Personal Speaker Evolution Thread

[Sonnie]

I noted what I thought was a pretty neat thread over at the Audiogon discussion board.

What speakers have you owned since you got started in home audio? What is your speaker evolution?

I will be starting an amp evolution thread as well.

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

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" drivers 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 palm 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)
• 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 - Still use in great room system)
• Martin Logan Ascent i / Motif / Fresco (2007 - Best sound I have ever heard!)
• Martin Logan Spire / Matinee / Clarity (2009 - Second best sound I have ever heard!)

And more major changes are on the way... what can I say...

[GregBe]

Cool idea. I will play

I first started out with Cambridge Soundworks. I went a little crazy with their old upgrade policy...You could upgrade without any restrictions (They eventually changed their policy because of me...yikes, what can I say, I was young)

Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble II
Cambridge Soundworks MC200
Cambridge Soundworks MC300
Cambridge Soundworks M50
Cambridge Soundworks M60
Cambridge Soundworks M80
(All of the CSW's were pleasant. Great for the money, but I had more cash to blow...so)
Polk LSi7 (I liked a lot about them. Didn't feel dynamic enough for theater, could have been amp)
M&K 850 (Too thin for music, awesome for theater)
Monitor Audio GR10 (a little too sibilant for me)
Era Design D4
Era Design D5

Up until the Era's, I changed speakers every 6 months or so...couldn't find what I liked. I have owned the Era's for about 2 years. I am really happy with them.

[fredk]

I'll play too.

I started out in '75 with a fancy portable record player with two attached speakers. Not being satisfied with the near-audiophile quality of sound, in '77 I picked up a pair of Advents, dual turntable and pioneer receiver and separate tuner. Sold that to my brother when I wanted to do some traveling and survived with a boom box for the next 10 years or so.

For another bunch of years I lived with boomboxes and micro-stereos until I picked up my current Axiom system 2 years ago.

[Ayreonaut]

• 1998 - I started with a pair of self amplified (5W) computer speakers plugged into my TVs stereo out.
• 2001 - I bought a Yamaha HTiB which included five NS-AP16 speakers. These have 2" paper "tweeters" and 5" woofers. I still use these for surrounds! The "subwoofer" was a ported box with a 6" driver. The specs claimed that this was a 150W sub, but when I opened it up (to remove toys) I found that the driver was only rated to handle 50W.
• 2002 - I upgraded my fronts to Polk RTi28 and CSi30.
• 2003 - I bought my first real subwoofer after an extensive auditioning process. It was the B&W ASW600. I was really unimpressed with all of the ported models I heard at any price. This 10" sealed sub sounded SO much better to me.
• 2006 - I upgraded my mains to the Dali IKON 6 after an extensive auditioning process. I decided to forgo the center channel at the time, and I never missed it so I never bought one.
• 2006 - I built my IB subwoofer. Four 18" woofers, the Mach 5 MJ-18s, and an 1800W Carvin Amp. Awesome.
• 2009 - I auditioned the Linkwitz ORION loudspeakers and became a believer. Absolutely my next (and last?) loudspeakers. Current living room prevents me from having dipoles so my next upgrade will be the most expensive of all: a new house...

[Jon Liu]

Very cool idea!!

My family started out with some Infinity and Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers in the early 90's that lasted us for nearly a decade. But, I guess I'll start from the beginning of when I personally started collecting speakers:

-1999 - I had some off-brand home theater in a box (I really don't know the brand...).
-2000 - Polk Audio R40 towers, CS30, FXi30 and a Polk PSW-650 subwoofer.
-2001 - I replaced the PSW-650 with an SVS 20-39PCi.
-2003 - Replaced my 5 channel system with a 7 channel system, Axiom audio M22's, VP150, and QS4's all around for surrounds.
-2005 - I replaced my SVS 20-39PCi with an SVS PC-Ultra (TV-12).
-2006 - Decided to go with AV123 as speaker brand. Picked up a set of Rocket RS450, RSC200 Sig, and RSS300's for surrounds.
-2007 - Replaced my SVS PC-Ultra (TV-12) with the SVS PB13-Ultra in Rosenut.
-2008 - Upgraded my main L/R speakers from the RS450 to the RS850 Sigs. Later in the year, in anticipation for my eventual speaker replacement, I got an AV123 X-Voce to replace my RSC200 Sig for center channel duty.
-2009 - GR-Research A/V-1RS replace my RSS300's for surround sound duty and Mid-April my AV123 Focus LS-9's arrive...

That's the end of my road currently.

Wow, it's amazing to see that journey and it's troublesome to think that this is JUST my speaker journey, not including any other equipment changes.... Sad!

[enigmaticEntity.]

Sort of a mixed list: (Now = 2009, for people who may be viewing this in 2010+)

200x - 2007: Harman/Kardon '19.5' Multimedia Speakers (2.0), 3" Drivers.
2005 - 2005: 57mm inside-the-computer-case DIY passive stereo speakers.
2006 - 2007: 57mm from-some-workshop-headphone/earmuffs DIY portable passive stereo speaker.
2007 - Now: Kenwood AX-7 Micro Hi-Fi Stereo/Surround Sound System. Will do me for quite a while, I may make some speakers to replace the originals (see below), the originals can be used as the back surrounds.
2008 - Now: 27mm Mylar DIY Prototype Portable Battery powered Stereo Speaker.
2009 - Now: 40mm Mylar DIY Protoype2 Portable Battery powered Stereo Speaker, which is much nicer sounding than the first one, because it uses those silver shiny drivers found in other mp3 speakers.

For 2009 - 2010+: I hope to design an enclosure for a 2.0 1-driver-per-channel Desktop Speaker system using the Audience A3 drivers. I may need to practice some MDF skills by doing a cheapo system first...

[bobdole369]

As far as personally owned stuff - I went from a cheesy deskunit 3in1 (tape/tuner/CD) with separated speakers as the main speakers, to now polk audio monitor 30's. Very interested in building my own 4-way fronts and moving the polks off to the rear.