Your Loudspeaker history

They look excellent and very well looked after, like others not sure if I’ve ever seen a pair, will have to find out more.

Thanks for sharing.

Gary

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Chris

I too came to similar conclusions regarding the 808’s, though only ever heard at HiFi shows, they didn’t show enough to tempt a home dem in my rather inaccessible part of West Wales UK.

Unfortunately my system is shut down at present, due to a forthcoming trip, but when normal service resumes I will certainly reflect on my use of the term ‘involvement’ as possibly being a poor description, and yours of ‘musicality’ the more accurate.:thinking:

:thinking:May even remove the Podiums, though I am a big fan, to affirm no loss of involvement/musicality.

I have placed an order for the new Witch Hat Audio Spectre speaker cables (A5 at present), having been so pleased with their Morgana’s. My hopes for them are greater transparency, better fixed soundstage etc etc.

But, you have certainly put the Proac K6 Signatures on my radar, with perhaps a passing glance at the K10s :joy: This all sounds as if I am not happy with my system, but I am……at least I was :joy::joy:

I have always wondered why you moved to K6s. Thanks again for the opportunity to ask and for your informative and very thought provoking reply.

All the best

Russ

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My history from 1992- today:

Snell Es ( Nac72/250)
SBLs. ( 52/ 4x135s)
SL2s. ( 552/ 2x300s)
PMC Fact 12s ( S1/ 500DR)
ATB Peter

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Have you thought about at least trying Kudos KS-1 speaker cable ? There is definitely a synergy, it’s relatively inexpensive. Myself and others on here have been very impressed with it.

The Getz II goes down to 28 Hz. I presume you have a large room.

That’s theoretical - in practice their roll-off starts much higher than that. They weren’t too small for the room, and happy at the end of a 30w amp.

B&W CDM 1SE
B&W N805
Sonus Faber Grand Piano Concerto
Proac Tablette 50 Signature
Harbeth Super HL5
Harbeth Super HL5 Plus
Dali Mentor Menuet
Marten Duke 2
Graham LS5/9

Currently left with Marten and Graham. Others have been sold.

Good to know. I have Marten Duke 2 and despite their size, the bass goes lower and sounds punchier than the much larger Harbeth SHL5+ which I owned. The spec on paper corresponds to my experience (38Hz on Marten, 40Hz with Harbeth). The amp plays a part too as the Marten sounded soft with low powered amps, more dynamic with better clarity, punch and detail with more powerful amps, in my experience. Class A Luxman works for me but I was told that the Marten sounds better with more dynamic amps such as Vitus or Gryphon. Too rich for me though.

My journey starts in 1988.

FIsher ST-30, a Birthday present around 1988, they were pretty terrible but suited my Goodmans 5200 system.

Wharfedale 501, bought around 1990 when I switched to a Sansui AU-500.

TDL RTL-3 bought around 1995 when I became a student and all that mattered was the low end, for all the after club parties we had they were perfect.

PMC FB1, bought around 2001, I loved these.

PMC Twenty24, bought around 2012, a more sophisticated sound but still retain the overall signature of the PMC family, I love these too and are here for a long time.

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Started with RIGA REGONDA speakers from my dads old radiogram :flushed:1977
Next up HEYBROOK HB1 1986
Next up REGA ELA 1992
Next up REGA XEL2006
NEAT MOMENTUM 3i 2012 ……
That’s your lot
Cheers
Tony

Good to read you are using Marten and Graham. When I auditioned the speakers that should replace the Martens I was looking for a pair with similar speed and transparency, but also the capability to open up to big symphonic work and opera in a way the Martens just couldn’t do. The audition group included the LS5/9 and LS5/5, initially at the end of a Gryphon Essence pre/power and later my own Accuphase. I found the Gryphon surprisingly tame at low volume and only to open up after the relay kicked it into high gain. The Accuphase of course a much more modest presentation but still easily driving all of them. Between the Grahams I preferred the dynamic presentation of the 5/9 but I didn’t push either of them, as I couldn’t get past the looks (you can tell I had my priorities straight!).

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wow - what a long journey.

mid sized Realistic speakers from radio shack.
Paradigm Atoms - big step up
Paradigm 7se - bigger but not better
Monitor audio bronze 2’s - better, but really wanted B&W 805’s
B&W CM bookshelves - good, but had small kids, worried about falling
B&W CM towers - nice!
B&W 704’s - really nice!
Harbeth P3ESR - nice but a little boring.
Neat Ultimatums XLM - love.
next: ATC Actives? the Neats are pretty amazing - to go a step up will be expensive.

