Audio Nirvana?

[Pycroft]

Hi all...

I see ALL THE TIME, people upgrading, changing, trading their speakers. I'm at a place where I think I'm done. I have speakers that I'm PERFECTLY happy with. I have sony SS-M7's. The ONLY way I'm getting rid of them is if I find Sony SS-M9's. I think I'm done trading, buying/selling etc. Since I see SO MANY people always changing, I'd like to hear from people who have finished their journey, and what their final destination was. I'm not talking about all around system - amp/preamp, etc. JUST speakers. I guess I look at it like, if I'm perfectly happy, I'm sure there ARE better speakers for a lot more money, but if I never hear them, than I am in audio nirvana :)

My final destination: Sony SS-M speaker line.

James

[halo71]

Congrats on your quest. But I am not so sure you can just rule out speakers here. Depending on what is driving them they will sound different.

I know I am never completely satisfied...at least not yet. :tongue:

[Amherst]

It's never over dude.
You are just experiencing temporary psychosis.

[vc69]

Most of us find a speaker we really enjoy and stick with it (for awhile, maybe a long time). Some of us will never quite be satisfied.

I'm sure there ARE better speakers for a lot more money, but if I never hear them, than I am in audio nirvana

That is the kicker, you WILL hear better speakers. Your listening ear will mature and you will begin the search for nirvana again. It's a journey, not a destination. For me anyway.

[jayman_1975]

over? I wish

[PrazVT]

I'm kind of the same - I've been upgrading in a vacuum so all the improvement have been relative to what I had before. So until someone around me (family ,friends) one-ups me and I can listen to their system, I'm on a break.

On the other hand .... a higher current power amp could ... ahh crap. I guess I'm not done :)

[mhardy6647]

... and here I thought that this post was about Audio Nirvana speakers!
http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/nirvana.html
Silly me...

Audio Nirvana? Yup. Altec 604E Duplexes with MasteringLabs crossovers, mounted in the vented corner enclosures designed by Bill Fortier (http://www.wardsweb.org/Billfort/).

Glad you like your Sonys. Sony, like all Japanese manufacturers, has made a few good loudspeaker systems over the years. Sadly, most were never distributed in the US.
If you want to see what the major Japanese mfgrs. withheld from us in the US, peruse www.audio-heritage.jp sometime :-P Stuiff like this: http://www.audio-heritage.jp/SONY-ES...ker/sa-s1.html The SS-M9 certainly wasn't a toy, either! Stereophile Class B recommended; not too shabby.

I'll stick with the Duplexes, though, myself (FWIW).

[oohhbehave]

I love audio fidelity, but I can't seem to trust anything the manufacturers do with speakers. Like the old saying goes, if you want to do it right, you just gotta do it yourself. That's why I went down the DIY route. I found this kit on parts-express.com, BR-1. They were great against the Polk Monitor 60's. I swear the BR-1 put out more bass and the sound was good, but not as accurate as it could be. So I looked at the Parts-Express.com project showcase and saw the Encore Project and that they actually had it in a kit form. The response chart for the speakers were pretty much flat. Flat = accurate. I'm quite content with the RS621 kit. But curiosity is getting the best of me. I'm thinking about trying the Zaph SR71 kit from madisound.

[TroyD]

Well, I mean, if you want to DIY to get the sound that YOU want, I say whatever blows your hair back. However to say that you can't trust anything the manufacturers do with speakers I find somewhat puzzling. I mean, with speakers, there is only so much polish you can apply to a turd.....and if people don't like what they hear, they probably don't buy and company goes under. It's part of the beauty of a free market system.

BDT

[TroyD]

Re the OP, enjoy it while it lasts my friend....because it's NEVER permanent.

BDT

[cnh]

It's too bad I didn't get a chance to hear your system James! Personally, I have 'yet' to hear what I think is 'there'. Every rig I hear has something I don't like, that's lacking--now I should add that I'm mostly into CD and SACD. Not set up for vinyl..so no comments there.

The other problem is. That when I first hear something I may like it better than when I hear it again? And that's a BIG ONE! That was even true at the latest PolkFest. The AR9s sounded great one day. OK the next? Is it me or what?

In any case enjoy. I can't afford to keep chasing what I don't even know might be out there! So I may never know.

I spent one day at a Hi-End store in Tokyo last spring where the salespeople were so laid back that I got to run almost everything. There were some incredible things in there...some were 'close'. But then again, I didn't get a chance to go back 'again'??

cnh

[ben62670]

I am actually at the point where I am nearly done. My system is very close to being done. I want to replace the Adcom 545 with something from B&K and finish my tube phono pre. As it is now I can go out to any HiFi shop and come home, fire up my system and not feel lacking at all. Lots of simple mods and time I am very pleased. Thanks to Club Polk I have learned a lot of ways to max out my dollar.
Thanks Polkies
Ben

[Face]

James, at least you're enjoying speakers designed by an ex. Polk engineer.

[tonyb]

I've been on the speaker merry go round my whole life. Thing is, alot of speakers,not all, play well with certain types of music,and not so well with others. This leaves you wanting to only play the music that plays to your speakers strengths. Throw in HT and you really have to search. I found my Legacy's to play anything I throw at them well,and also excell at HT. I'm done for along time unless some Focus HD's or Whispers fall in my lap.

[mantis]

It's never over dude.
You are just experiencing temporary psychosis.

You know how many times I have experienced this? I'm going through it right now.