Speakers to hang on to for LIFE

I responded to the "Best ever heard" thread and this is in line with my new loudspeakers. I wanted to buy the "possibly" last loudspeakers that I would ever own. That meant that they had to be far better than my Def Tech BP2000 CRL3000 7.2 system. They had to be much better than Golden Ear, Martin Logan's and or the "Brick and Mortar" stores idea of high end. Made in China with a very high end brand name on it. Two weeks ago I received my Tekton Design's Pendragons. Hand Made in USA. Took 6-8 weeks to get. I am thrilled to the bone. They exceeded my expectations. I do not even have my new cables yet. They are just getting "broken in". Every day they open up a little more like a giant "sunflower". I am not talking about the sub woofers when I say that I not only hear a "live performance" I feel the performance.
The other best part is I could afford them. They do not cost more than what I just listed above. I am sure that I could not spend 4 to 5 times more than what I spent and get anything that sounds better.

Another vote for Von Schweikert VR5 HSE's (see 12/30/12 Lneilb). After almost a decade with these beauties, they have stood the test of time. Always supremely gratifying -- never annoying. Sometimes I look up and imply say: Wow! Thiose speakers are really good!

Neal

my B&W Matrix 803 s2 .... 16 years and counting....

I just had the fortune to purchase a 1975 bronze pair of totally original Quad ESLs, from the son of a man who had hung on to them for life. He was going through some lean times and hated to sell them. I paid what he asked, and told him "Hats off to your father."

They are not even dusty. The grills are perfect, and are beautiful, with fascinatingly varied colors and textures in different lighting.

They charge up astonishingly quickly. My '81 black pair takes days to have good treble, and will be overhauled. (Kinda like motorcycles - gotta have a spare for when one is in the shop ;)

His father's (brother?) had bought three pair new in England and given him one pair. He only played classical music, at moderate volume. After I got them home, I found them set for 240 volts, perhaps running all that time - 38 years - at half charge. Talk about babied !!

They will pass on to a new owner when I pass on myself, hopefully after many, many happy hours of listening...

The pair I wish I'd never sold was a pair I'd built myself. It was a Klipschorn-copy design. A co-worker in Seattle had built the woofer section from plans, pretty solidly. I U-Haul'ed them back to Tucson at the end of the summer of '77, and got Electro-Voice tweeters and mid-range drivers for the wide, fiberglass "squawkers" as Paul Klipsch would call them, made a crossover (6/12), winding the huge coils myself. After tripping the protection circuit on my friend's 60 watt Kenmore, the gal from downstairs came to check on us because "It sounded like the stove fell over!" I even got them to look presentable in a rustic way, with thick, bold-grained, dark-stained paneling, and white burlap grill clothes for the top and sides.

A couple years later my friend bought them from me, and got two GAS Grandson amps (80 watts @ 4 Ohms), and I made passive cross-overs for bi-amping them, retaining the speaker crossovers too. The windows at his house sort of served as audible VU meters, buzzing along with the VU meters on the amps! In the living room it was downright adrenaline producing, crazy, thumping, loudest-rock-concert-you'd-ever-been-to loud, maybe 120 dB? And crystal clear, too (well, aside from the windows... ;)

As I said, crazy, but also impossible to get with, say, Quads.

Now that I am settled down, I wish I still had them. My friend still has the amps, but lent the speakers to another for safekeeping, but lost track of him over time...