Well, it could be that the old speakers just work well in your room via some coincidence of acoustic synergy. I wonder if the magic would be lost if you took them into a different room or location?
Then again, it just might be that the speakers have a very natural balance or some particular quirk of frequency response that sounds great to you. Who knows?
Recently, I bought a set of old Altec bookshelf speakers from the 70's at a garage sale. Each contains a 10" woofer, a 10" passive radiator, and a conventional dome tweeter -- seemingly nothing special. But when I hooked them up and cranked them, they really sang. Great bass, dynamics, a natural frequency balance, and really good vocal and midrange performance. It made me take a step back and scratch my head. I had to ask myself, "where's all the progress of the last 30 years?"
I've owned a lot of highly respected speakers over those years, and my current Virgo II's and Stax 4040 headphone system are both great at what they do. Still, I can appreciate the fundamental rightness of those old Altecs and I can't say that my other speakers are enough better to justify their cost. But I can say that I enjoy all of them for their particular character traits and the musical experience they provide.
So I can see where you might have trouble justifying the costs to improve upon your speakers. That said, you could still be crazy. :)
Then again, it just might be that the speakers have a very natural balance or some particular quirk of frequency response that sounds great to you. Who knows?
Recently, I bought a set of old Altec bookshelf speakers from the 70's at a garage sale. Each contains a 10" woofer, a 10" passive radiator, and a conventional dome tweeter -- seemingly nothing special. But when I hooked them up and cranked them, they really sang. Great bass, dynamics, a natural frequency balance, and really good vocal and midrange performance. It made me take a step back and scratch my head. I had to ask myself, "where's all the progress of the last 30 years?"
I've owned a lot of highly respected speakers over those years, and my current Virgo II's and Stax 4040 headphone system are both great at what they do. Still, I can appreciate the fundamental rightness of those old Altecs and I can't say that my other speakers are enough better to justify their cost. But I can say that I enjoy all of them for their particular character traits and the musical experience they provide.
So I can see where you might have trouble justifying the costs to improve upon your speakers. That said, you could still be crazy. :)