Why must I buy speakers???

[JSP]

perhaps we need a 12 step program for our self help!

I first cought this afflication many years ago, and have been suffering continiously ever since - it all started with the ESS AMT "sound as clear as light". Super clean highs. Things were fine for many years, until I picked up a pair of KG4's at a garage sale, the decent into horn heavan/hell has been an obsessioin ever since, from there I determined a bigger hit was needed and decended into the Cornwall underworld.

That dose seemed to hold my craving for horn nirvana for awhile...untill that fatefull day at a garage sale when the altec struck...since then I have been a hopeless lost sole... now the horns from altec have taken over my HT with 806/811's 416's left, right and center. Will I ever transend this neverending need for more an more dBs?

[:$]

[DU73]

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

awesome that looks

[seti]

Artto, I agree with your room statement. It took me longer to get the room right than anything else. Look after the room and the rest will follow.

I've only bought three pairs of speakers since joining this forum. Actually I joined this foum a short time after getting my Belle's and about two years ago I got my Klipschorns. Big Klipsch sound best []

[wuzzzer]

Man, thinking back I've changed a ton of things in my system:

Started with a Definitive Technology Dolby Pro-Logic system with a Klipsch KV-1 center speaker. The KV-1 was pretty much the only Klipsch speaker I could afford at the time so I bought it because my best friend loved Klipsch.

Ended up selling all those speakers to buy a pair of RF-25s.

Sold the RF-25s and Definitive Tech sub to buy a pair of RF-7s.

Sold the RF-7s to buy a pair of Forte IIs.

Bought an SVS 16-46 PC-Plus sub.

Upgraded the crossover networks in the Fortes.

Bought a pair of Quartets, sold one and kept the other for a center speaker

Bought a pair of RS-42s as side surrounds.

That's just the speaker side of it:

Originally had a Sony STR-D1011S Dolby Pro-Logic receiver. Awesome thing, super heavy. Loved it.

Got rid of the Sony and bought a Harman/Kardon 730 vintage receiver.

Sold the H/K and bought a new Harman/Kardon HK 3480 two channel integrated amp.

Sold the H/K and bought a Sonic Impact T-Amp.

Sold the T-Amp and bought a Rotel RB-980BX power amp and Rotel RSP-980 pre-amp.

Sold the Rotels and bought a Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver.

That's just the amplification side of the game.

Bought and sold two different Cambridge Audio CD players

Bought and sold a Denon CD player

Bought and sold a Harman/Kardon DVD player

Bought and sold two different Oppo DVD players

Man, that's a ton of flipping. There's a few more things that I probably left out also. That's in the past two years AFTER FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS FORUM. [8o|]

[SilverSport]

but I think you miss the point of what I think Dean was saying and I know you have in what I was saying...I am not switching gear to find something perfect or better...there is just gear that Ialways wanted to hear or try and now when it is a fraction of what it cost new (and manytimes better than what is produced today in that pricepoint) and you can indulge this "quest" why not???

Bill

[Audible Nectar]

but I think you miss the point of what I think Dean was saying and I know you have in what I was saying...I am not switching gear to find something perfect or better...there is just gear that I always wanted to hear or try and now when it is a fraction of what it cost new (and manytimes better than what is produced today in that pricepoint) and you can indulge this "quest" why not???

Bill

Dean and Bill are more about the "experimentation" and the journeys/trials than about "finding and keeping that solution" in an absolute sense. They are naturally curious, and once the "known is known" they go looking for another piece of gear to "know" about.

Now I am most certainly NOT beyond experimentation - after all, who else would spend two+ years sampling and listening to varying MC30 builds to "get it right"? I have my own brand of neurosis regarding these matters, too - but I differ in the respect that I tend to stay with what I buy - barring the occasional "oops" purchase.

If Dean were considering a piece of gear, he might say "sure, I'll buy that, send it out to me," etc.....where I would be more likely to want to hear it first or investigate it more thoroughly (especially if it's higher priced gear). I would be more likely to want to purchase that item to keep long term, where Dean would be more likely to use it a while, experiment, then move on.

I don't begrudge either practice. In fact, both types are necessary in any successful audio forum.....those "experimenters" who want to try everything are very valuable help to those of us who want more "direct" approaches. But for me, audio is much like King Crimson wrote regarding "Discipline": "Discipline isn't an end in itself - it is only a means to an end". Guys like Dean are more about the MEANS to the end.....I tend to be looking more for "the end". Both are equally valid.....but I do find it interesting when I ponder who falls into what camp and to what degree.....what motivates us more, the end, or how we get there?

[SilverSport]

yeah...[]...

Bill

[SilverSport]

some more examples...I didn't like kg4s when I first heard them in 1989...I am one of a very small group who feel this way...so, if I saw a nice pair of kg4s in my price wheelhouse...I might just pick them up to see if my tastes changed or not...

