Whats your speaker Journey??

I had a little think today about which pair of speakers I started on and what i have now and I've actually upgraded my main speakers a staggering 9times!! Considering im only 20 and have only been into hifi for about 5years thats quite a few boxes!

Kenwood Class A mini system with Kenwood speakers (very good fun at the time, nice coloured bouncy sound with boomy bass-loved it!)

Eltax Monitor V £180 rrp haggled at RS and got them for £90 Not bad apart from the low quality tweeter couldnt handle very high notes and crackled :newbie:

Mission 702e more controlled sound than the Eltax's...until the front baffle began to rattle-very flat and bland speakers overall...back then mission was a desirable brand to me, especially over Eltax!

Mission m73 although i eventually disliked these speakers, i was extremely happy with them to begin with. Bass appeared to go deep but it was just the boom and it really lacked mid bass thwack. Treble was also quite bright and midrange was recessed

Mission m71 I still rate these speakers highly now as 1 of the great small budget standmounts-fast, punchy and quite detailed- a snip at £60!

B&W 602 s3 My 1st serious speaker- Much Bigger in size and sound- treble did get harsh occasionally with rough recordings but for most it was extremely detailed and the bass was quite impressive. Plenty of headroom and well built. Did sound amazing with certain tracks. Must try some higher end B&W's in the future...

Mission m53 I was well impressed by these when i 1st got them and still am-bass does go extremely deep-not far off my Rel actually... Md range is smooth if slightly coloured but very listenable and treble is not as detailed as the B&W's but also less harsh. Great for rock and dance music and has a fair stab at subtler stuff, i reckon these will sing in a bigger room.

Tannoy Sensys DC1 I absolutely love these speakers and it was unfortunate that they got damaged- sounded bloody good with the right music, really miss them. Treble is the best that i have ever heard thanks to the quality super stweeter- the level of extension and airiness was truly unmatched by any speakers i have owned including the JM labs ive replaced them with... Bass wasnt the strongest around but it was agile and vocals were crisp and natural. Paired with the Rel it made some very nice sounds. I am too skint to get them fixed at the moment but once i get some spare cash i will fix that tweeter and do some A/B comparison with the JM labs. ( any1 want to sponser a poor student so he can fix his speakers £46.25

Focal JM lab Electra 905 Mixed bag these, as they retailed for £1200 i dont think my kit is good enough for them but i am still quite happy with the results im getting at the moment. But obviously my kit is good enough if it can sing and sound better(in some areas) with the Tannoys? The most impressive attribute has to be the bass-to begin with it was a tad boomy but with some sand filling and careful positining it has become the punchiest bass ive achieved yet! Digs to around 35hz too which isnt bad for a standmount. Vocals do sound pretty good and i have been stunned by certain tracks recenlty as i have played around with them properly the last few days. The treble isnt quite as airy as the Tannoys but is refined and clean enough. Gonna treat them 2 a better amp when i start earning full time but i may well keep the tannoys and sell them once i get them fixed and do a proper test

Ultra

 

Started with a little pair of active sonys running off a discman... hifi? I think not...

B&W DM2

My grandparent's old speakers. I probably underrated these speakers significantly, but they were very old and could probably have done with some new drivers. They weren't exactly room-friendly either... They went for...

B&W DM602s1

I kept these speakers for nearly 8 years. One of the earliest pairs off the production line (Something like 3498th pair? Will can check as he's got them now). They saw two CD players, three amplifiers and numerous cables. Eventually the hardware outclassed them and I heard something that opened my eyes to...

Meadowlark Kestrel Hotrod

For the money I paid for these they have no earthly right to sound anything like as fantastic as they do. Best speaker ever... no, they have their weaknesses and I have heard better. However, nothing better that I've heard has been at anything remotely like the rrp of the kestrels, let alone what I paid.

Nothing I've heard since has persuaded me to move the speakers on.

 

Mordaunt Short Carnival 3.
From 1986 to 1991, great little pair of two way bookshelf loudspeakers.

JPW AP3.
From 1991 to 2002, big old pair of infinite baffle two way standmounters.

Heybrook Sextet.
From 2002 to date, big and bluff three way floorstanders with those wonderful Tonigen Ribbon Tweeters.

