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

Over the last couple of years I tried three new well regarded speaker pairs and none were as good as what I already had...so if it ain't got the "thrill" after an appropriate break in it's outta here. My current speakers have earned their place.

I must be lucky. I loved my first good speakers, ML SL3 electrostats and they were my mains (with a Velodyne) for 16 years. I loved them the whole time.

I moved into Dynaudio Sapphires and was very happy five years but I'd heard better and got very lucky as I moved into (possible end-game speakers for me) used Raidho D2 small floorstanders. Their sound, room-corrected has thrilled me for six years and I can listen to glorious rich detail with full bass for hours at a time.

I'd be wary of moving in a very different direction to buy an end-game pair. Lots of potential risk is what I suspect. I moved gradually into a speaker type and sound I really love and then got a great pair after fully understanding them.

 

@inscrutable


I’ve been thinking 1.7i, but debating with myself about biting the bullet “buy once, cry once” and get the 3.7i. Will be listening to both in a few weeks, and if the immediacy/dynamics aren’t as disappointing as they have been for some/others, will pick one and move on

i just went from 1.7i to 3.7i (still have both sets, i cannot get myself to part with the 1.7i's...)

both are truly superb, i think which is better is quite room dependent - at the price of the 1.7i it is an unfathomable value for the enjoyment and quality of music it delivers, and as you know, both require specific placement for them to shine

with either, i feel nothing is lacking in the ’immediacy/dynamics’ department... but then again i am fortunate to have excellent supporting equipment/amplification

happy to talk further with you via pm if you’d like, i can share a lot of observations and pointers

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I’m still really happy with my system, but now I have to go listen to the Eagles… thanks for that!