Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Speaker Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

A Funny Thing Happened When I Sold My Audiophile Speakers

Posted by zog (A) on October 11, 2005 at 14:35:25

I've just had a strange experience which has me a bit baffled as to how to proceed. I'll try to keep it short, though it is quite long.

Background on me: About 20 years in the hobby. Long-time Martin Logan/Jeff Rowland/Sota owner. Had a big, dedicated custom designed listening room where I was very very happy. Four moves over the past three years have turned my system inside out several times. Put together a small and movable system to suit my need for constant moves .... thus ....

My current system: Highly modified Sony 9000ES SACD player; VPI Super Scout Master turntable; Thor Audio TA-1000 preamp; Art Audio Diavalo amplifier; Audio Note AN-E speakers

The Situation: We moved again, this time to a house which my wife says is "our home." She kindly gave me a largish (23' x 15' x 10') room and said it was mine. Hoorah. I decided to take a serial approach to rebuilding my system, starting with the speakers. Put the Audio Notes up on Audiogon and they disappeared pretty fast (great speakers, by the way, but too small (I thought) for my room). That's when the fun began ....

A dealer friend of mine knew I was on the make and kindly offered to let me demo a $12,000 (please forgive me for not mentioning the brand) well regarded speaker. I told him I was probably going to end up going back to a Jeff Rowland based system with some kind of stat, but he wanted me to hear a good full range high efficiency speaker that might compete with stats on dynamics and resolution. They were nice, but, for $12K, they didn't move me the way my Martin Logan based system had. So, after a few weeks of listening, I decided to pass. He came to pick them up, leaving me with about $25K of front-end gear and no transducers. So I did the logical thing and poached the $250 Blueroom mini-pods that are usually hooked up to our television (high WAF factor). Here's the crazy thing - they didn't sound that bad. I was so encouraged that I also poached the subwoofer(Piega)and found the combination to be quite musical and fun. Oddly, this mini-pod based system allows me to enjoy more music, especially rock & pop CDs, than the big $ speakers. I've been going back to CDs and LPs I've not been able to listen to for years because all of their recording warts and defects were so ruthlessly revealed by my other speakers. Of course, the really good stuff doesn't sound nearly as good as I know it can, but on the whole, taking in to consideration all the music I like to listen to, in a stupid crazy way, my mini-pod system is better. All of those CDs that I think of as "car music" (you know, the stuff you like that sounds crappy at home) are now back in the listening room. What's up with that?

Such a dilemna. A friend of mine is now joking that I should just get a Tivoli and sell everything. I know I won't, but it makes you wonder, doesn't it.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---