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Personal Speaker Evolution Thread

83K views 110 replies 74 participants last post by  Anatolie 
#1 ·
What speakers have you owned since you got started in home audio? What is your speaker evolution?

I am really not sure if I can remember everything I have ever owned... :scratch:

I will forgive my home made speakers that I built when I was 14-15 years old... made out of old kitchen cabinets my parents were going to throw away. The drivers were from some old restaurant box speakers that use to hang on the wall at one of our old eating places... probably 8" full range drivers.

My speaker evolution...

  • EPI (1984 ... do not remember model, but I do remember an 8" woofer that kept bottoming out)
  • Infinity (1986 ... had a 12" woofer, but wife complained they were too loud for the single wide trailer we lived in so I had to send them back to Crutchfield - yeah... can you believe that... I gave in to the WAF)
  • Klipsh Forte (1988 - WAF collapsed -also added Klipsh KG1's for surrounds later on)
  • Snell B-Minor / Snell HCC500 Center / Snell SUR500 Surrounds (1991 - our first major home theater system and the longest I have maintained a pair of main speakers)
  • B&W 600 Series i (1994 - still use these in our sun room)
  • PSB Image 6T / 9C / 10S (2001)
  • Klipsch Synergy All-Weather SA-3 (2005 - still in use for outdoors)
  • VMPS RM30 / Dipole Surround SE (2006 - used RM30 for LCR setup)
  • JBL Northridge E90 / EC35 / E10 (2006)
  • SVS SBS-01 System (2006)
  • Boston Acoustics VR2 / VRC / VRX (2006)
  • Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 / CBM-170 SE (2007 - CBM-170 are surrounds in our great room)
  • Martin Logan Ascent i / Motif / Fresco (2007)
  • Martin Logan Spire / Matinee / Clarity (2009)
  • Martin Logan Prodigy / Theater / Ascent (2009 - home theater room)
  • Carnegie Acoustics CSB-1 / CST-1 (2013 - in the front stage of our great room)
  • Arx A5 (2013 - two channel system within my home theater room)
 
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#28 ·
2007 - Onkyo htib
2007 - Infinity beta 50's and bic america center
2008 - some kind of boston accoustic towers ha
2009 - paradigm studio 60's cc-570 - then switched to cc-690 and adp-590's
2009 - a single jtr triple 8 - became 3 jtr quintuple 8's and 2 jbl 8340a's
2010 (anticipated) - Salk Songtower RT's

subs

2007 - htib
2007 - psw10
2007 - hsu vtf3-nk3
2008 - pb13 Ultra
2009 - Epik Dynasty and 2 e.D. DIY sonotubes
2010 - JTR Captivator (anticipate adding second captivator OR switching to AE speakers p1512)
 
#33 ·
Hello,
My younger Brother uses Ascent i's for Main and Surround with a Theater i and Descent i in his HT and the results are utterly stunning.
Every time I go to see him, I am stunned at how much bigger his Ascent's are than my Vantages. They really are lovely Speakers.

For his 2 Channel rig, he uses Focal Electra 1037 BE with Rogue M-180 Tube Monoblocks, Audio Research Preamp and Rockport Turntable.
Cheers,
JJ
 
#34 ·
I started in about 1965 with a small Zenith stereo phonograph player with extendable speakers. Shortly after I began reading Stereo Review and High Fidelity and discovered Gordon Holt's Stereophile, I caught the hi-fi bug at that moment. First real hi-fi speaker was the AR-4ax, then replaced with Rectilinear Mini III.

Then I heard the Magnaplaner tri-fold panel speakers and instantly became disgusted with my own system, decided rather not to listen to them anymore, vowed to have something that will give me the semblance of the transparent sound that's was etched in my mind. Bought a pair of newly hailed Stax SR Lamda electrostatic headphones and listened to them for years until I finally bought a pair of Apogee Duettas when they first came out. I was happy with them for a few years and then discovered true transparent sound of the Soundlab speakers, replaced Duettas with Soundlab Prestines and was busy rediscovering my growing record/cd collection.

