I'm never going to hear a megaspeaker in a good room am I?


Was thinking about something. There’s a thread about good $40K speakers which made me think that honestly despite hearing a lot of them at shows, I’ve never heard one in a decent environment. Now, perhaps we can argue:

If it doesn’t sound good anywhere, including a hotel room, is it really that good a speaker?


But let’s not go that route. But I am thinking to myself, in well treated rooms the best speakers I’ve heard were merely mid-range Wilsons and Magicos. I say "merely" because they were under $40k, not because of performance. The two best speakers I’ve heard, in medicore rooms were the SF Stradivari and Snell A/III, and top of the line Vandersteen.

All the $40K + speakers I’ve heard have been at shows, and either very badly treated rooms, or in halls so big the first reflection point was like a mountain echo. Am I ever going to get to listen to $40K+ speakers in great rooms anywhere again??

As a result, I’ve developed a severe bias against the performance of mega speakers, because I only ever hear them in terrible rooms and have not heard one I’d spend money for, and honestly that's unfair to them.

erik_squires
Hi Neko,

I’m thinking $40K and has to ship in a crate, at least.

Magico does regular auditions for audiophiles in their listening room, which is fantastically, fanatically acoustically treate, but I’m pretty sure I’m banned now... << grin >> And I did hear the S1, but at $12K and a petite 2-way system I didn’t consider it "mega."


Addendum:

I did hear the Vandersteen Sevens, and they are the only mega speaker I’ve ever heard in a hotel room that was any good. In fact, best of show, quite likely to be largely due to the ability to configure the bass like they do. Honestly do not know why this is not an absolutely standard feature of all mega speakers.

I just researched that they are also $45K, so, they are the ONLY mega speaker I’ve heard which sounded great to me.

I guess they do qualify as a Mega speaker. Highly recommended. :)

I did not include them because I mistakenly believed they were $45 WITH the $15K monoblocks.... silly me.

Best,

E


There's not anywhere near as many great audio salons as there used to be. If you want to hear a great sounding speaker in a great room, I suggest you keep some luggage packed for those trips you'll need to make.

All the best,
Nonoise
Erik, it sounds as though you are not satisfied with your SNR1s? They are obviously not built to the same standards as a Magico so its not surprising you are thinking about how much better a $40k speaker sounds. 

Being angry that you cant afford $40k+ speakers is only going to make your hifi sound even worse than it already sounds. I would suggest you enjoy what you have and stop complaining.