Speakers - what and why

What kind of amp was running those Paradigms you listened to? I see on here a lot of quality speakers being used but haven't seen a quality amp listed yet. Everyone's speakers on here would sound a lot better with better amps.
I have two systems. A SS Musical Fidelity (made in England) system running Maggie 12's with a small sub at low level. I have a tube buffered cd player and a Rega TT. My other system is a tube system, Prima Luna pre amp and amp running rebuilt Quad 63's. I was really into audiophile stuff for a number of years, rolling vintage tubes etc. Everything is plugged into PS Audio Ultimate outlets which filter and stabilize the power. I've even polished the prongs of the power plugs. (yes you can hear the difference). With these two systems, I have reached the point of diminishing returns. I can spend a lot more money and just get small improvements. Everything was bought used on Audiogon at about half the price new.
I have two quality amps and pre-amps.

System 1 (living room)
- Paradigm Monitor 11's
- PS Audio 5.6 pre-amp for my vinyl
- Denon AVR X4200-W for digital sources
- Aurex SR-Q200 direct drive turntable
- Bryston 4B power amp (driving the Paradigms)
- Speakercraft SC2-100 driving the sub

System 2 (bedroom)
- Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3's
- Maracus Tentare vintage German hi-fi amp
- Maracus Pretare vintage German hi-fi pre-amp
- Yamaha receiver for digital sources

The Paradigms and CV's were both, initially, being driven by the Denon AVR, but when I got the B&W's I bought the Bryston to power those. However, for a living room speaker, the Paradigms seemed to be a better fit, so I moved the B&W's upstairs into a smaller room and have the Bryston feeding the Paradigms now.

The Paradigm speakers are not a demanding load, so not much of a difference between the Denon and the Bryston, but the Bryston can drive them louder with absolute clarity. The B&W's are an extremely demanding load and to push them, you need something like the Bryston. They do not get pushed in their present location. If I shuffle the speakers again later, they'll get hooked back up to the Bryston, OR, I may buy another Bryston and put that upstairs. The vintage German gear is beautiful, but does not have the power behind it that the Bryston does.
 
I have two quality amps and pre-amps.

System 1 (living room)
- Paradigm Monitor 11's
- PS Audio 5.6 pre-amp for my vinyl
- Denon AVR X4200-W for digital sources
- Aurex SR-Q200 direct drive turntable
- Bryston 4B power amp (driving the Paradigms)
- Speakercraft SC2-100 driving the sub

System 2 (bedroom)
- Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3's
- Maracus Tentare vintage German hi-fi amp
- Maracus Pretare vintage German hi-fi pre-amp
- Yamaha receiver for digital sources

The Paradigms and CV's were both, initially, being driven by the Denon AVR, but when I got the B&W's I bought the Bryston to power those. However, for a living room speaker, the Paradigms seemed to be a better fit, so I moved the B&W's upstairs into a smaller room and have the Bryston feeding the Paradigms now.

The Paradigm speakers are not a demanding load, so not much of a difference between the Denon and the Bryston, but the Bryston can drive them louder with absolute clarity. The B&W's are an extremely demanding load and to push them, you need something like the Bryston. They do not get pushed in their present location. If I shuffle the speakers again later, they'll get hooked back up to the Bryston, OR, I may buy another Bryston and put that upstairs. The vintage German gear is beautiful, but does not have the power behind it that the Bryston does.
Nice setups. I had a Bryston 4B. You can't beat them. It sounded great on some big Maggies I had. I had the Musical Fidelity pre and acquired a MF amp. It sounded just as good as the Bryston, maybe a little clearer and warmer. So I sold the Bryston to have a matched pair. The old ones still bring good money. The Fidelitys are heavy SOB's. They were hand made in England. Later MF moved production to China and they aren't the same.
I am amazed at the high prices used equip. brings on Audiogon. Even the old stuff. I'm not familiar with those German amps, but I would say you are very close to the law of diminishing returns where you can spend more money and not get a lot more improvement. Cables are snake oil these days IMO. I found some Silver Sonic interconnects that were moderately priced that sound great and that's what I stuck with. Made in the US. For speaker connects I use the thickest copper that Radio Shack had. They might be 10ga. I haven't added anything in years except a PS Audio DAC for streaming.
 
Nice setups. I had a Bryston 4B. You can't beat them. It sounded great on some big Maggies I had. I had the Musical Fidelity pre and acquired a MF amp. It sounded just as good as the Bryston, maybe a little clearer and warmer. So I sold the Bryston to have a matched pair. The old ones still bring good money. The Fidelitys are heavy SOB's. They were hand made in England. Later MF moved production to China and they aren't the same.
I am amazed at the high prices used equip. brings on Audiogon. Even the old stuff. I'm not familiar with those German amps, but I would say you are very close to the law of diminishing returns where you can spend more money and not get a lot more improvement. Cables are snake oil these days IMO. I found some Silver Sonic interconnects that were moderately priced that sound great and that's what I stuck with. Made in the US. For speaker connects I use the thickest copper that Radio Shack had. They might be 10ga. I haven't added anything in years except a PS Audio DAC for streaming.
Bryston is local to me, so I make it a point to support them (just the repair depot and office now, they moved manufacturing into a new facility with Axiom). I bought the 4B used and dropped it off to Bryston to have them go through it (factory recertify). They replaced a few caps, the power cord, made some adjustments to it and then did a burn-in and re-bench'd it. Can't say you can get that kind of service from other brands.

I had a PS Audio DAC too, but didn't find it sounded any better than the Denon, so I gave it to a buddy of mine.

