Speakers 10 years old or older that can compete with todays best,
I attend High End Audio Shows whenever I get a chance. I also regularly visit several of my local High End Audio parlors, so I get to hear quite a few different speaker brands all the time. And these speakers are also at various price points. Of course, the new speakers with their current technology sound totally incredible. However, I strongly feel that my beloved Revel Salon 2 speakers, which have been around for over ten years, still sound just as good or even better than the vast majority of the newer speakers that I get a chance to hear or audition in todays market. And that goes for speakers at, or well above the Salon 2s price point. I feel that my Revel Salon 2 speakers (especially for the money) are so incredibly outstanding compared to the current speaker offerings of today, that I will probably never part with them. Are there others who feel that your beloved older speakers compare favorably with todays, newfangled, shinny-penny, obscenely expensive models?
So, to add to my last post...here is a question for the folks on this thread... Is it possible that more experienced a'philes will have enough knowledge/experience of how to put together a system so that it has the least chance ( i'm not saying that all of these folks will not occasionally make mistakes and regress, but also not make obvious mistakes, like ignoring room acoustics, cabling, etc) of in fact going backwards as regards to SQ in their rooms/systems? |
Improving a system is an incremental long process , it was for me... Begininng with synergy between components , and then mechanical, electrical and acoustical embeddings controls and optimization ... In this incremental process , including experiments of various kind, there is error done but they are corrected by being perceived as such by their impact on some acoustic perceived factors... These optimization errors are not costly and anyway you cannot go 10 steps behind when you have reach some synergy between components because only one misstep will affect immediately , timbre , transients, dynamics, spatial chatacteristic of sound , immersiveness , bass , etc and this mistep will be perceived and you will correct it ... The only costly errors that i made was in the journey to reach good synergy between components by reading, and trials and errors etc ...The other errors which was costly was trying to upgrade my already good Sansui alpha 2 months ago for one of the best tube amps... Synergy matter when you upgrade , i learned it the hard way...i return "the upgrade" after one hour ( it was a used one component already broke in ) and i loose so much by post fees, customs, assurance, i call this lesson learned... my system is satifying completely , i tried to upgrade because i want to try this amplifier for 5 years and i wanted to know... Now i know... Dont upgrade when you are completely happy even by curiosity... 😊 In my one year of room acoustic experiments i go from better to better at each step... Each weeks of experiments taught me something and i was in awe because of the improvement each time for 50 weeks but i commited errors i corrected all along the path .... Was it perfect ? No not at all ,but there is not one gram of comparison between the same component in an untreated and especially uncontrolled room acoustically and in the same treated and controlled room... It was not a small change , it was a metamorphosis... The same will be true with better components than mine at any price ... Acoustic laws dont change because of the branded name of each components...It help to have good component or better one but Acoustics had his own laws ... I also experimented with mechanical vibration control with success at low cost... I also experimented with EMI shielding with my own homemade product and ionization , Schumann resonators and even other "tweaks" always with success... Always by homemade or very low cost product ( 10 bucks chinese Schumann resonators for example ).. I recommend creativity through experiments with NO EXPANSE at all or minimalistic ... We must learn not buy ... An error made in the system/room optimization process , is the deviation of the needle on the compass, each errors is corrected to push us in the right direction ... Dont be afraid of errors in experimenting then , but be afraid to PAY too much or to upgrade BEFORE you could know what you are doing ...
If a good satisfying system may cost low amount of money when the component are well chosen , as mine is ;it cost time, as mine had cost me one year full time and even more ... I am retired... Nothing is free ...
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We absolutely believe that higher quality, older speakers (from the mid-70s onward) in good working condition can sound great. We also believe they can benefit from today's technology to sound even better. Check out our video on "Bringing Your Vintage Audio System into the 21st Century": https://youtu.be/WDUhNRzVjzs |
