How Do You Buy High-End Speakers?

[zieglj01]

For an audiophile, or even someone with audiophile tendencies, no amount of research or auditioning is likely to reveal the one speaker that will keep you satisfied forever, as that speaker probably doesn't exist. Narrow your choices to top candidates that meet your criteria, pick one and buy it. Whenever, and for whatever reason, the itch returns... repeat.

Bingo!

A lot of Audiophiles tend to continue searching, even though some may settle for awhile.

And DIY people tend to keep building, because they want more

Also a lot of times, the search ends up with small meaningful differences - however those
small differences, can be a gem to many audiophiles. Depends on what you really want to
spend and/or settle for.

 

[mwmkravchenko]

There are collectors like Andrew.

Not making any fun. But some people take pleasure in trying new and different speakers.

I'm in the camp that when I have found what I liked I stick to it.

And that is from long experience that there are not that many differences when you get to the good stuff.

For a simple rule of thumb, broadly speaking the good stuff starts around $5 000.

And the differences above that point end up being lower bass, sometimes a cleaner midband. But there is a lot of good examples of the loudspeaker art in that price range.

 

[ImcLoud]

There are collectors like Andrew.

Not making any fun. But some people take pleasure in trying new and different speakers.

I'm in the camp that when I have found what I liked I stick to it.

And that is from long experience that there are not that many differences when you get to the good stuff.

For a simple rule of thumb, broadly speaking the good stuff starts around $5 000.

And the differences above that point end up being lower bass, sometimes a cleaner midband. But there is a lot of good examples of the loudspeaker art in that price range.

I think diminishing returns starts around $1000-1500 for bookshelfs and $1500-3000 for towers, subwoofers for music I don't see much difference {except for output amount} in sealed models after $600... I can't think of any $5000 towers that sound heads and tails better than say Ascend sierra towers, Phil 3's, PSB Imagine 2's, Monitor audio silvers, ect... And the same goes for bookshelfs...

 

[herbu]

Give a man a fish he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish.
He's good for life.

Agree! And I hope that implies approval for trying to define a process, rather than simply recommending a particular speaker.

 

[herbu]

I've said repeatedly that I really liked ALL OF THE SPEAKERS I SOLD.

The Salon2 would make anybody happy. The KEF Reference would make anybody happy. The B&W 802D2 would make anybody happy. The Linkwitz Orion would make anybody happy. The Philharmonic 3 would make anybody happy. They all sound great to me.

That's anothing thing I noticed in my reading, and I refer to it as "wide support". There are a set of speakers in just about every price range where people may say, "I like YYY better", but you don't find many who say, "I don't like XXX". It seems that good speakers are good speakers. If you could do a blind listening test to 5 speakers in a price range, you may pick a favorite, but you may also like them all. So if you can't actually listen to the speakers before you buy, identifying this group with "wide support" can be helpful.

 

[mwmkravchenko]

Agree! And I hope that implies approval for trying to define a process, rather than simply recommending a particular speaker.

I have done my best to help define a process without the mention of any direction you should go.

I think that is the most prudent way to approach such a opinion filled luxury as to which speaker you should buy.

It's your decision. If anything I have said helps you, then at least the time typing was not wasted.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Give a man a fish he eats for a day.

Teach a man to fish.

He's good for life.

Yeah, get a really BIG fish net.

 

[c2k]

Herbu, a speaker's primary function is to play accurately and true to the source. Making a very accurate speaker is also the highest difficulty for the designer. Knowing what your source sounds like is also important. Go record your own and play it back.

I'm sure everyone would agree a live orchestra sounds better than any speaker reproducing the same thing. Find one that produces the most accurate sound. Live sounds you recorded also work. That is how you buy a high end speaker.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So if you can't actually listen to the speakers before you buy, identifying this group with "wide support" can be helpful.

And it's still too wide.

The difficult part is defining your very specific goal or need. It's not just about great accurate reference sound and convincing image and soundstage. That might be the EASY part.

I think the difficult part may be the bass, placement, aesthetic, WAF, pride of ownership and cost.

If you know the dealer and you are willing to get b-stock that looks like new, you could get the Revel Salon2 or KEF 207/2 for $10K or less.

During my buying spree , I could have bought a brand new pair of KEF 207/2 for $10K. How do you decide between the Salon2 vs 207/2? The bass of the Salon2 goes deeper than the 207/2. But it's not enough that I wouldn't need subwoofers in my room. If I had the RBH SX-8300/R I wouldn't need subwoofers because each SX-8300/R has about the equivalent of 1 SX-1010 subwoofer and each SX-8300/R can be active bi-amp with LFE just like the SX-1010 subwoofer. Is the beryllium tweeter of the Salon2 really better sounding than the Titanium concentric tweeter of the 207/2 or the Scan-Speak 9500 tweeter of the SX-8300/R? Diminishing returns? Some people will prefer one over the other for various reasons.

But the Salon2 may have much better aesthetic and pride of ownership, yeah? Everyone knows the Revel Salon2. Speaker of the Year on Stereophile and Soundstage magazines. Many praises for sure.

Going from Aperion status to Revel Salon2 status or KEF 207/2 status seems pretty good. Looking up! I prefer the RBH Status myself ---- The Status Acoustics 8T that is. But that's not happening.

The point is, even if you "narrow" your search down to the great sounding speakers based on measurements or any other factors, there will still be too many speakers.

 

[herbu]

The point is, even if you "narrow" your search down to the great sounding speakers based on measurements or any other factors, there will still be too many.

Yeh, right. I kinda skimmed over the "pick the top 4 or 5" part. That might be the toughest, and most random part of the process.

 

[Leroy Jenkins]

With cash or a credit card!

No seriously before spending that kind of money I would buy and read and maybe re read Dr. Floyd Toole's book on sound reproduction.

Then you will know what to look for in a loudspeaker and how to evaluate them. And you also might find you don't need to spend anywhere near that amount of money to get great performance from a speaker.