I have had many speakers in my 2 listening areas in the last 20 years from Martin Logan cls, quad 63, and several magnepan models, and many conventional cone speakers with metal, Kevlar, carbon, and plastic drivers. I am only listing the panel speakers models because the list is short.
My favorite speaker since 2006 has been the harbeth shl5, they were very coherent had good tone and rhythm and decent bass for their size. I have listened to the Wilson Sasha's ,Bowers and Wilkins 800 series, Focal higher end models and many more. What I wanted was a little bit more speed and detail in the midrange, which the harbeth lacked. The problem with most modern speakers were they had the speed and detail, but the only problem was they only sounded great on certain audiophile disc.
My budget for a new set of speakers was about $15,000. I went to many dealer's and audio shows around California and heard things that I liked, but not enough to sell the Harbeths.
I happened to to visit a friend in Ventura who had a pair Tannoy gold speaker and really liked what I heard. We played jazz, progressive rock, pop, soul, and folk. The vintage speaker had touch and dynamics that modern speakers do not, granted they dont image as good as a modern speaker and the highs are not as smooth and extended , but they made me want to pull out every album and cd that my friend had.
When Harbeth came out with their new shl5 plus I was excited When i read the initial reviews, I thought this was probably going to be the speaker I have been waiting for. So when I went to the audio show I can't remember if it was ces or Newport Beach I was shocked to hear them, they sounded brighter and more detailed, but they lost that lovely tone that the old ones had. I stayed in that room for at least an hour and went back a couple of times, but liked the previous model more. I also went to a Harbeth dealer to make sure it wasn't a room or equipment mismatch, but they sounded much like they did at the show. Let me say the new shl5 plus are not bad they sound more modern.
For the last 5 years I have been buying lots of vintage speakers and I have been very happy with the move. They have a sense of scale and touch that many modern speakers do not.
I met Tony about 20 years ago when he worked at audio lab. I heard some of the inexpensive speakers he had modified, and they sounded really great. About 5 years later he started his own speaker line and every time I heard them they sounded really good, but I never pulled the trigger, maybe it was the look it certainly was the sound.
Tony gave me a call earlier in the year to tell me had a new bookshelf speaker he was designing and would I be interested in taking it home for a listen, I said sure. So I get them home and placed them on top of my ns1000m yamahas which I love and start playing some tunes, first cd was Can future days, as soon as the music started I knew this was something special the midrange was huge,the attack and speed were startling. Miles Davis kind of blue Miles was next, his trumpet was right in my face big and bold. Next cd Luciana Souza The new bossa nova, her voice came out big and textured and with that beautiful tone of her voice. Next cd Armageddon, they only made one cd, this is a very dynamic cd, but this speaker handled it perfectly it was punchy, and surprising to me was that there was nothing missing, highs, midrange, and bass, the only thing you could say was the bass didn't have that extension and impact that I get from my ns1000m or my Jbl horns, but that's no big deal considering their size.
The Tonian lab speakers are one of 2 other speakers I am considering, one is the Horning Aristotle and the other is the Devore orangutan 0/96. All three speakers have that ability to play music that have prat. Tony's speakers remind me of a BMW e30m3 or a 2002tii these may not be the fastest cars you can get, but you connect with the vehicle and all you want to do is drive to your next destination and then drive more. I have a pair being made for me it should be ready next month. I will post an update after I get them.