I found myself occasionally yearning for the real low bass when listening to newly recorded symphonic music. Bought Legacy Focus (twin 12" woofers) and keeping Soundlabs for fear of wrongly selling them. It didn't take me too long to decide that the powerful newly bought Focus can't compared with the Soundlab's transparency and sold the Focus. Bought a pair of Dr. Hsu's first passive subwoofers (SW-10) when I found out that he designed them for his Quads. From that moment on I have been very satisfied with my sound for a long time. When Paradigm introduced the Servo 15 I decided to upgrade my subs to a single Servo 15 and settled in for a *very* extended period of time.

I recently discovered Dr. Earl Gaddes and began to implement his multi-sub method by reusing my old Hsu subwoofers and a newly bought Polk PSW-10 sub and my Servo 15 (total of 4 subs), my system is now totally *transformed* and I am extremely happy with the sound coming out of my old Soundlab and the 4 subs. But I want to be 100% satisfied and my next step is to get the Geddes Abbey 12a and rediscover the nearly 5000 cd/LP collection that I've built.
 
#35 ·
jheyau.....have you heard Dr Geddes speakers as of yet, and/or ordered a pair? I went to his house and listened for myself back in early April, and ordered a pair of Abbey 12a speakers for my mains and a Nathan for my center. It sounds like we strive for the same thing from our speakers. I am in the process of retooling my system and when I take delivery in mid June of the Geddes speakers that will complete the picture. I too am going with the multi sub method for LF. I am using a total of 5 right now,2 passive 550 watts each, and 3 powered subs 2 velodynes and a yamaha. The LF in my system is great right now and I haven't even done any measurements yet, have you? If so could you please post your results, and when I do begin testing I will post those results. I never would have imagined you could have a sub behind your listening position and never know it was there. I use the subs configured so for 2 ch listening 3 of the subs are operational the 2 passives and 1 powered, and for 5.1 viewing/listening all 5 subs are operational. I control the subs with a behringer dcx-2496 as Geddes recommends. Please let me know how the multi sub approach works out for you.
 
#36 ·
jheyau:
Your and my journeys are very similar. I started in 1968 with AR4 speakers. Today I sit and lsten to electrostatics with multiple subs.
 
#37 ·
dwr, I haven't heard the Abbeys nor have I placed my order yet. I will most likely go listen to Dr. Geddes system when I pick up the Abbeys on the same day. I'm about 5 hours of drive away from Earl's home so I don't think I want to make two trips. I have read enough positive comments from different people who have bought the Geddes speakers that I feel very comfortable in buying them without a listen. How would you describe the difference in sound you heard at Earl's system from your own highly regarded Linkwitz Orion++/powerful muti subs?

I haven't done any measurements either. I must admit that I am probably the least technical guy of all the audiophiles I know. The latest round of posts from Dr. Geddes and other members in the diy Audio sound very intimidating to me. I remember Earl said somewhere that once when one has 4 or more subs, it really doesn't matter too much about their placements as long as they are not too close to each other and set their levels different. I have both downward firing little 10" passive subs behind my Soundlabs which are about 6' from the frontwall. One of them is raised 2'4" off the floor and 3' from the left sidewall. The other one is right on the floor and 3' from the right sidewall. The active forward-firing Servo 15 is raised 3' off the floor (measured to the center of the driver) and 7' from the frontwall on the right wall. The cheap little 10" active Polk is placed on the floor on the left wall about 7' from the backwall. Although I don't know if my subs are placed in their optimal spots, I'm very happy with the sound I am getting from my old and modest setup now. I have a feeling that I might go away feeling totally inadequate about the sound of my system after I've listened to Earl's system! In fact that would be a good thing because that means the Abbeys are *that* much better than what I think is satisfactory. Earl mentioned many times that the Abbeys get 90% of Summa's performance at less than 1/2 of cost. Now that is one super deal that all music lovers should consider!
 
