.

My Lansche 4.1 is pretty good for modern speaker.

Thus I may wait until I save enough money.

I do not consider any other options including modern horn.

What Western Electric system did you hear?  With the exception of the Western Electric 753 and 757, they did not make many complete systems.  It was more the case of someone assembling a system from components.  Do you recall what components or system you heard?

The same can be said of G.I.P. drivers, they have to be assembled by someone into a system. How someone did this makes all the difference and you cannot judge the drivers as good or bad based on any one particular assembly.  G.I.P. does make very expensive systems, utilizing their own cabinets and drivers; I have not heard any such system and I don't know what they sound like.