I hear you on the cables, I'm using large heavily insulated 14x4 on the Paradigms (bi-wired) and 12x4 medical-grade cable from a Cath Lab we decom'd on the 802's, also bi-wired.
 
Bryston is local to me, so I make it a point to support them (just the repair depot and office now, they moved manufacturing into a new facility with Axiom). I bought the 4B used and dropped it off to Bryston to have them go through it (factory recertify). They replaced a few caps, the power cord, made some adjustments to it and then did a burn-in and re-bench'd it. Can't say you can get that kind of service from other brands.

I had a PS Audio DAC too, but didn't find it sounded any better than the Denon, so I gave it to a buddy of mine.

I hear you on the cables, I'm using large heavily insulated 14x4 on the Paradigms (bi-wired) and 12x4 medical-grade cable from a Cath Lab we decom'd on the 802's, also bi-wired.
You can't get that service/support from anybody. Denon has always had a clear warm sound. Those medical grade cables sound interesting. On my Maggies, I use a couple of strands of cat5 cable to connect the double terminals for bi-wiring.
 
You can't get that service/support from anybody. Denon has always had a clear warm sound. Those medical grade cables sound interesting. On my Maggies, I use a couple of strands of cat5 cable to connect the double terminals for bi-wiring.
Yes, the cables are quite neat, they are shielded, very fine strand, I got hundreds of feet of it, donated some of it to my HiFi junkie buddy as well.
 
if money isn't an object........................



I had the privilege of listening to these at the HIFI Centre, an absolute revelation, stunning

and no I didn't buy them, but if I win a lottery............
Typical for the top range of the mainstream HiFi speaker lines, the B&W Nautilus series is $60K for example:

The Estelon X is $78,000.

The current version of my 802's are $26,000.00, similar price to the ML CLX mentioned in that article.

From the same source, check out the Magico M9:
1649045350441.png

Although the purpose of my visit was to listen to and report on the company’s latest flagship, the $750,000 per pair M9, I arrived unprepared for what else I would encounter at Magico’s exceptionally impressive, 30,000 square-foot design-and-manufacturing facility.

Now we are getting really expensive, lol! :ROFLMAO:
 
These have been my favorite mid-range speakers I have ever owned. Really good for the cost.

Sign me up for some JBLs .. but this was all before my time I may have heard some good speakers as a teen however I'm surely not been exposed to all of them.

Klipsch is one I've never heard, however I believe we're talkin really high-end stuff.

The JBLs I had heard were bookshelves that I think handled 120w. Speaker was at least decent.
 
Typical for the top range of the mainstream HiFi speaker lines, the B&W Nautilus series is $60K for example:

The Estelon X is $78,000.

The current version of my 802's are $26,000.00, similar price to the ML CLX mentioned in that article.

From the same source, check out the Magico M9:
View attachment 95127


Now we are getting really expensive, lol! :ROFLMAO:
I gave up on the HIFI magazines. They were always testing/writing about exotic equipment that you will never see or be able to afford.
 
I gave up on the HIFI magazines. They were always testing/writing about exotic equipment that you will never see or be able to afford.

Almost anyone can walk into a high end store and ask for a demonstration. When I was in college and buying fairly bargain equipment, they were more than willing to accommodate me on the idea that I might be a customer of more expensive equipment when I had a full-time job.

But even then, many high-end audio magazines often talk about really good bargain equipment - especially lower-priced bookshelf speakers.

Still - I remember this little publication called the $ensible $ound. Not sure if they're still in print or maybe online. But they were more about getting the most out of more affordable audio gear.
 
My audio experience has been quite a journey, or evolution. Today, I am somewhat limited in selection as the audio market locally is limited. Current holdings as follows.
Ifi Zen Stream, Topping D70S DAC, Cary Audio cd player, McIntosh MA5300 integrated, B&W 705 S2, SVS SB1000 Pro sub, GR Research 16 strand speaker cables, and two GR Research 12 ga power cables. The "best bang for the buck" component is the Zen Stream. I think it's an incredible value.
 
Technically speaking home sound systems are mere reproductions of a
personal sound experience in ones life... for me it was a Led Zeppelin concert
where I was free to move about and settle in the proverbial sweet spot
where not only the left and right sounded the best but also the direct
and reflected sounded the best... This was my sweet spot because it
gave me goose bumps... A live concert goose bump experience is what I
wanted to recreate in the limited space of room through amps and
speakers... Its taken years of building and years of critical listening
adjusting everyday the sound stage to keep the goose bumps coming...

tQCLw0Q.jpg


Moozic Non Stop is the name of my custom built sound system. With 32
drivers powered by 1000 watts it sports a neighborhood irritability
factor of 10...
 
Sign me up for some JBLs .. but this was all before my time I may have heard some good speakers as a teen however I'm surely not been exposed to all of them.

Klipsch is one I've never heard, however I believe we're talkin really high-end stuff.

The JBLs I had heard were bookshelves that I think handled 120w. Speaker was at least decent.
Had a pair of JBL L112's back in the 80's, great speaker. ;)
1660261371722.jpg
 
Had a pair of JBL L112's back in the 80's, great speaker. ;)
View attachment 112074
I have been having two JBLs hooked up , matched to two of my Bose bookshelf speakers in the man cave for several years of enjoyment. They sound so sweet together. I used to push them with an older Pioneer reciever but swapped that out years back for a 80s era Marantz SR4000 that plays and sounds just as good.
 
20220813_135835.jpg

So I'll show some of my garage stuff. KLH cause they were super cheap and they go well with the Technics receiver that was a dumpster find.
I also have a pair of Large Advents that have been reconned and are 50 years old , still rocking!!
20220813_135918.jpg
 
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