Personal speaker evolution

Pioneer P.O.S.'s Lasted through College
AR 201's My first job after College
Mirage M3si's My first big speaker Purchase
Aerial 8b's My Midlife crisis
ATC 100's My final nirvana....

1966 - AR 4x ($88/pair on sale at Allied)
1971 - QUAD ESL-57 ($520/pair)
1973 - QUAD ESL-57 ($630/pair, QUADs now stacked)
1978 - KEF 105 ($1700/pair)
1999 - Tyler Acoustics Taylo Reference System ($4650/pair with outboard crossovers on an Audiogon auction)

Jan

It was all over for me when I was just old enough(1966) to walk and found my older brothers big plastic "Close-and-Play", don't remember the brand, but it had Kate Smith's "God Bless America" in it. You want to talk about leaving a load in your diaper! This huge voice came out of this plastic contraption that made me freeze in my tracks. Bob ended up forking over the "Close-and-Play" to me just to get me out of his room. God knows how many records I ruined on that thing but it was the start of my musical life and my passion for speakers.

As a young boy I made dozens of homemade speakers with any working drivers I could find. All used in cardboard boxes that my father would provide as make-shift enclosures.

-1st actual pair of speakers, my German neighbors pair of large Telefunken's which were warm and pleasant to listen to not to mention they were Free!

1-DCM Timewindows
2-AR? Towers from Sam Goody's, multiway w/dome mids & tweeters and a couple of woofers, one of which was slot loaded at the bottom.
3-Jr. High & Sr. High Woodshop / years worth of homemade stuff.
4-B.I.C. Venturi/ I forget the model but the sounded nice!
5-ADS L series / 3 way with dome mid & high.
6-Snell EII..$1100
7-Snell CV...$2500
8-Polk SDA-SRS..$1/2 price as a salesman / Drunk days when louder souded better?
9-KEF 104.2...$1/2 price as a salesman
10-KEF 105.3..$1/2 price as a salesman
11-Thiel CS3.6 ..$4200 Still have.
12-Wilson Watt/Puppy 3.2 ..$12,000
13-Wilson WITT.....$8888 I must have lost my wits when I bought these.
14-Martin Logan CLS IIZ $1800(used) could not dial them into my room?
15-B&W 801 SeriesII ..$5500
16-Paragon Regents $1300(used) Still have.
17-Ariel 10T .....$4000 Demo
18-JM Labs Electra 920.1 ...$5000 Still have

I've lost my timeline on some early stuff and misssed a few junkers that disgraced my parents home but I attribute this to my dazed and confused teen and 20's years when I played in a band and lived that life. Somewhere between #3 and #11 I found the Big Bambo inside the Cheech & Chong album and don't recall several years! Houston, The eagle has finally landed.

Of course I started with Spica TC-50 like any college kids who just got into stereo. Here is the long list of my speaker evolution:

Spica TC-50
KEF Reference 3
Sonus Faber Electa Amator I
Merlin VSM III
Genesis V
Sonus Faber Extrema
Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 5.1
Dynaudio Confidence 5
Acoustic Energy AE1 Signature
Dynaudio Confidence 5
B&W 802 Nautilus
Sonus Faber Cremona
Dynaudio Confidence 5

The reason there are so many Dynaudio Confidence 5 in the list is I kept going back to them. I wanted to try something different, but I could not find anything better sounding, period! Not the big Revel, ProAc, Martin Logan, Dunlavy, or Aerial. Nothing. Not even the Temptation. C5 has that charming midrange I have not heard on any other speakers on earth. So why did I want to sell them? They are hard to drive and I miss tubes. But if you are a solid state guy, you owe it to yourself for not trying the C5.

Started out with a full on PYE system from Holland,then:
Magneplanar 1 imp
Acoustat 3c's
Hales system 2 sig's (still own)