I used to have three pairs of speakers at once, now down to two pairs. One pair is frequently used, another pair unused close to one year, occasionally plonked in the system.
I now have an irrational audio impulse in considering another pair of speakers although there is no more space to place them. There will surely be more clutter but I could place the surplus unused speakers on a rack as shown in the pictures below taken from another thread here.
Questions. Does anyone here have multiple speakers which are in storage or placed in a corner of the room? Do speakers deteriorate much if they are not used for a long time say months or years both physically (wood veneer showing deterioration etc.) or internally (capacitors or crossover boards go bad or drivers get moldy) things like that?
I have multiple headphones, which is a bit more space friendly.
I enjoy each headphone’s unique tuning, or use.
Heddphone 2GT: incredible detail
Beyerdynamic T1 Ver2: Bass and relaxing tuning.
Sennheiser D800S: Wide soundstage, and tuning.
Shure 1540: Close back for when others are in the room.
I guess anything will deteriorate over time. Much depends of course on storage conditions. You want to avoid extremes of temperature, direct sunlight, high humidity and dusty environments. So don’t stick them in the garage or the loft! Ideally if not using very often they should be kept boxed up in the original packaging if it’s still available. Provided these things are observed then I wouldn’t think you need be too worried about any kind of deterioration except over decades.
It sounds like you haven’t found the right speaker for you, so would it be worth investing time in finding your ideal speaker, which you could add funds to by selling your old speakers?
Amazing room and system Ryder. I currently have 3 sets, not so much by choice though there is obviously an element of that but because of severe room issues. Small, square room … absolutely horrible. I had to side track my floor standers to use bookshelf’s. One pair, because they are so small, fit in to one cubicle of a Kallax so no issues but I have to find a place to store the floorstanders. We have a smallish flat so it’s not so straight forward and one has to be inventive regarding storage solutions.
You seem to have room for another pair or two . I would not worry about deterioration if stored as suggested by others
The Martens are endgame for me, the itch is with significantly cheaper speakers to complement the Marten, to provide something different and not to replace it. Perhaps an irrational itch which may not be worth investigating as the new speakers may remain on the sidelines most of the time after a listen.
Parker Duos or Dexter Duos if considered will surely replace the Duke 2s and not complement them. Anyway that won’t happen too soon, may not happen at all.
Oh dear. Yes, I confess I have far too many speakers sitting on the shelf or in their boxes. Some get used now and then, others used regularly, but others hardly ever at all (admittedly one or two, like the JBL L110s are not use as they are in need of replacement woofer surrounds etc..).
Off the top of my head, here’s the current tally;
Naim SL2, Naim n-Sat, Naim n-Sub, Linn Kan Mk1, Epos ES-14, JBL 4311, JBL L110, Diesis Solitaire (2 pairs), Spendor SP2/2, KEF Corelli SP1051, B&W DM4, Leak Sandwich, Technics SB-F1 (2 pairs), Goodmans Maxim 2 (2 pairs), Allison Six, Mission 737, and maybe a few others I’ve forgotten about…
Many years ago this was considered not only best but absolutely essential in some quarters as having any other speakers would make it impossible to follow the tunes properly. Single speaker dem rooms were the norm at Linn and Naim dealers at least. I was told by my dealer that Linn said that even having a telephone in the room or wearing a digital watch with an alarm function would effectively spoil the music. And a TV in the room was a definite no no. Then home cinema became all the rage and it became popular to have surround sound systems having multiple speakers integrated with your main 2 channel system. Suddenly having multiple pairs of speakers in the room didn’t seem to matter any more.
I haven’t heard anything about this for years so I’m not quite sure what the current “official” postion is or what most of the members here think about it. Perhaps Richard might care to comment?
I am sure that any additional speakers would have an effect on the sound as they will either absorb sound, or enhance certain frequencies if poorly damped with their own resonances. Whether audible to mere mortals, is quite another question, and effect could be detrimental or beneficial depending on whatever else is happening in the room… However in considering this it is worth noting that absolutely everything in the room will affect the sound in some way, whether however minutely or grossly - from solid hunks of wood the same size and shape as those other speakers, to TVs, to shelves and what is on them, cupboards, sofas, chairs, as well as carpets and curtains etc. even a box of tissues placed on a table. How audible will vary, and whether beneficial or detrimental will depend on everything else.audible i Even moving your head a few centimetres will affect the sound, and sometimes that can definitely be audible. So overall I don’t think it is worth worrying about other speakers, though the siting of playing speakers and the listening position, and any acoustic treatment should ideally be adjusted with everything else in place, including any other speakers.
As speakers make most difference to sound, other than the room, I find nothing irrational about wanting to try some different things occasionally. It’s when it becomes a horder’s paradise … (Richard) that it may or may not becomes an issue, depending on mental state or space available
Indeed yes. Even the number of people in the room. When I still lived with my parents I always thought my system sounded best when I was alone in the room, though that could have been some kind of psychological effect.
As far as additional speakers go, obviously by virtue of their volume and being essentially resonant boxes will have an effect. I do recall being told though that provided they were connected to an amp then any effect from the drive units themselves would be minimised. The thinking being AFAIK that if connected the cones would be prevented from moving in response to sound waves as they would effectively be damped. This sounds logical but I’ve no idea how vaild it actually is.
I do vaguely recall many years ago talking on the 'phone to someone at Naim HQ about the whole single speaker thing. They told me that they had listened to the boss’s system, (Paul Stevenson at the time), which apparently was full surround, and it sounded amazing. They said that at no time did he point out that it would have sounded so much better with just the main speakers in the room.
We have a TV in the room out of necessity and also my wife’s professional Nord keyboard which has small active bookshelf size speakers attached to it. I’ve no idea if removing these things would make an improvement but it just can’t be done so it’s academic.
The same, or actually more effective, and in many cases easier, if the terminals on the back of the speaker were to be shorted together with a bit of wire. It won’t stop all cone movement but will minimise it.
I have all three pairs of speakers that I’ve previously used, namely late Linn Kan 1s, Linn Katans and ATC SCM7s.
The main initial impulse for keeping each set is the fear that I might not be happy with their replacement six months down the road. That’s never come to pass.
My rationalisation for keeping them beyond that is that they don’t take up much space and may come in handy if I ever put a second system together.
I’ve never once swapped my current speakers out with any of the old ones, and, given that I keep them in the attic, where temperatures fluctuate hugely over the course of a year, I wonder what kind of shape they’re in now, especially the Kans, which are almost 40 years old. Having said that, I inspect them occasionally, and they look fine.
. I would not worry about deterioration if stored as suggested by others 