 

potted history....
Ram Bookshelf Monitors
Chartwell Pm110mkII....still using them bought new in 1981.
Lintons....diseceted and rebuilt
Ruark Broardswords...first serious speaker
Home built folded horn to se what the fuss was about
Home built transmisson line with Audax drivers to my own design
Home built transmission line based on the previous design but with a driver kit, kevlar one from Wilmslow
Martin Logan Aerius i's so ! came up on the premium bonds.

 

Mission 700 leading edge - first speakers which lasted me about 5 years, still doing backup duty for my parents and will reappear later in the list.

The wilderness years - a selection of mini and midi systems culminating in a top of the range technics rig which didn't actually sound too bad. sold it to a mate where it's still doing sterling work.

B&W CDM7NT's always wanted some b&w's after hearing my dad's pair went well with my 1st little naim system and my flat but when i moved they didn;t really like the new room.

mission 700 le's yup the same ones did temporary duty for a mont hor 2 after i sold the 7's and was playing mad professor.

IPL s5tl's after hearing a few pairs of speaker with big cones i knew i had to have some however on a limited budget the only answer was diy. the ipl's were always talked about positively and described as 'fun' by most who'd heard them. took me about a month and 1/2 to build but it could have been quicker if i'd spent more than an hour a night. sound fantastic to my ears and are only really beaten by some very expensive designs. the real advantage though is that they still have more potential to come via various tweaks but tbh i just can;t be arsed at the moment.
cheers

julian.

 

Started off with...
Thorn 3 way speakers, made by Goodmans. Picked them up from a car boot sale for £4. Great sound, but the foam surrounds perished. Very cheap way into hifi though.

Leak Mini Sandwichs. Great speakers. Treble way too bright to be used with modern kit. Bought for only £2 from boot sale as seller didn't know what they were! They are still being used. Bargain

QLN 111. Fantastic little speakers. Bass down unbelievably low for such small boxes (30cm tall). Bought locally. Loved really really high end sources. Midrange not that superb and definetly bettered by...

Mordaunt Short MS30i Classics. Reduced from £600 to £200. Superb bass. Midrange still too recessed though. But got me hooked on Mordaunt Shorts. Led to

Mordaunt Short Performance 860s. From the same source, reduced from £2000 to £600. My first high end speaker. held onto them for over a year! Bass flat down to 25hz. Treble was tad unrefined though and again, midrange not terribly prominent. Nice speakers though

Celestion Kingstons. £2500 new. Bit of a rarity. Very impractical from a weight point of view. Very analytical. Superb stereo image, treble and midrange. Bass wasn't very hot and were very demanding of amps

JM Labs Electra 905s. £1200 new. Fantastic midrange- the joint best i've heard with the Kingstons and Vaessens. Treble...could be sibilant but we're not talking úber high end here guys. As Ultra said,good bass. Nicely made, too

Vaessen Boxs. £3500 new. Just superb really. I didn't think studio monitors could be fun. Fast, revealing, responsive. Insanely deep bass- deeper than a 12" Ruark powered sub.

 

Edited with a 2007 version:

- Tanny Mercury 1s (circa 1980). Still in use with a friend
- Musical Fidelity MC4 stand mounts. Much better than the brand would suggest.
- Linn Kabers
- Impulse Lali
- Impulse Ta'us
Next up would probably be a pair of Avant Gardes, but as they cost a fortune and look pig ugly, it's not going to happen soon.

 

Pair of Sony speakers on an FH-B70CD bookshelf system from 1991-1999. This system actually sounded pretty good and could give a lot of micros a run for their money in this day and age.

Mission m70s - orginally used with a Sony TA-FE230 amp for about 9 months or so. Heard in a shop demo one lunchtime when deciding what speakers to get for my first proper hifi rig and was damn impressed by them. I previously always thought the bigger the box, the better the sound! Then upgraded to a Yamaha HTR-5540RDS AV amp that I'm still using today. Ran the m70s as a 2 channel setup for around 20 months or so.

Mission m30s - In use since January of this year, serving duty as my rear speakers. m70s are still in use as fronts.

Both sets of Missions give a great sound for my small room and furnishing/room space limitations, so don't plan on changing them just yet. I suspect they would even impress if they were in a larger room on stands. No centre speaker, as I've no space for one and certainly no need for subwoofer, as bass is plenty for my liking, as well as not wanting to disturb anyone on the floor below me.

