Well here goes, speakers I actually PAID for…
1975 Goodmans Goodwood ($400 and I was 16)
1976 Spendor BC1s ($700 ish)
1977 Active Isobariks (s/hand a snip at $9000 but I also got a lot of black boxes thrown in)
1985 Linn Kans (passive then DIY active)
1985 DCM Time Windows
1985 Gale GS401s Chrome
1986 Meridian M2s
1990 B&W CM1/CM2 combo
1993 Meridian M2s (the same pair)
1996 Royd. A9?
2001 Harbeth HB1?
2009 Dali Somethings (don’t ask)
2014 Naim S400s (still have)
I have also had MANY speakers on extended home trial, (but never put the money down)
Regrets, well…
Active SARAs. Should have, could have…didn’t
Magnapan MG1s. So close.
Apogee Duettas. Biggest regret.
Monitor Audio’s first, but don’t even know what model. They look like 3-way floor-standers (veneer sides, blue front panel below the fabric covers). They had an open section in the back, so probably function more like a stand-mount in disguise. Still own them, but stored elsewhere.
Royd Doublets. Still own them too, currently in use at the parents place.
Dynaudio Sappphire. Probably the only pair in NZ and quite likely to be my end game.
Like others, I am very glad to hear that you are home and enjoying the music once more. I’m sorry that I’m a bit late in marking your return, but “well done” nevertheless!
I’m intrigued by your electrostatics. One of my closest friends had a pair and then a stacked pair in an all-Quad system - and they were fantastic, but I’ve never heard of three pairs operating simultaneously - it must sound brilliant! Both he and I gradually moved to exclusively Naim and Linn systems, but the electrostatics were really memorable.
However, there is one glaring omission - would you think of providing a series of “Pics ‘From the Listening Position’”?!
I’n useless at technology, and am not able to transfer photos from my iPhone to this Forum. I have asked a friend round to do this for me, so I hope to get some photos up soon. So watch this space.
This little thing in yellow here is the key.
Take the photo on your phone. Should then be in your photo gallery. Edit as you wish.
Click on the highlighted icon which will be somewhere in your ‘reply/post’ window, choose the pic & voila, uploaded into your Forum post. It’s dead simple using a phone (assuming you’re viewing the Forum on a mobile ).
Thanks for the tip, Stevie. I shall have a go at that tomorrow, but I’m a technical nowhere man, so no promises! (I have an iPhone 14.). Would love to post photos of the ESLs, if only to make you chaps and chapesses envious!
mid-70s: some crappy no brand bookshelfs
Bose 301s
early-80s: McIntosh XR3
mid-80s: Linn SARA Isobarik with stands
mid-90s:
Dynaudio Audience 72
Dynaudio Audience 122
Dynaudio Audience 52
Dynaudio Audience 52SE
(I still have all these for HT and home office systems)
1986; Mission 70-2 bookshelf ( along with Cyrus1 amp)
2001; Yamaha NS550 towers… free from Craigslist!
Powered by McIntosh MA6100.
2020; Monitor Audio Studio SE20 25th Anniversary, last of the Cambridge built MAs. Piano black, mint… most likely the last I’ll ever use in the main system;
Matched well with the 5i-2. Audio quest Rocket 88 cables that came with them.
2023; Castle Compact Columns; powered by the Cyrus 1 after a refresh.
& sold the huge Yamahas & bought a vgc pair of Castle Chesters to use with the 5i-2 once I bring in a Magnum Dynalab receiver to use as the main system.
Ought to be good for a bit
Oh, & the Muso I picked up as a demo… overkill as a sound bar but very enjoyable.
A pair of KEF 104s were my first loudspeakers, which I bought from the proceeds of holiday jobs for my first proper system before starting three years at Oxford University. I had them converted to KEF 104aB status (a new, improved crossover, if my memory serves me well) by a couple of clever science undergraduates there who knew how to do these things.
They were great 'speakers, which I held onto for a few years before seeing the light and migrating to QUAD ESL63s once I qualified as a solicitor.
After having had a Dansette Viva record player at my parents’ home, I started my hi-fi journey in around 1971 with a “system” comprised of a Garrard 1025 TT, a forgotten amp and un-named speakers, for £50, funded by a summer job.
Soon, I decided to up-grade the speakers to B&W DM4s, but, on arriving at the dealer’s shop in Belfast, I discovered that the meagre funds I had accumulated would purchase only ONE speaker! Too embarassed to leave, I bought a pair of B&W D5s, which were fine. Later, I graduated and graduated (!) to a pair of Gale 401s, which were terrific.
Finally, a pair of Linn Isobariks, which I have had for a long, long time. I don’t feel any need to change these and perhaps that tells a story in itself.
Best wishes,
You don’t tell us whether you’ve found a way of hooking up your Dansette transcription record player to your Isobariks. I imagine that the bass response would be trouser-flappingly mighty, as well as affecting the milk yield of cattle on any local dairy farms!
(I have fond memories of listening to early Beatles 45s on a cousin’s Dansette well over 50 years ago.)
