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Own many mid-game speakers or a few end-game speakers.

After I got hooked into this hobby I started to have a small collection of speakers each in the $5k-$10k ranges that have various tonal quality and unique characters from each other. It doesn’t feel one speaker is absolutely better than another and they all have their own personalities, and I quite enjoy these diversity for different type of music I listen to (or hearing the same music expressed very differently which is always fun) and I’m always tempted to add more, for example, I recently get excited about Klipsch and want to try their horns which I do not have had any experience of.

But, these things quickly add up and could become endless pursuit, especially consider speakers differ not just in response curves but also in dynamic, decay, sound stage and details that are all hard to emulate with software. I’m trying to limit the max spending I have on speakers. I’m wondering what’s the perspective of upgrading v.s. buying into more diversity in this game. A few questions I have for you is, say you have $60k in budget on speakers new/used and you have infinite rooms (no amp/source), how would you allocate it (from buying 5000 Homepod Minis to one B&W nautilus) and why?
bwang29
gonglee3
304 posts
 

   Obviously the amp plays into what kind of speakers you want - so some even goes as far as to buy only powered speakers...

   I have Krell pre/power amps driving B&W 802D ($63,000 system) and I found out that I enjoy the brute less sophisticated sound of Onkyo Integra m-306 power amp with Acurus pre (which gives a smooth sound) driving Klipsch speakers - rather forward sounding. The later system costs many many times less, so its possible to build a quite enjoyable sound with mid-fi gears if synergy is well achieved. 

   My take on the PM's question is it's fun to have many mid-fi systems everywhere in the house, since different systems do different genre music better, rather than just one uber main system...

dillonlennon
2 posts
 

No, I have no affiliation with them

kota1
2,706 posts
 

@gonglee3 

it's fun to have many mid-fi systems everywhere in the house, since different systems do different genre music better, rather than just one uber main system...

That is exactly what I did with the DTS Play-Fi ecosystem, I have Klipsch in my office, Onkyo in the man cave, DefTech in the bedroom, Paradigm in the kitchen etc. I wanted to dabble and they are all connected through one central software, love it. I still do critical listening in the main system but casual listening is also fun. I can just move the music from the kitchen to the dining room whan I'm done cooking, from the dining room to the living room after dinner, and then to the bedroom later. its great and with a different brand in each room. The Play-Fi software has been upgraded enough where now I actually prefer it over other systems I have tried.

grislybutter
3,003 posts
 

" small collection of speakers each in the $5k-$10k ranges "

"I have had over 450 sets of speakers through my listening room. I once had a gentleman that lived not too far from me trade-in over 50 sets of small speakers that he had accumulated from going to many audio shows and purchasing a set of speakers at the end of each show"

are you guys printing money?

rick2000
464 posts
 

Just get a McIntosh RS-250 for $3000 and be done with it ! 🤔😮 End-Game System 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13NvPoY2FI

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