 

First decent Hi-Fi was running out a pair of KHF something I dunno... they were hand me downs from my Dad when he got the Mission's.

That got me into this Hi-Fi lark and I then got a pair of Mordaunt-Short MS25i's for my 12th (I think) Birthday.

After that I got a set of Monitor Audio GR10's which I still think are one of the most enjoyable speakers under £1000

Now at 18years old I am currently on a pair of PMC AML1's which are active and to be honest don't have a strong point because they have the best everything I have ever heard form a stand mount speaker.. bass extension, detail, imaging, soundstaging... I think the soundstaging is a little limited on my system in respect to overall size but I feel thats due to my small room more than anything.

In the future I would like to own a set of the bigger PMC's like the MB2 or BB5 actives. I drool over the IB2's as well but they are not active so....

 

1976 Home made reflex based on KEF B200 and Peerless DT10HFC.
(Some friends of mine still have these!)
1977 Home made reflex based on Realistic (Isophon) drivers.
1978 Home made reflex based on KEF B200 and Peerless KO10DT.
1979 Home made IB based on Realistic (Isophon) drivers in a bigger box with a time aligned baffle.
1980 Realistic X100 (IB, 12" bass, horn loaded mid and treble, terrific punch, great fun)
1986 Wharfedale Diamond (mk 1 - good for a small room if placed near a corner)
1988 Realistic Mach 2 (15" bass, 4" mid and biradial slot horn tweeter, great fun with my class A Marantz PM80 but not exactly high end)
1991 B&W DM600 (mk 1 - could be a bit shrill - damn metal tweeters)
1995 TDL RTL3 (dreadful - all boom and tizz)
1997 Mission 731i (terrific)
1999 Mission 773e (terrific)
2003 Castle Conway 3 (terrific)

 

Speakers for my ages in hifi development were...

18 - Cerwin Vega. Sounded rather LOUD in the garden whilst playing basketball. Handy for parties too. Driven with cheap Yamaha gear. It's car audio for the lounge. Very crude but it hooked me into this whole game.

22 - Acoustic Energy AE1. First sensible step, linked up with new cyrus.

23 - Dynaudio drivers in custom enclosure. Still with the cyrus gear and sounded great in my old lounge.

26 - Cyrus cls70 rather briefly. Bit dull in retrospect. Girlfriend wanted them really. Now only used as spare dust gatherer.

28 - Wilson Benesch Arc with REL Q400E sub. First proper high fidelity sounds. Given me a taste of what is really possible. Slippery slope. Anyway this is all sold now, making way for...

30 - Now want to buy mostly PMC IB2. Other options include AVI Brio or maybe the active ATC 50's with a sub, possibly velodyne or a volt driver based. Thinking about using benchmark dac1, Audio Research 25mk2 valve pre or full Bryston equipment.That will be the end of box upgrades for good. Next stage will be spending much more effort exploring music.

 

Some god awful Yamaha 3 way things with shiny bits

JPW Mini monitors with sub, good fun at the time

JPW P1, much the same as above but just 2 box's

Mission 773i, hmm

Dynaudio Contour 1.1, cracking little speakers but i wanted more room filling

Meadowlark Kestrel hotrods, ill echo what Isaac said.

 

1. My first speakers were Celestion Ditton 15s, bought new and loved from 1976. Very full sound that helped me appreciate vinyl and FM/stereo radio that I had also bought with first major pay packet. (rrp £110 in 1976)
(1a. Extra pair of speakers were AR, not sure which model, bought s/h for first daughter, and now in flat by third daughter.)

2. Was successfully persuaded to 'get real' and buy a more modern pair of speakers, the JMLab Electra 905s, bought s/h from local shop. Much tighter in the bass, lovely mid-range and sweet top - sold on QED Silver Ann, cables as they were too bright at the top. (rrp £1200)

3. Took opportunity to move to floorstanders with s/h epos es22s, bought s/h from Shrink who was on the upgrade to the epos es30- similar mid-range to Electra 905s , slightly softer top but deeper bass. higher waf value now 'those black stands have gone'. (rrp £1100)

 

Linn Keilidhs and I've still got them.

they've been upgraded from passive to 3 way active but I've never really thought of getting rid of them. Bit boring really - I must be happy with my amps and speakers as they haven't changed in the last 5 years

Helped a non-hifi friend put a system together recently and was quite an eye opener going out and listening to gear again after all this time. He bought some PMCs and I have to admit that if I was looking at a new system I'd start with some these. Really excellent speakers.