Not a huge list for me…
Tannoy Mercury M1 with my first ever separates system Marantz CD and budget Rotel amp.

Then no room so ditched it all for a Nakamichi Soundspace 1.

Then a bit more room became available so got Onkyo micro system and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.1.

Now i have a proper hifi room so first off B&W 685 to upgrade the Diamonds and now running PMC Twenty 21 on PMC stands.

Back in the 60s… first HiFi system… Phillips Audio Plan. (anyone remember that stuff?) £100 for a package that included Garrard SP25, a ceramic £2 cartridge, Phillips amp and speakers. Rubbish, sounded okay in the Phillips showroom for a short time, but got fed up with it within six months.
Then Celestion Ditton 15s. Lovely. With Armstrong 521 amplifier and GL75 turntable.
Ditton 25’s next. Not overly keen. Sold them within a year.
Celestion 66s. Very nice. £200 new, early 70’s. They now go for £1000 on the Bay!
Then heard Naim amplification and their little IBLs. Wow! such clarity. Had them two years, but was eventually disappointed with the minimal bass.
Naim SBL Mark 2. Smashing speakers! A pair of Naim 300 amps (upgraded to active now) plus LP12 for vinyl.
Had the SBLs for 15 years, sold them to a guy in Cornwall who did special effects for the Alien films!
Sold them because I’d seen a pair of late maple SL2s on the Bay, boxed and like new. Took a chance without hearing them.
Have had them for years now. Coupled with full Naim 500 amplification, CD 555 player and ND555 streamer, for me… perfection.
Shan’t be changing them, and will be taking them with me to that great HiFi room in the sky…

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Bit of a long winded answer, but since you’ve asked.

Approximately 5yrs ago we did a major renovation on our house and after considering Super Lumina I decided to stay with A5, running it under the suspended floor in pipe lagging and filling the void with acoustic insolation, so it’s there to stay.

I have been following here all the posts regarding Kudos KS-1 but it would have to run on top of the carpet, so I’ve not succumbed.

However, the Spectre cable I couldn’t resist, the 2 previous purchases I’ve made from Witch Hat made such a difference in my system, and I’m expecting the same from the Spectre also.

Should I return the Spectre cables, I may look for a friendly dealer to loan me the KS-1, it is very competitively priced.

KR

Russ

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Equally I’d like to hear about your thoughts on the Spectre once it arrives. I was ready for a change of speaker cable last summer. I’d made a lot of changes to my system since I’d bought my previous cable (TQ Black) and wanted to see what was out there. I was interested in the WH cables but they had paused selling Phantom and Spectre was months away. I didn’t want to tie up approx 1.5K for months and I’m not interested in spending SL / Chord Music type money. So I tried a few others and the KS-1 came out comfortably on top. It’s cheap enough though that if the reviews of Spectre are favourable I may give it a try in future.

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1988: StudioTech Power 120 watt shitty new speakers (just 80 Dutch guilders/each)
1989: Wharfedale Delta 10 nice sounding small speaker
1990: BNS E14 monitors (Dutch brand)
1991: Old Wharfedale Dentons
1992: B&W v202 monitors/Wharfedale 505.2
1993-1997: Wharfedale Diamond IV
1997-1999: Kef Q35
1999-2002: Mission 774
2002-2011: Linn Ninka
2011-2014: Neat Motive 2
2014-2018: Naim Allae
2018-2019: Focal 826
2019-2020: Mission M34
2020-2023: Kef Q550

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Started many years ago with little Celestion Ditton 10s (with metal grilles). Great tweeters but no bass to speak of, though that was probably beneficial for use in a student room. Then many years in which hifi played second fiddle to other activities.

Got back into more serious audio stuff in early 1990s with KEF Reference 103/4s which my son still uses. I also had the matching KEF Kube active equaliser (made by Meridian, I believe) but ended up taking it out of circuit.

Then to Naim electronics with Kudos C20s, my least successful speaker purchase — never really got them to sound satisfactory in my room. Followed by PMC Fact 3s and finally active ATC SCM 40s, which I reckon are my endgame speakers.

Oh and nearly forgot, neat little Neat Iotas attached to the wall in my small office.

Roger

B&W CM9

B&W 804 Diamond

Magico A3

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2004 Dynaudio Audience 52
2007 Naim Ariva
2023 Graham Audio LS5/9f

Been browsing half-heartedly the last 5-6 years, finally found what I didnt know I wanted just this week. Oh the rewards of the search!

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