#38 ·
jheyau, I listened to the sumas at Dr Geddes home and did not get a chance to hear the Abbeys. The Geddes speakers have every bit of clarity of the Orions but the Gedders speakers will play at way higher volumes than the Orions and sound much better doing it. The Orions excelled in soundstage as in an orchestra or big band recording you can feel the placement of each instrument that was their strong suit. But in a nutshell his system was far and away the best "home based" system I have ever heard. As for the measurements I'll give you an honest run for your money on the least technical audiophile thing, and yes the threads on the diy site are intimidating but Dr Geddes offered to show me how it is done which is the nice thing about living only 20 miles from him. As for my subs I am just like you I love the sound I am getting right now with the def tech speakers I have now, when I sold the Orions I kept the 2 Thor subs and have one of them firing upward in the left corner behind my left front speaker, the other Thor is built into a coat closet and fires across the room behind my listening position by about 6ft and is about 5ft off the floor level. I have 1 10" velodyne powered sub firing out into the room on the right side behind and inside the right front speaker. Those 3 subs are used for 2 channel listening and are controlled by a behringer 2496 and powered by a behringer EP 4000 in the room behind my listening room thus eliminating the concern of fan noise in that amp. The other 2 subs are connected to my processor and are used for lfe when listening/viewing 5.1. and when all 5 subs get going on some of the new blu-ray formats the sound is incredible (I cant wait to get the Abbeys in the mix) It all works nice with the cj pv-14l preamp that I just got as it has a great HT bypass on it allowing that to send the signal to the 3 subs while the surround processor sends the signal to the lfe subs. The lfe subs are another velodyne and a yamaha both 10" powered low cost subs. You can take it from me you should have no problem purchasing the Abbeys without a listen you WILL NOT be disappointed.
 
#39 ·
Well, about ten years ago, when I was five, I remember looking under the desk of our Windows 98 computer and seeing a white box with something (an approximately 3" subwoofer driver), which I had no idea what it was. I noticed it also had a hole in it (the port). I asked my mom what it was, and I said that it was connected to the speakers, and she had no clue. Her best guess was an oversized adapter.

Today I know that it was the subwoofer in a 2.1 system. I don't know when we sold it, but it's long gone. My grandpa (R.I.P) had a surround sound system that comprised of a very old receiver, a record player, I don't think it had a subwoofer, but it had two front speakers and two back speakers (no center). They were all the same size, and they were around two feet tall, maybe 9 inches wide and about 7 inches deep. They were fake hardwood, with a black grill. The system suddenly stopped working one day and it was sold many years ago (about, maybe, seven years ago). I don't know the brand. I don't know what the drivers looked like, and I probably would have been able to fix it if I knew as much about speakers as I do today, back then. All I remember about what they sounded like is that they were loud (and when I was little, loud wasn't loud by any means... my hearing was very sensitive, although it's normal now).

Not until I was about 12 did I really get into speakers. On my 13th birthday (I got a Cyber Acoustics CA-3094 for my birthday (this system seems to have been wiped off the internet... the Cyber Acoustics website is also very glitchy). It has two 2.5" neodymium tweeters (VERY loud for 1 watt) and a 12 watt subwoofer (distorts at half volume, it can't keep up with the tweeters).

On the last day of February of '08 (29 days after my birthday), the local thrift store was closing to be replaced by an overpriced (though highly organized) thrift-store-plaza, with the speakers mostly behind the cash register. I got two Fisher tower speakers, each with a 9" subwoofer, a 4" tweeter, and a (possibly non-functioning) 2.5" super-tweeter. For $15, they also came with a JVC RX-307 reciever with 45 wpc, stable between 8 and 16 ohms. They were essentially the radio for the thrift store since 1980, when they were built, and have gone through two receivers (the JVC is the second one, I believe the first one fried). Their model is unknown, and their wattage is whatever it takes to get sound out of them. Very little is known about them, but the pair I have has history. There was also a third one, but it's surrounds were gone on the sub. But I was stoked when I first got them. I using them facing toward each other into a sort of bandpass configuration for use as a subwoofer. But when I get a surround receiver, I'll put them back to their original position as front speakers.

