Speakers to hang on to for LIFE

Very proud to share my admiration for the Piega C-10 Limiteds....I've had them here at the Love Shack for only 6 months, but they've been 6 SMILING months.. Kind of a Raquel Welch, (in her days/present)speaker seduction each evening. I believe the C-10 ltds are an Alien being :-) brent

CROWN ES224 and/or CROWN ES212, whether made by CROWN or RTR.
I'm trying to "keep them going". May have to replace panels and power supply to one or two 224's. Fortunately I put these parts away some time ago.

I keep looking for more, bu, sadly,t there aren't many out there. Though recently ebay had a pair of 212's (in Australia).

Sonus Faber Extrema speakers.

I've had my Synthesis LM260s since about 1989. With each upgrade in electronics, they sound better & better. Why I like 'em: smooth, natural, lots of detail and timbre on voices & instruments, non-fussy in terms of placement, soundstage extends beyond the speakers, can listen to all day, every day, low volumes & high volumes equally enjoyable and more. Every time the upgrade bug bites, what I've heard at and above my price range (about $5k and chiefly Dynaudio, B&W and the Krell LATs) comes up short. Generally, the sound is more etched, narrower soundstage and more like listening to speakers and recordings of music than actual music. While I haven't heard many of the speakers talked about here, the only speakers I recall hearing at a sane (to me) price were Quads. All the virtues of the Synthesis, plus more detail on individual instruments and soundstage.

Back when I bought them I was originally going to get Rogers LS3/5as, but one listen was enough for me to scrape up the extra dough to get a used pair. Used with Dyna Stereo 70, then Berning EA-230, and most recently with a parallel single ended 300B tube amp it still gives some of the best sound I have ever heard. Midrange to die for, and the midrange is where the music is. Downsides: no deep bass below about 45 - 50 Hz (midbass is fine), a bit soft in the highs, beamy trebles and no louder than life rock concert levels, but it will play surprisingly loud.

I've heard demos of Infinity IRSes, Apogee ribbons, various Martin Logans, and Avantgarde Duos and I've still got them as my main speaker. My favorite comment about the Quads was when I mentioned to an audio salesman that I had them and he said, "Well, I guess I'm not going to be selling you any speakers."