Recently picked up a pair of KG 5.5s (and more recently KG 4.5s) as they were nearly perfect, local and decently priced...very nice...a bit different than my preferred Heritage and extended Heritage speakers but definitely Klipsch...

S'fun to try out some of these different flavors of Klipsch (or anything else for that matter) and hopefully make some new friends in the process...

Bill

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

Pete,

Which JBL's are those in the background?

[Chicago_Pete]

"Recently picked up a pair of KG 5.5s (and more recently KG 4.5s)"

Bill, when you are ready to sell those, put me on the list.

Tiger, I recently parted those JBL out, interested in the cabinets?

[NOSValves]

but I like to do it once and right - and be happy.

I've done it once and right every time I've done it and been happy every time. So you see, I've been happier a whole bunch more than you.

what a crock of XXXX []

[NOSValves]

but I like to do it once and right - and be happy.

I've done it once and right every time I've done it and been happy every time. So you see, I've been happier a whole bunch more than you.

I beg your pardon Dean. (and everyone else who is still changing compnents frequently in hope of finding the perfect synergy). (disclaimer: this is not intened to incite anyone)

Personally, from my perspective its impossible to do it "right", and "right every time" without an ideal (or close to it), acoustically correct listening space.

Like it or not, the room is just as important as any other component, maybe more so. Until you go through this exercise you will NEVER actually know what your speakers, or anything else, actually sounds like. You cannot compensate this through the use of electronics and/or any combination of equipment!

Listen near field and forget the room......

[Hifi jim]

Dean and Bill are more about the "experimentation" and the journeys/trials than about "finding and keeping that solution" in an absolute sense. They are naturally curious, and once the "known is known" they go looking for another piece of gear to "know" about.

I guess I am part of that camp as well. While my home theater changes far less because for one, it is too expensive to change five speakers, five amplifiers, etc., etc. And, also it seems to me that I enjoy changing my two channel system to experiment and enjoy the change as much as the other elements that I listen for. I like to try a new amp, source, etc. and then go on that long journey through all my old favorites and then the joy of finding some recording that I never appreciated before, but because of whatever change was made... magic, suddenly that worthless recording has new life. For me, that is the joy of endlessly changing equipment, and also for the reason that there is so much quality gear to be heard and the combinations of different gear. If I won the lottery I would build a huge Hi Fi store, just to permanently lock the front door and through away the key. 24/7 you could find me locked in like a mad scientist experimenting with new and unexplored (at least by me) combinations. SET amps, digital amps, vinyl, CD, hi-res audio, horns, panel speakers, mini-monitors, more tubes... the madness never ends.... nor do I want it to. []

[J.4knee]

"Why must I buy speakers???"

Cuz if you steal em people with gun's will steal em back. [H]

[J.4knee]

[string of foul utterances] double post

[colterphoto1]

Madness, I tell you, its MADNESS!

[colterphoto1]

'Collect 'em all- it's a set!'

[Bill H.]

'Collect 'em all- it's a set!'

Mommy, those speaker scare me....................[:'(]

[skonopa]

I've been pretty much in the buy it once and enjoy it for life type of camp. My HT setup has been pretty much as it was for the past several years, although have added some new components, i.e., PS/3, an Elan Via!DJ music server, Toshiba HD-A30 and so forth. There is on big change I do want to make - replace the aging Denon AVR-3802 with a B&K Reference 70 pre/pro, which I plan on doing later this winter after the holidays. I just never really had the time, nor inclination to be tinkering around with all that equipment all the time, plus, as of late, just really did not have time to be tinkering around like that all the time. Heck, I barely often have time to listen to what I got now (for example, I am not even home right now - been up here at the ski resort for the past several days or so - thus don't even have access to my setup)

As of late, I am have been pretty much like 'jacksonbart' in that I've more interested in seeking out and discovering music instead. I am having more fun listening to all this music that I've accumulated up over the years (to the tune of some 1,000 albums or so worth, and counting). Funny that I still go back and listen to stuff that I've gotten at the beginning as well as listening to the new stuff that I've gotten, say just the other day.

However, that being said, I do enjoy going and checking out other folks rigs and getting the chance to listen to a, for example, pair of Khorns hooked up to a nice set of tubes-a-glowin', with a well recorded record spinnin' on the table ala LarryC's setup. Along those lines, I did finally get around to rigging up a small two-channel setup that I may go and use to do some expermentation when time allows (and as I find appropriate gear). Along those lines, now that I have a turn-table hooked up, and the ability to listen to vinyl, I'll have to see if I can find some of this music that I like to listen to in vinyl (I know it is out there - I have seen it offered).

[SilverSport]

Pete...which ones???

Bill