In spring of '09, I got two Advent subwoofers for free (you might remember one of them and it's twin from my pathetic "Pushes Air But No Sound" thread... they were free because they had badly deteriorated foam surrounds, still awaiting new ones), and a Yamaha bookshelf speaker and a JVC bookshelf speaker for $1 each. The JVC had a dent in the top (easily fixed with scotch tape), and the Yamaha was fine.

In August of '09, I bought two 12" VR3 subwoofers (I wish I knew their T/S parameters) for $20 a piece. I bought them to fill holes in a box for two 12's that my neighbor had lying in their front yard and gave it to me : ). I ported the box to somewhere between 28 Hz and 32 Hz.

So, that's basically the history of the speakers I've owned : ).
 
#40 ·
JoeESP9, our journeys are indeed very similar! I started out with a Dynaco Stereo 35 tube poweramp and a PAS 3X preamp, AR turntable with Shure V-15 Type II. A stereo AR integrated amp later replaced the Dynacos. Next came the PS Aduio 200c poweramp and Superphone Dual Mono preamp. VPI HW-19 mk II with Grado Signature arm and Talisman Alchemist IIIs cartridge. Upgraded the little Superphone preamp to the Aduio Research SP-9. Met John Iverson and bought his famed Robertson EK-1 strained gauge cartridge/preamp and four of his Electron Kinetic 400 mono amps when I had the Apogees. Alas! All that were in my much younger days and I'm now much, much more conservative and had been thinking about hi-fi in a very different perspective for nearly 20 years now!
 
#41 ·
In about 1990 is when it all started for me. I always jammed a set of my step fathers sonics hooked to an old pioneer stereo that he brought home from vietnam. After that everything was home built from the parts express catalog. I'd say i built 5 different sets and sold each set as i went, funny thing about it is that i was young and thought you could just build a box and throw in the drivers and call it good back then, to me none of them sounded bad but i sure would like to hear them now as i haven't built a set since '96 or so other then sub boxes for cars. Bet they sounded aweful compared to what i have now and moved on to which was paradigm monitor 3's with a 10'' paradigm powerd sub that i'm still using to this day.

My setup now is paradigm monitor 11's front & rear
paradigm cc390 center
ADP 590 side surrounds
and that old sub for now

I never have been able to pull myself away from paradigm and not sure why, allthough i've been tempted i just never have. I think when i put a system together for my wifes room i'll probly do something other then paradigm (i hope). It's almost like i'm addicted to them even though i know there is better out there. :dontknow:
 
#42 ·
jheyau, my first piece of equipment was a Fisher KX-90 kit integrated amp and Benjamin Miracord TT to go with the AR4's. The Dynaco factory was three blocks from my house. I was going to college starting in 1970 working on my B.Sc. Electrical Engineering. I bought a lot of Dyna Kits and spent a lot of free time hanging out with their technical and engineering departments. I learned a lot from those guys. I stuck with Dyna gear until I bought my first high end preamp (ARC SP-3) in 1978.
 
#43 ·
dwr, did you get your Abbey 12a yet? What color are they? I would like mine to be glossy dark blue if Earl doesn't charge extra on the option. I saw a pic of Patrick Bateman's Summas in this color in one of the forums and they look gorgeous! Earl mentioned that it would be much easier to paint the 12a's new cabinet material. I understand he is in China now. I myself is going there also and when I come back I'd try to set up a time to listen to Earl's system. It's going to be a 5 hour drive! When I told my friend about Dr. Geddes, he wants to go too, if he likes the sound of the Summas, he will order them but I can only afford the Abbeys. My room is not big enough for the Summas even if I do have the dough for them (8'x15'x22' with a big opening on the back connecting to the kitchen area of about the same size); he on the other hand has the dough and a huge purpose-built sound room (13'x20'x30')! Please keep us updated on your new Abbeys; again congratulations!
 
