@sounds_real_audio --
Not my experience - that is, while my actively driven 2-way Electro-Voice TS940D LX pro cinema main speakers + dual tapped horn subs are very large (subs alone are 20 cf. per cab) they're hardly "really expensive." The EV's were bought used from a German theater and the subs are DIY, the total price of which - incl. subs amp, bought used, and digital XO (that also acts as an active XO for the main speakers) - sits between $5-5.5k; an outright steal all considered.
Sometimes what ends up the sonically most gratifying experience doesn't come in the expected package, certainly not per typical audiophile convention, but it does require of one to keep an open mind and potentially challenge any self-established dogmas. By and large my current speaker system is the best I've ever owned, though the EV's were actually intended more as an experiment on different fronts. I've owned quite a few speakers over a 4-decade period, incl. Raidho Ayra C1.1's some 10 years ago (now that this brand has been mentioned a few times), but nothing approaches the core qualities of what I have now in terms of sheer effortlessness, scale, resolution, coherency, dynamics and envelopment. Obviously preference comes into play as well, but it's not about some quick-fix "shock and awe"-effect one would all too easily ascribe to this segment of speakers (what you refer to as "those big PA speakers"), but rather a sonic package that can be both subtly intimate, resolving and engaging as well as fully flexed visceral and physically imposing. Pro cinema speakers often comply with these demands for home use, some more than others (and that's the trick, hunting down the best ones), but you wouldn't necessarily expect it from their rugged looks, 15" woofers, horns and intended usage - not the more "sophisticated" side of their sound, at least.
What started out being an experiment trying to accommodate core physical aspects of the sound as if from scratch (everything from the height of the speakers and what could effectively impact the presentation here, to sheer displacement area, maintaining a 2-way design and a "power region" reserved to a driver segment with no cross-overs here, dispersive nature, active configuration, etc.) ended up being so fulfilling in achieving those "macro parameters," that I saw no way to go back to where I was before. Getting the basic pillars right and work on from there is what it's about to me; hi-fi for the most part, from my chair, is having worked on for a while without getting the basics right to begin with.
It does seem like it is possible to own the dream speaker. Interesting that no one mentioned those really large and or really expensive speaker.
My experience has been the same.
Not my experience - that is, while my actively driven 2-way Electro-Voice TS940D LX pro cinema main speakers + dual tapped horn subs are very large (subs alone are 20 cf. per cab) they're hardly "really expensive." The EV's were bought used from a German theater and the subs are DIY, the total price of which - incl. subs amp, bought used, and digital XO (that also acts as an active XO for the main speakers) - sits between $5-5.5k; an outright steal all considered.
I am a fan of speakers that play music for me, not those big PA speakers that are full of " shock and awe". Speakers that are involving, emotional, high resolution. So often those companies that fun those full page ads and have those flagship speakers just don't get it.
Sometimes what ends up the sonically most gratifying experience doesn't come in the expected package, certainly not per typical audiophile convention, but it does require of one to keep an open mind and potentially challenge any self-established dogmas. By and large my current speaker system is the best I've ever owned, though the EV's were actually intended more as an experiment on different fronts. I've owned quite a few speakers over a 4-decade period, incl. Raidho Ayra C1.1's some 10 years ago (now that this brand has been mentioned a few times), but nothing approaches the core qualities of what I have now in terms of sheer effortlessness, scale, resolution, coherency, dynamics and envelopment. Obviously preference comes into play as well, but it's not about some quick-fix "shock and awe"-effect one would all too easily ascribe to this segment of speakers (what you refer to as "those big PA speakers"), but rather a sonic package that can be both subtly intimate, resolving and engaging as well as fully flexed visceral and physically imposing. Pro cinema speakers often comply with these demands for home use, some more than others (and that's the trick, hunting down the best ones), but you wouldn't necessarily expect it from their rugged looks, 15" woofers, horns and intended usage - not the more "sophisticated" side of their sound, at least.
What started out being an experiment trying to accommodate core physical aspects of the sound as if from scratch (everything from the height of the speakers and what could effectively impact the presentation here, to sheer displacement area, maintaining a 2-way design and a "power region" reserved to a driver segment with no cross-overs here, dispersive nature, active configuration, etc.) ended up being so fulfilling in achieving those "macro parameters," that I saw no way to go back to where I was before. Getting the basic pillars right and work on from there is what it's about to me; hi-fi for the most part, from my chair, is having worked on for a while without getting the basics right to begin with.