Dare I admit? Low end speaker confusion - help


In my eternal quest for music as good as, as uh - well, perfection - I've listened to many, many speakers and am having a ridiculously hard time improving upon my old ones.

Everytime I've searched for speakers I gave up and bought something else, an amp, tape deck, new cartridge.

I've grown up in the NAD, Sony, Polk, Realistic price range.
I matured to Aragon, California Audio Lab, & Audio Physic.

I don't want to be chastised from this group but -
Why is it so difficult to find a speaker under 3 grand that sounds better than my 25 year old Radio Shack Optimus-5's??
Come over - I need to vindicate myself.

They have an 8" Woofer, 2 3" midranges (I removed one and it acts as a tuned port, somehow) and a 20 dollar Radio Shack Super tweeter.
I get what you would expect from a speaker with a driver for Bass, Midrange and Highs - Clear, distinct Bass, Midrange (incredible guitar picks) and amazing highs.

Side by side, my friends are really surprised.

Am I insane?
Were these speakers really something?
Does the fact that I have independent drivers for Bass, Midrange and Highs make all the difference as opposed to a high end two way floor speaker?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
mg2am991a

Showing 1 response by jsujo

I have a mint condition JBL-L96 that I bought from an audio store, after auditioning Traingle, PSB, Paradigm, and others that I cant remember,,,I have owned Mission, Wharfedale, Pinnacle and afraid to say Bose 901's long time ago...

I spend a lot of time in audio boutiques, but the JBL's have something that other speakers didnt have...I couldnt enjoy the sound unless I was always sitting in the sweetspot..The JBL's to my ears are the most accurate I have heard..I stopped worrying about the pinpoint imaging, and soundstaging, and focused on the music, because it sounds just so real...
Even though they love Rock, I had a solo classical guitar CD, and it was uncannily "there" and palpable...1" titanium tweeter, 5" midrange and 10" woofer..