#44 ·
No I have not got the speakers yet, I will be asking for a progress update from Earl on Monday so I will let you know. Just be prepared to wait if you order the speakers and I'm sure you will after hearing them. It has been exactly 8 weeks now since my order went in so I am HOPING they will be done in the next week or so. Mine will be the satin black finish. And I just had correspondence with Earl as to the cost and where to purchase the material he uses on the cabinets and it is not cheap $300 per 4' x 8' sheet, but I have looked at this material and I will probably build my next subwoofer using it, I just finished a 18" maelstrom X sealed sub and although it sounds fantastic I am not happy with the finish at all. I will keep you updated and maybe get some pics up when I get the speakers.
 
#45 ·
An 18" sub in addition to the five others you already have? Man, that's going to be AWESOME with the Abbeys! I am totally thumbs when it comes to building anything so I envy your ability. Earl told me the backlog now is into October, I'm glad to see business is picking up for him, but it also means we all have to be much more patient in getting our speakers.
 
#46 ·
The new sub isn't an addition, I will keep the number of subs at 5, but now after hearing the results of building the maelstrom I will be building 4 more subs to replace what I have now. I use 2 velodyne 10" powered subs right now for lfe. Those will be replaced by 2 sonotube sealed 12" dayton Titanic MKIII (keg subs) for the lfe. As for the two channel I will build a 15" sealed Dayton Titanic MKII to fire upward at about 52", and the 3rd sub will remain the same a 12" peerless xxls ported. I am putting 2400 watts to the maelstrom, and will put 950 to the Dayton 15" and 550 to the Peerless. The 2 keg subs will get 500 watts each. And jheyau when you and your buddy come out to listen to Earls system I would hope to have my Abbeys set up by then so if you guys are planning to stay the night or have the time, feel free to get ahold of me and come over and listen to the Abbeys in my room which sounds like from your description of yours is very close to the same mine is open to a breakfast nook kitchen to the left of my left speaker. I live about 20 minutes from Earl's place.
 
#48 ·
as a kid I had a sony boom box

My dad gave me his old technics reciver and Infinity KS 2000's (I think thats what they were)
when he bought his 2ch marantz and paradigam monitor 7's...he has had that setup for close to 20 years now and only had to replace the tweeters because my sister blew them out.

The tech reciver freaked out and made a pop one day and blew the woofers out so far the surrounds tore.

I kept them as night stands untill I got married,WAF dictated they could not stay.

I use a pair of old Aiwa shelf system speakers with my current yamaha reciver.

They sounded horrible with the shelf system when my sister had it, but they were pretty impressive powered by 100watts of yamaha power and a decent signal from my samsung DVD player.

I currently have a pair of Klipsch KG 4.2's

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/kg-4-2-specifications/

I love them, I think they sound waaaay better than the old Aiwas, but I actually like them better than my dads monitor 7's. The horn on the left one keeps cutting out so I will be opening them up at some point over the next week to check the internal wiring.

They are only 30" tall. I have been debating rebuilding them to make them taller, however I think I will just build a pair of subwoofers to use as stands to raise them up to a better listening position.

I want to get 3 of the 5.2's to use L/C/R and move the 4.2's to surrounds.
 
#49 ·
jheyau, I am picking up the Abbeys on Wednesday, man am I geeked. And as a bonus, these are the first pair that Dr Geddes built using the new poly material for the cabinets and he wanted to see how the gloss black finish would work out, so I got the gloss black which is normally a $400 add on for free. I will let you know Wednesday night how they sound in my room.
 
