Hello John. Yours seems like "sound" advice regarding the VR33's, their design, and my room conditions, though I haven't given-up on them yet. They really are good, and I have lots of time to consider those, and also other places to put them if I do get them.
The JBL's, on the other hand, are a single minty-conditioned pair of rare speakers in a high-turnover used shop where we have to act fast or lose the chance to purchase anything, so I felt urgent about them. I imagine they would sound really good in the big room. I went back again today to attempt a last listen while my name was still on them (we only get a few days each max), almost impossible to do in that noisy shop with really bad set-up conditions, competing with several other people listening loudly to other systems, people talking loudly 2 feet from your ear, shop people stretching packing tape and testing amps and speakers, and the front doors wide open facing a major busy boulevard with icy air blowing in, and while I still like the K2s a lot, under those conditions they just didn't ("couldn't"?) have that "WOW!" factor that most of my components gave me at first listen, so I'll probably just let the JBL's slip by.
I am very curious about Maggies, but in spite of all the great reviews and testimonials around, they are not yet popular in Japan at all, probably because of room size limitations, for one. I absolutely loved pair of Quad ESL 63's I heard once (astonishing!), but the only Maggie I've ever seen or heard here was a so-so conditioned "SMGc" model in the same used shop. It was not set-up well for listening at all, a single speaker up against a glass front door at the store entranceway, its mate not on display, driven by a lower model amp, and my impression was not great based on that. Based on your post, I looked and found only two sellers of new Maggies here, both selling the 1.7 model only, at 2.2 to 2.6 times the US price. These are selling only online, with no way to listen first.
Your point was well-taken, and I'll try to continue searching for my speaker upgrade in a more relaxed and considered way.
The JBL's, on the other hand, are a single minty-conditioned pair of rare speakers in a high-turnover used shop where we have to act fast or lose the chance to purchase anything, so I felt urgent about them. I imagine they would sound really good in the big room. I went back again today to attempt a last listen while my name was still on them (we only get a few days each max), almost impossible to do in that noisy shop with really bad set-up conditions, competing with several other people listening loudly to other systems, people talking loudly 2 feet from your ear, shop people stretching packing tape and testing amps and speakers, and the front doors wide open facing a major busy boulevard with icy air blowing in, and while I still like the K2s a lot, under those conditions they just didn't ("couldn't"?) have that "WOW!" factor that most of my components gave me at first listen, so I'll probably just let the JBL's slip by.
I am very curious about Maggies, but in spite of all the great reviews and testimonials around, they are not yet popular in Japan at all, probably because of room size limitations, for one. I absolutely loved pair of Quad ESL 63's I heard once (astonishing!), but the only Maggie I've ever seen or heard here was a so-so conditioned "SMGc" model in the same used shop. It was not set-up well for listening at all, a single speaker up against a glass front door at the store entranceway, its mate not on display, driven by a lower model amp, and my impression was not great based on that. Based on your post, I looked and found only two sellers of new Maggies here, both selling the 1.7 model only, at 2.2 to 2.6 times the US price. These are selling only online, with no way to listen first.
Your point was well-taken, and I'll try to continue searching for my speaker upgrade in a more relaxed and considered way.