High Performance Audio - The End?

$$$$ Von Schweikerts are inferior to Moabs?  Sure, go believe that.  Not for me.  I've heard the best VSs in huge rooms sound exquisite on my types of music LP and CD, orchestral classical and jazz, from any seat in the house.   The Moabs are probably on par with my Legacy Signature IIIs and Focuses, different but very good.  Unfortunately, I'm looking for a speaker that has a wide listening area.  The Double Impacts were on par with most electrostats in that regard with one person speaker sitting centered only.  Resolution was on par with 30 year old, well designed speakers.  Good value for the money for a new speaker but not even close to VS speakers.  The Lumenwhite speakers are superior to the Tektons.  Sure the best speakers cost much more, but sometimes one gets what they pay for.

Agree, there probably are better speakers than Moabs for background music.

deep_333, you haven't compared the Moab in your home to anything, and you have the Adante working with subs to make it offer even a passable serious floor standing performance. Further, if you did not compare the speakers with the precise same system, then you have no direct comparison. It appears that you used entirely different gear with the other speakers. 

That means you have no direct comparisons; at least that is what can be ascertained from what you have shared. Ergo, you have little to nothing in the way of direct comparison. Consequently, your posts are of little value. The hype combined with sarcasm are trotted out in place of actual experience. Here's a piece of wisdom you need to repeat until it sinks in:

It is ONLY when speakers are compared directly, with the same gear, in the same room, that a reasonable judgment can be made as to the absolute performance of each speaker. 

Obviously, when you put $30K of pre/amp ahead of it, a speaker will shine brilliantly, at least as far as its capabilities allow. I have done so many times, but that in no way makes the budget speaker somehow a far superior speaker. I have used the Pass Labs XA200.8 Monos (reviewed for Dagogo.com) with speakers such as the Tri-Art Audio Series B 5 Open, which, BTW, at about $5K would in several aspects of performance outperform the Adante. That is an absolute fact, not opinion, as the observation is based on design of the speakers, not subjective assessment. 

My conclusion is that you have little to no actual comparison of gear, which is why your posts are loaded with hype. The fact is, you have NO clue how the Moab, and little clue how the Adante ACTUALLY would compare; you pretend you know, which means you are full of the hubris that plagues this hobby. Until you get a couple of speakers side by side, you can make all the claims you want - and it's worth just about zero. If you cannot moderate your arrogance, and admit you have far less experience than you pretend, I am finished discussing with you. 

To the community: I am making no absolute judgment of the Moab or Adante, as I have not heard them in my room, nor compared them directly to other speakers. That other speakers such as the Tri-Art 5 Open would likely outperform the Adante in terms of bass, i.e. bass extension, and perhaps preference of bass quality due to being open baffle, should be obvious. If not, please do not open an argument over it, because I am not interested in arguing that observation.  :)

@douglas_schroeder , you’re wrong on all counts again Doug.

I am the kinda guy who likes to add and reap the benefits of good subs to a 80k TAD or a Revel or a Wilson or other $$$$speakers out there that claim to be full range. I add subs to a 5k speaker (the Adante), use the same electronics on it that i use on speakers that cost magnitudes more and had a realization that it sounds better than the speaker that costs magnitudes more. You, on the other hand, sound like the kinda guy who would pay 80k for a supposedly "full range" speaker, not add subs and have a inferior listening experience.

I know what a 120k system sounds like in my house. When i stop by my doc’s house and listen to his 4.5k Moab paired with his electronics, i hear everything in his setup that i’m looking for in a system that costs magnitudes more. I don’t have to bring that Moab into my house and A/B it on my gear to certify that it sounds like something that costs magnitudes more.

You sound like the kinda guy who would claim a) there is no difference in competence levels among engineers who design these things and b) there are no diminishing returns in this vulture filled industry. You "get what you pay for" he says!!...Go fool the intellectually challenged goats with fat wallets out there with that crap. I have a feeling that’s your line of work. In fact, you state you have neither heard the Adante or the Moab in a competent setup, but, you’re quick to run your mouth like some all knowing seer eh Doug?

Put 20 engineers in a room. You think all 20 of them have the same aptitude because they went to the same frat, have the same degree and exposure to the industry? No Dougy no, there’s always a genius and a ’non value added’ cretin in that pool, when you’re trying to run a business.

You’re wrong on all counts again Douglas.

Steve's point, and it's one I've seen mentioned many times previously at shows and demos, is that better more revealing systems will often only serve to make most recordings sound worse.

Regarding this comment, I've found that the better systems that are also very transparent will not make a bad recording worse, they simply play it without editorial. However, if something is amiss in the system, then the recordings may well sound worse. So IME some real scrutiny has to be applied to what is considered 'more revealing'!