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After the thrill is gone

I think we all understand there is no “perfect” speaker. Strengths, weaknesses, compromises all driven by the designer’s objectives and decisions. 
 

Whenever we make a new (to us) speaker purchase there is a honeymoon period with the perfect-to-us speaker. But as time wears on, we either become accustomed to the faults and don’t really hear or hear past them, or become amplified and perhaps more annoying or create minor buyers remorse or wanderlust.

I am guessing the latter would be more prevalent when transitioning to a very different design topology, eg cones vs horns vs planars etc.

While I’ve experimented with horns, single drivers, subwoofer augmentation …  I’ve always returned to full range dynamic multi-driver designs. About to do so with planars but on a scale I’ve not done before, and heading toward end game system in retirement.
So I just wonder what your experiences have been once the initial thrill is gone? (Especially if you moved from boxes to planars)

inscrutable
oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,969 posts
 

I haven’t had too many speakers where the honeymoon was over , it was more due to wanting to try something “better “ and most of the time the speaker was better but not always     Some I kept and others were sold to finance their replacement 

 

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,395 posts
 

Ohm Walsh speaker owners seldom have this problem. 😉

inscrutable OP
313 posts
 

Good points all. And not unexpected that folks have ended up in different places. But I wasn’t expecting a clear answer emanating from a burning bush. It is a very subjective hobby/passion. 


I think both @mikelavigne ​​​​ and @soix sorta nail my dilemma … I listen to such a wide range of content that no one type of speaker is intrinsically equally adept, and  a little skeptical that I can achieve what Mike has in this room. Just like the designers, I may have to make a decision on acceptable compromises that apparently I’ve been reluctant to make. Appears that hanging around for 65 years still hasn’t dissuaded me from hunting unicorns.
 

Maybe like @jjss49 I need to keep multiples around 😁 (well, I already do that with some vintage setups). Fortunately, I married a saint, and she actually suggested I buy a couple different ones I THINK I could live with, play with them for a while, and sell off the loser (if there is a clear cut winner). And honestly, she probably won’t care if I keep them both. Just would rather put the effort/expense into optimizing the main rig.

 

Spoiled by rooms I had in past houses with no real constraints. And curse of being a (recovering) engineer over-analyzing everything. I used to be happy listening to anything over a little AM transistor radio, and hot $hit with a 5” Aiwa reel to reel deck. First world problems, I know … 

 

 

 

m-db's avatar
m-db
995 posts
 

Ooo, the retirement end game selection. 

Aside from your audio tastes just remember you gotta look at whatever it is you end up with for some time.  

 

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,523 posts
 

Best way to avoid buyer's remorse is to move up in a big way don't make a side-step or small improvement, make a huge jump. 

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