Speaker that are 'KEEPERS" for the long haul!!!


For years and years, I brought in a multitude of different speakers into my listening room, never really being truly, completely satisfied with any of them. So the speaker merry-go-round went on and on, until I finally found the speakers that put all of that to rest. Not only was I dissatisfied, I was also going broke in the process. All that buying and selling was killing me and stressing me out, as well. It was the Revel Salon 2 speakers that finally got the job done for me. Once I got my hot little hands on the Revel Salon 2 speakers, it was all over. Now, I have absolutely no desire to switch out the Salons for anything else. The Revel Salon 2 speakers covered all the sonic bases for me, truly capturing my imagination, from top to bottom, like none of the others completely did. I get to hears all the new speakers at dealers and at shows, and they all sound just awesome, too.  But, still, for my money, the Salons 2s are the ones (they’re just that good). The Revel Salon 2 speakers turned out to be all the speaker I think I’ll ever need, and will be with me for the duration. For which, my ears and my wallet thank me.

kennymacc

I see there are four other Legacy speaker owners.  I have Signature IIIs in my living room and Focuses in my main listening room hooked up to a high end system in a high end custom listening room.  The Focus speaker, for the price used (even in 2000 when I paid $3600) was/is a bargain.  It has fabulous qualities overall for all types of music.  I have hooked them up to custom 125 w. push pull Class A/B voltage regulated amps-plenty of control for 6-12" woofers.  Great body/tone/dynamics.  These never were meant to be my end all speaker.  

What they lack is significant for me.  They do not disappear (although out of the box sound is achievable with well mastered recordings), dispersion is limited with best seat in the center (I have a big problem sharing music with others due to this limitation) and ambiance retrieval is limited.  My favorite speaker for my system is a Von Schweikert Ultra 7; unfortunately, out of my pay scale at $180,000 despite my listening room costing $150,000 4 years ago.  

So, I have compiled a list of potentially adequate speakers and my requirements listed below.  Comments are appreciated as I have not heard these speakers yet.

Acora Acoustics SC-2      $37K

Zellaton Plural Evo          $70K

Songer Audio S-2            $39.2K or $49K

Aequo Adamantis           $33,450

Rockport Cygnus             $62.5K

Tannoy Canterbury         $17.5K

Tannoy Westminster      $27.5K

What I am missing from – 1. Wide dispersion/seating 2. Speakers disappear 3. Ambience

  1. beautiful midrange for voice/body
  2. dynamic
  3. relatively easy to drive
  4. good resolution (not microscopic, not missing musical info)
  5. PRAT
  6. Full range for piano (27-39 Hz lowest 7 notes
  7. Not too far into room (3’ from walls)
  8. Good imaging (not oversized, not undersized)

                                  I dislike Wilsons (too intense after 10-15 minutes), Magico (uninvolving), YG, B&W, etc. speakers which are more akin to sonic microscopes than musical reproduction.  I do not want difficult to drive speakers which require massive power (thanks for informing me about Revels).  I do not want single person speakers (akin to headphone listening).  Thanks!  See my audio equipment /room for details

Keepers I still currently use:

Joseph Audio Pearl 3

Altec Flamenco (with upgraded crossovers)

JBL L220 (with upgraded crossovers)

The Joseph give you everything audiophile on a plate, while sounding tonally beautiful. They also give the most beautiful "picture" of a performance I have heard. Not genre specific at all.

The Flamenco just have a dynamic presence that is hard for me, to be without. This box/horn speaker disappears so very well, and is very coherent. Kind of crazy what they can do, and there is no question about what kind of each instrument is playing. It is there, obvious, in the room.

The JBL pop a center image that is hauntingly real, standing there, touchable. Excellent vocal speaker. They remind me of a time I heard some TAD speakers in a studio. You can just touch everything in front of you. See everything that is going on.

Each of these provide emotion first for me, HiFi second, and seemingly easy. That emotion part is the hard thing for a lot of speakers I have heard get right.

My Cornwall 4's are like a cool old uncle who talks a good game but will go to the Great Beyond sooner or later.

Analysis Audio Orions. Made me do what I thought I'd never do, sell my IRS Betas. As big as the Betas sounded, the Analysis dwarf them in size and sound; all but the low end impact which Rels address. They are brutes with finesse. Huge and deep sound stage obviously, but also image precisely. Close your eyes and you are there.

I switch back and forth between a set of the original Spendor S3/5 speakers and a set of Harbeth P3 ES2.  Both are lovely sounding speakers, if you do not feel the need for subterranean bass.