#50 · (Edited)
Bose pair of 301 series 1 (I was 16 years old and with an included pioneer amp, paid $300 used)

DCM 3 way center channel and a pair of Jensen 3 ways. (I was 19 and paid about $500 for all new)

Bose Pair of 701's (I was 21 and paid $700 floor model with some signs of wear)

Bose pair of 301 series 4 (I was 25 and paid $150 used...still own, up for sale)

Bose pair of 901 series 6 with stands (I was 25 and paid $450 used....still own, up for sale)

Bose VCS10 center channel (I was 26 and paid $100 used...still own, up for sale)

Bose pair of companion 2 media speakers (I was 32 and paid $100 new....still own)

Bose 5.1 Acoustimass 6 series 3 (I was 32 and paid 500 new....still own, up for sale)

Infinity pair of P362s (I was 37 and paid $354 new...on order 8/19/2010)

Infinity PC350 center channel (I was 37 and paid $199 new....on order 8/19/2010)

HSU VTF-2 MK 3 Rosenut Subwoofer (I was 37 and paid $675.55 new...on order 8/19/2010)

Infinity pair of P162's (I was 37 and paid $170 new....on order 8/19/2010)

Unknown bookshelf pair for zone 2 (I was 37 and paid no more than $300 new...on order NLT 9/2/2010)
 
#51 ·
dwr,

It has been more than a month now since you took delivery of the Abbeys, congratulations! Can you share with us here your impression on these highly sought-after speakers? Wow, glossy black, how COOL!! You'll need to polish them often and handle them with white gloves!
 
#52 ·
jheyau, yes I have had the speakers for just over a month now, and I will say right off the bat that I now have far and away the best sound I have ever had in my room. I have the Abbeys set up with three subs for 2 channel listening following Geddes multiple sub theory. Neighbors and friends that have come over and listened to the system are completely amazed at the sound, these are people with what I call consumer level systems (read Best Buy) every one of them has asked how do you get the sound so "real" sounding. So needless to say I am COMPLETELY satisfied with these speakers. The best part of the whole thing is the excellent value that these speakers are. My previous 2 pairs of speakers over the last 6 years have been a pair of Martin Logan Ascent i with descent sub, and a pair of Linkwitz Orion ++ speakers. The value is the Abbeys are, a few hundred dollars less than the Logan setup and about $2000 less than the Orion system, and this is including the cost of my subs, that makes them a fantastic value in my book. As for the sound, I have listened to all kinds of music thru them over the last month at both low dB listening and Led Zepp at 101dB at the listening chair and the Abbeys sound every bit as crisp and clean from low volume to high its like there is no distortion to these speakers at all. I have listened to both solid state and tube amplification with them, as my CJ tube pre is out being modified right now I have them hooked up to my Rotel solid state amp and prepro, they sound great with either but I much prefer the tubes for 2 channel listening. They work great in the H/T mode as well as the front L & R speakers for my 5.1 listening/viewing but at heart I am an old fart 2 channel guy so thats where my emphasis is.
 
#53 ·
Back in High School I started with DIY speakers with some cabinet where no math was associated in it, just a box with DAI-1CHI OEM speakers (they're OEM for Klipsch among others).

My first manufactured speakers, which I find decent is Bose 301 Continental Edition. Only a few appeared in my country of residence, and after 15 years or so, they still serve as the FL/FR speakers in my home theater setup.

I sort of "walked away" from home audio for a while and when I built my first "audiophile" system, I bought the Inifinity Kappa 200 bookshelves. Love these speakers, but I sold them to a good friend who is not willing, as of yet, to sell it back to me.

I bought another speaker, the JBL LX2002 and loved it for my HT setup, which temporarily replaced the Bose. When another friend saw it, he begged for it to complete his all-LX2002 setup. So they're with him now.

The LSA1 monitors from the LSA Group was next. I purchased it supposedly for my office setup, to be driven by a HK vintage receiver. The receiver broke down, and I lost interest in the office setup so it was sold, with regrets.

In my 2-channel setup, I'm currently being spoiled by my DIY speakers, with the cabinet based on Altec 604 plans, with Altec 406-8Y 10" woofers, Oxford mid-horns, and Fostex FT-17H super tweeters. They're being driven by a Naim Audio NAIT 5i.
 
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