 

My speaker journey?
A14 - buy SF Grand Pianos
A14 - return home and install
That's it - told you I was boring

 

List is long and growing but it's kind of fun to remember!

Kef Coda 3
Heybrook HB1
Mission 737
MS 352
Spendor SP3
Rogers LS7
Magnaplanar SMGa
Linn Isobarik
HH Pro200
Wharfdale 705

Long Gap...

Kef Coda 7
Proac Tablette 50
Proac Studio 150
Dynaudio Audience 40
Proac Response 1.5
Dynaudio Crafft
Proac Response 3.8
Martin Logan Ascent
JM Labs Mini Utopia
Proac Response D15
Merlin VSM Millenium
Proac Response 1sc
Added JBL subwoofers -
Dynaudio Micron
Proac Response D100
back to Response 1sc
back to Merlin VSM Millenium
Proac Future 0.5

To be continued......

 

Over the past 30-odd years:

Goodmans RB35s
Mordaunt-Short MS20s (still in use in second system)
Castle Chesters.

That's yer lot, unless you count the Velodyne sub.

 

Hi,

Well, it all started in a quaint little country behind the seven seas, the seven mountains and the great wall of Berlin over 30 Years ago. I'll have a hard time remembering EVERY loudspeaker I owned in the time, but I'll mention some who I remember more than others....

Back 30 Years ago I was knee high to a duck and we had this georgeous old Valve Radio, mono of course, with a very large enclosure an a pair of 8" Fullrange speakers in an open back box. The name of the various stations on the big frequency scale. The many keys with the sound registers, Jazz, Classical and so on. And the sound, warm, full, pleasant, great dynamics and most of all real. We had also a modern Stereo Turntable, build in Transistor Amp and moderate speakers... It sounded like hammered shit, no matter how you rotateted the "bass" knob and "treble" knob. I started by getting an uncle who was an EE to help me hook the cartridge output from that turntable into the old valve radio.

Next I build a few Kits and made a pair of speakers from old Radio Speakers and plywood. Four yreas later I build my first "serious" stereo, from scratch using largely kits and homemade stuff where non where available. I build Speakers with Tesla (CZ) 8" Woofers and Videoton (Hungary) 2" Midrange Domes and 1" Tweeters. The Amplifier was around 50W and the Tuner was the masterpiece, Digital frequency readout, very sensitive and all. Completely solid state of course....

When I started earning money during holidays and such I started buying ready made gear. For a while I had east german made 2 Way speakers, a Rema Toccata receiver and a really nice east german suspended chassis, belt drive turntable plus an Akai 3-Head Casette Deck. I then picked up some russian S-90 (copy of a rather nice Sony Speaker - 10" Vented Woofer, 5" Midrange, 1" Tweeter) and later I upgraded the speakers later to a pair of Coral B-1201, a unusual but pretty nice pair of speakers using a 12" and 8" Woofer, 5" wideband midrange, 3" Cone tweeter and two hornloaded supertweeter, around 100db/1W/1m sensitivity too. That system saw me through the Poly.

The next big step was when I started working for the company that made studio mixing desks in east germany. One of the old guy's there took me along to his place, he had loads of records and the most peculiar sound system. He used old 8" Radio Speaker (full-range) in huge cornerloaded reflex boxes (sandfilled walls too) with a home re-bild console amp using EL84 in Single Ended, same turntable as I had, nice Japanese Tuner (Kenwood?).

It sounded so great, I got me some Schulze KSP-215 Fllranger, later doubled them up, got some Studio Valve Amp's. Next Step where Schulze TH-315 12" Coaxial Studio Monitors and I picked up a pair of EV DIY Speakers that where more or less like the Klipsch Cornwall.

After hearing the fully active MEG RL-900 Studio Monitor (with a 5" Midrange, 1" Dome and 15" Woofer) I started tinkering with my own active speakers, I used then brand new chip-amp's (what goes around comes around) a Schulze 5" wideband midrange and dual RFT 8" Woofers plus a Supronyl Dome tweeter. Overall each driver had it's own chamber (sealed) and own amplifiers all in a rather currentish looking tall tower.

