With the current popular threads on CD player history and on amplifier history it’s a bit surprising someone hasn’t started one on loudspeakers - so here it is!
Whilst even a simple unannotated list would be interesting other information is encouraged where possible: Year added, even if only approximate, would give historical scale, while additional detail would add interest to the reader, e.g. reasons for choices/changes, impressions, overall preference etc. Certainly I’ve found such information in the other threads made for interesting reading, though even the plain lists are fascinating, whether someone has taken very few steps in their hifi history or has made frequent changes.
Where you have multiple systems it may be worth clarifying whether components were added for additional systems or whether they were all originally for the main one, with displaced kit moving into other systems.
To kick off, here is my own speaker history:
DIY reflex design using Eagle FR8 8” fullrange driver. These completed the build of my first hifi system in 1969. 2cu ft cabinets made of varnished stained plywood, calculations for the port done by slide rule from published theory as there were no computer tools or databases then (indeed, no computers for home use, and no calculator either), and other aspects as gleaned from books. Sounded great to me, and all my friends agreed my system sounded better than whatever they had to play music on. And they did bass! Admittedly, I was later to learn that bass could be better. A lot better (they wallowed). But it was the first time I’d really heard, and felt, bass, making rock and prog music sound so much better. A couple of journalists from a hifi magazine who heard them were at first impressed, as I was playing Pink Floyd’s Saucerful of secrets with its organ notes sounding as they arrived - but on went some classical that they knew, and although they were polite, they were, shall we say, less than impressed with overall clarity and with the distinctly subdued top end: the supposedly full range drivers had quite a treble roll off in reality.
DIY 3-way floorstanders (my mum called them coffins!). Aware of the limitations of my first speakers it wasn’t long before I set about upgrading. So in, I think, 1970 I built these, using KEF B139 bass drivers and KEF T15 tweeters, together with the Eagle FR8s from my first speakers repurposed for just midrange duty. Chipboard cabinets were veneered, stained and French polished. Ah, that was definitely better! More balanced sound with a top end to match the bottom (ish).
IMF TLS150ii: In 1975 or early 1976 some money from maturing saving policy allowed me to treat myself with a huge (to me) budget of £300. This led to a mammoth speaker search, auditioning 13, all in the £250-£300 price bracket (around £2.5-£3k today). The one that did it for me was the IMF TLS150ii. I was astounded to find that even at that quite high price bracket they all sounded so very different from one another - all the more so given that about three quarters of those I auditioned were the respective manufacturers’ flagship models, and all having received glowing magazine reviews. Ten of them were so bad to my ears that I rejected them virtually instantly when music started to play (yet some I have since learnt are liked by members of this forum), and another one only lasting a couple of tracks. The TLS 50s were lovely speakers, full range with excellent bass, and with a neutrality that meant they could play any music well, unlike some speakers. I say were - they still do sound good: after a 26 years elsewhere they eventually came back and my son has them now.
IMF RSPM: In ~1990 the chance spotting of a newspaper advert offering a secondhand pair of these at a very good price had me borrowing my brother-in-law’s Range Rover and driving from Tyne and Wear to Doncaster. A quick listen confirmed their suitability and I was heading back with them. The RSPMs were IMF’s top speaker at the time I bought the TLS50s, but out of reach then - to say I was chuffed at the change is an understatement. The same, but more and better is the only way I can describe them.
PMC EB1i. In 2016 an inheritance from the person who introduced me to music prompted a change of speakers, and after some research and planning a mammoth road trip covering the length and breadth of England led to me choosing these. The primary criteria of that search was for something that was at least every bit as good as the IMFs, younger, and if possible capable a playing at a higher sound level. The EB1i did all that, with essentially the same sound character, and added greater tautness to the bass.
Modified PMC EB1i - tri-amping then using with ATC mid and Scanspeak treble…. I had been playing at designing and building a pair of transmission line speakers myself (a longterm project, in abeyance for a while), for which I had bought the sublime ATC SM75-150 3” dome midrange drivers (before ATC stopped selling on their own), which together with some Scanspeak tweeters I had built into satellite boxes that would sit atop the said transmission line cabinets. To simplify that design had I added a couple of extra MF P170 amps and an active crossover. In 2017 it occurred to me to try using that electronics to have a go at active driving of my PMCs, as they were fitted with triple terminals and I knew their passive crossover was easy to remove. There was a definite improvement - small but definite, across the board but perhaps most noticeable at the bass end. Then a brainwave: those ATC mid units were very similar to PMCs midrange units used in their top models (unsurprising as I understand PMC used to use the ATC unit before ATC stopped selling to competitors, and, allegedly at least, their own unit that followed was a near clone). I put my DIY satellites on top of the EB1 speakers, connecting mid and treble amps to them, using the PMCs just for the bass. Now that made a significant difference, the ATC mid shining through, adding a greater sense of realism, especially to solo vocals, sounding as if the person was in the room, without losing the excellent bass of the EB1. So that is how it stayed.
PMC MB2. When I bought the EB1s, one of the other speakers I auditioned was the MB2. On hearing I considered them to be the best speakers I’d ever heard, however whilst I had a very good offer for them ex-dem, that was £4k more than the EB1s, and I was concerned about my ability to manhandle the MBs as I get older - so my head ruled and I went for the EBs. However I was left with a lingering niggle, with something in me regretting not going for the MB2, one of my very few ever regrets. Then in October 2022 a secondhand pair appeared online at a remarkably good price - collection only, but only a couple of hours from where I happened to be with a campervan. They were in mint condition, and are now mine! Putting them on their stands is a challenge, really at least a two person job and not easy even then, and moving them, even a few cm, is not something I’d want to do in a hurry. However, the solution is incredibly simple - don’t ever move them! And if ever it were to be necessary, make sure there are some fit and strong helpers around.
That, I think, is the end of my speaker journey., and I’m unlikely ever to change again. That said, I’d love to hear them in MB2XBD format, and I’d also love to hear some others out of curiosity, including Tannoy Westminster Royal, Ferguson-Hill FH1, B&W’s Nautilus, and ATC’s SCM150A. Who knows what a lottery win would trigger?
