Sold speakers you really enjoyed?... But why?

Have heard the Rockports now and I enjoyed them very much. Honestly, though for the money, the Vandersteens for me are still as good as anything else. I've heard them on different amps and no matter what they are revealing, stage, image and are flat out musical. I'm into just wanting to enjoy music as this point in my life. I go to concerts to enjoy the music and listen for every mic movement or breath. It has to be there of course and in a great speaker it will be. Vandy gives me even more information than most as it's designed that way. there are a lot of good speakers out there, but some real dogs for me. Many of the dogs are the speakers everyone is talking about or posting in this thread about. I often wonder if our ears are that much different or if folks just don't listen or have never heard a proper set up. Coherency is lacking in so many speakers and most of the upper ranges make my ears bleed. Some are just toooo rolled off. I can't believe that people don't spend the money on cables and amps too. it's a system and I've heard less expensive speakers sound awesome with more money being put into cables and amps/front ends than getting very expensive speakers and using average components at best. Even at the dealers they are often pushing you into higher priced speakers and less expensive amps/cables/front ends. If your speakers are good, they will keep getting better and better with major upgrades. Even the smaller Vandy's have sounded awesome with some major Ayre gear and higher end AQ cables. That told me a lot about the speaker. Most dealers I have gone into have said to get the most expensive speaker you can and then save on the other gear. I bet that most audiophiles never get everything out of their speakers that they can. Just a guess.

"I bet that most audiophiles never get everything out of their speakers that they can. Just a guess."

I totally agree with you Ctsooner. Although I haven't owned nearly as many speakers as some have I can say without reservation that I have left few stones unturned before giving up or moving on. I also had a pair of Vandersteen 2Cs for many years. After moving I spent 5 years trying to get them to sound like they did in the previous room. I couldn't and moved on. I went through 3 speakers several amps, pre-amps and assorted cabling in about as many years before coming to the conclusion that it was the room. Changed rooms and viola, music! If not for that room issue I might still have those Vandies, who knows? By that time I was bitten by the bug and once that happens it can't be turned off. Even so I still take the approach that when you find something you like or sounds right it is more than a little worthwhile to explore all options before moving on.

"I bet that most audiophiles never get everything out of their speakers that they can. Just a guess."

Most people will not.

Smart audiophiles probably have the best odds, but not always, at least early on.

What Mapman said.

I love my Reference 3A De Capo BE's, but I'm pretty certain I haven't gotten all I could out of them. If I had a dedicated listening room I'd look at room treatments that would probably milk even more performance out of them.

The issue first raised by " Ctsooner", and reiterated by Tubegroover and other members is worthy of its own separate thread

Nevertheless, "getting the most from my speakers" is a haunting fear a large majority of audiophiles struggle with, whether they still own that "favorite" speaker or regretfully sold it.

Either way, the quest can burn a person out. I think I know what I need to max out the performance of my speakers; unfortunately, at this point, I either can't find it with qualitative better speaker cable, and a high-end CD player. How much improvement of the speaker?? Who knows, even if it could be measured. Another problem is that speaker manufacturers are reluctant to recommend a speaker cable based on their own experience and from voicing their product, but don't want to generally offend the other cable manufacturers.

Yea, we all know, everything is system or synergy dependent, so the consumer is generally left sitting with his thumbs up his/her butt unless they want to play "The Cable Merry Go Around"

There is NO REST FOR THE WEARY, and obsessive audiophile.