The starting point was a SGS Thomson application note with the active crossovers looped around the power amplifier chips, later I added my own design discrete active x-over (which I sold to quite a few PA system operators at the time) and started playing with current drive and negative feedback. I ended up using a small electret microphone as feedback element on the woofers and using current drive on midrange and tweeter, by that time it was not much worse than the big MEG but I still preferred the sound of valves and the Schulze Koaxials or my EV Speakers....

Around that time conditions in east germany became so bad, I decided it was tim to pull the plug and quietly slipped out via Hungary and Austria. The next few years where dominated by JBL control 5's I had Bose 901's for a brief period and was auditioning Martion Horns and ACR Klipschorns, but I was moving around too much (DJ'ing and doing some studio work), I simply never quite got around to a "real" stereo untill I sorta got stuck in London.

I worked at the "Music & Video" exchange for a while as engineer and bought quite a few pieces of gear from there, went through a range of speakers untill I had some Sony ES Monitors with a large square Woofer and a Dome tweeter, rounded sides, pretty rare, the TAD 15" * 2" Horn/Driver combo where just too big for my digs then.

After hearing some Kondo (Audio Note Japan) gear at an aquaintances place with Wilson Watt/Puppy I liked them, but felt I could come close with a DIY copy, which I duly build.

These where followed by Beauhorn Virtuoso Horns, later by my own speakers with Goodmans Axiom 80 & Axiom 201 Full Range Speakers, I had Tannoy 15" Coaxials in Corner York enclosures next.

These had to go for my wedding and I switched to my own (now commercial) open baffle design with 8" Fullrange Drivers which are "High Fidelity" versions of 1950's Radio Fullrange Drivers, now with a fieldcoil magnet driver.

So, over 30 Years I have come full circle. I started at 8" Radio Full Rangers with single ended valve Amp's (if build into a radio) and I have returned there in a torterous and twisted course. And guess you what! Guess you what? They still sound great after all these years.

Ciao T

PS, added a little later after contemplating the list....

I have never owned for any length of time speakers with a woofer smaller than 8", the one exception (Bose 901's) lasted about 2 month and I really regretted being suckered in by the salesman, expensive but well learned lesson.

I have never owned for any length of time speakers with a sensitivity below 90db/W/m and the majority have all been in the 95db/W/m or higher class.

I have never owned truely big speakers (my wife might have though the Tannoy's big, but actually they aren't).

I never got on with really excotic speakers well enough to buy them (Electrostatics, Planars etc.).

 

First off around 1984 ish - Boston A40 small bookshelf, very lively. Hooked up with my first "proper" system - Creek 4040(i think-it was the first one) amp and Systemdek 11X.

Next up Ruark Templar MK11. Very nice room friendly speaker, amps were now Exposure 7/8.

Stayed with Ruark for next step: Talisman. Lovely speaker, terrific finish oversaw transition from Eposure amps to Audio Analogue Bellini/ Donizetti.

Looking for a speaker to handle long term system upgrades went for Audio Physic Spark MK2. Smart looking speaker, took a while to get positioned right in new abode but eventually sorted it out, amps staged upgrade to CJ PV-10 and current Audions.

Last change forced by house move. Smaller rooms so away from floorstanders and after much to do ended up with current Von Schweikert VR-1 on Tallis stands choice dictated as much by room requirements as anything else. Amps now Audions and Music First Passive. Must say I'm probably happier with this set up than with the APs (although the only components left from that set up are the Audion so comparisons are a bit unfair) but maybe in the end a sort of "downwards" upgrade!

 

Given that I have been into hifi for 23 years or more, the least changed part of my system over the years has been the speakers.

Here goes:

First real pair of speakers JPW P1's used with an Akai Midi Seperates System, then used with a QED A240SA. Nice budget speakers.

Musical Fidelity MC1 - Excellent speakers used with MF B200 Amp and finally an Audio Innovations Series 500 valve Amp.

Mission 752 used with Audiolab 8000S & 8000P - Again excellent speakers still used as rears in my current system.

For the past nine years I have used AVI Positrons - I am very happy with these speakers and have no plan in swapping them. They are currently used very successfuly with a Tag Mclaren AV32R processor and biamped by two Audiolab 8000P's.