Speakers to hang on to for LIFE


After 9 years with my Proac Response 3s, I recently decided to change speakers. As you can tell, I'm not an upgrade fever patient. I want something I can live with for years & I think the best advice I'm gonna get will be from those who have & are still living with their speakers for an extended period of time. Please tell me why too. Thanks.Bob.
ryllau
Lots of very nice speakers listed here and I wish I had some of them, but the question is, what speakers have I had for a while that I would still want to keep. Here's a point of view from a ratty young dirty ragamuffin who wandered into an oddball high end shop just outside of town at 15 years old, he'd scraped up a few hundred bucks and was looking for his first pair of "real" speakers ;)

I've had my humble $350 Clements 107di's for about seven and a half years now. They've followed me through high school and college, through four houses, two dorm rooms and an apartment. They've followed me through systems costing $600 (107s included!) up to my current ~$9K system, have been auditioned in other systems costing $13K and more and they manage to keep up, to their very limit at any rate.

No they're not the, biggest, cleanest, most revealing speakers ever and no they don't perform like mega-buck speakers but I have to say they do much, much better than any sub-$400 speaker ever should, and are able to handle a variety of sounds and gear. I was recently offered a pair of Maggie MMGs for a good price but felt absolutely no need for them. A different flavor perhaps, but I'm not looking for that right now. When I upgrade, I want it to be a really shocking improvement.

My current system really does deserve better, but I'm finding that I would need to spend over $3-4grand to get any really notable, justifiable improvement. I don't honestly have any regrets on keeping the 107s in until I have that kind of cake for a solid upgrade. I'm a college student ferchrissake! :p)

When I finally plop down for some really serious speakers, the 107s will stay for a "B" system.
Spica TC-50. You replace the Audax tweeters with Audax's current version, listen in a small to medium room, add a good sub, upgrade your electronics and you might find it very hard to replace them. They create the illusion of
the real thing- live music- which I find is not so easy to find in other speakers.
Ohm Acoustics 4XO have 17 years now. In a large room they have a wide soundstage and solid bass. I replaced the surrounds 3 years ago.
My dad has a 30 year old pair of Heil ESS AMT1 speakers that are still going strong. He had the woofers refoamed about 10 years ago, and I think these speakers will be around for another 10 years at least.

I suspect my Coincident Total Victories may be the last pair of speakers I buy.
a lot of good amps mentioned here...I have always been a classe fan...........however after hearing many many amps with my mkIII's settled on a 5 channel Audio Refinement (sounds awesome in stereo)...considering what a used one can be bought for..it is an outrageous value ...those big twin power supplies help the dyn's .....this amp was designed by the best (bernard...he is french if you have a problem with that lol)....the amp is warm!!!!..almost tubelike....silent background...just another alternative for you dyn lovers...(i am a former Bryston and Classe owner)
mongoose