Jerry's Speaker Odyssey

[jandl100]

Thought I'd start a dedicated thread for showing my speaker journey over the last few years (I change the things a LOT!) - or at least the speakers I have owned since I first bought a digital camera! Some of these photos are in the original all-folks-in-1 thread, but it's kind of useful to separate them out into my own thread here. Lots of new photos anyway.

I'll add some comments about my views on each speaker as I go through. :)

Starting off in Spain (I lived there for 2 years .. long story ...) with my Avantgarde Unos - fabulous speakers, dynamic as hell, oodles of clarity and presence, and (to my ears) quite untroubled by horn colourations.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/AvantgardeUnos.jpg

Moved back to Blighty, and the Unos were just too big for my new listening room - I'd had the Unos for an astonishing 5 years anyway, so fancied a change ..... I played around with some small speakers (Rogers LS3/5a and Acoustic Energy AE1) but couldn't really settle down with them. Simply not enough 'scale" to the music.
I bought an ex-dem pair of Audiostatic DCI Wings - full range Dutch stats ... ah, that was more like it!

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/Audiostatics.jpg

These kept me happy for getting on for a year, but eventually the early bass roll-off of the things (impossible to integrate with a sub - I tried!) got me venturing forth once more.
A pair of ex-dem Kharma Ceramique 3 speakers attracted my attention ...

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/DSCF1960.jpg

Wow - these were stunning - open, detailed and just plain musically wonderful. :) They kept me happy for 2 years.

But the wonderlust bug bit again, and I wandered off in a completely different direction ..... to vintage JBL L110 monitors :eek: Wow - talk about a change of pace! - I loved these little babies ...

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/JBLL110.jpg

... for a while. I started being unfaithful after a few months, trying various things (while still keeping the JBLs of course ;)).

QLN Sigs (rolled off top end - played with these for less than a day!)
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/QLNSigs.jpg

Klipsch Heresy (too coloured - sold them after a week)
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/Klipsch5.jpg

Magneplanar smga (not enough rez, and vague imaging. Interesting though - I played around with them for a couple of weeks before giving up.)
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/MaggieSMGa.jpg

Finally kind of settled on a pair of Epos ES30 for a couple of months
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/EPOSES302.jpg

But got a bit bored with them. A pair of Dali Skyline 1000 ribbon hybrids turned up on eBay - I'd heard their bigger brothers at a Show a couple of years earlier and had been mucho impressed. So, here they are chez-Jerry :p That tall (30 inch!) ribbon tweeter is a lulu! Open baffle bass and mids as well - so a very interesting and unusual design.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/DaliHome1.jpg

I kept these for about 8 months before my attention began to wander again!

I tried some Apogee Centaur Minors, but found them too bass shy ...
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/ApogeeCentaurMinor.jpg

Then along came my current faves, Thiel CS2.3. Wow - Jerry is in love again. :p Open, fast, uncoloured - electrostat-sound for folks who can't live with the limitations of stats! That's me!
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/YamThiel.jpg

I've had these for about 6 months now ... I do love them, but just recently my attention has started to wander again! :rolleyes:
Hence the Yammie NS1000M you can see sharing the photo with the Thiels. Nope they didn't stay long - the Thiels hammered them!

Then some Celef PE1 popped in - nice, but too similar to some Proac Response2 I had owned a long time back - I like to investigate different sounds! Their new owner loves them, though - and quite right too, a mighty fine speaker.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/CelefPE1.jpg

And some JBL TiK2 standmounts ... pretty, but definitely a more rock-focussed sound than I want - but they have found a very happy home in a 2nd systenm I have created for them in my conservatory.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/JBLTi2Kspeakers.jpg

And some Rogers Export Monitors (currently up for sale ;)). A traditional BBC Monitor sound - frequency response is flat, completely flat as measured with my Behringer digi equaliser - astonishing! Great, classic speakers - but not quite right for me.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/RogersExportandThiel.jpg

I'm currently playing with stacked Rega Juras - as can be seen in another thread on the forum.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/RegaJuraTowers2.jpg


___

So the Speaker Saga continues. A huge amount of fun. :D

[sastusbulbas]

So what did you do with the Yamaha's Jerry?

[jandl100]

The Yammies? Sold them to Stan Beresford :) - he wanted hi-rez monitors to support his electronics development work.

[Marco]

Hi Jerry,

How about asking Stan to join the forum and getting back to me? :)

I've tried via his website email address but can't get hold of him. He did express an interest to join us when the place was in limbo before the software went live, so it's a shame we're up and running now and he's missing out on all the fun :smoking:

If you know how to get hold of him give it a shot.

Cheers!

Regards,
Marco.

[Leporello]

Fascinating journey Jerry!

Why the speakers only? You don't think that electronics make that much difference?

Is it possible that some of the speakers you tried, were not very synergistic with your amp(s) ?

Great that you've kept a photographic record! :)

[jandl100]

Fascinating journey Jerry!

Why the speakers only? You don't think that electronics make that much difference?

Is it possible that some of the speakers you tried, were not very synergistic with your amp(s) ?

Great that you've kept a photographic record! :)

Hi Leporello!

CDPs and amps have their own sagas chez-Jerry. Perhaps I'll get around to doing a thread on those soon. Speakers do seem to me to be of most interest though, simply because there are so many ways of designing them - much more varied and interesting than other components imo. :)

Yes, synergy is always important. And it's quite possible that some of the speakers I didn't take to would have faired better in my estimation if different partnering kit had been around at the appropriate time.

All opinions expressed are also only my own, of course! Other folks might have heard the same things as me but come to different conclusions.

[Filterlab]

That is a serious amount of speakers to get through Jerry, mega fun though! :)