My journey was influenced heavily by speakers from the UK. Mostly because of the hifi shop I worked in during my high school and university years. We were one of two serious hifi stores in my town. Our competition was much smaller and only carried McIntosh and B&O. We carried Mission, Tannoy, TDL, Paradigm, NHT, and Cerwin Vega for the rockers.
To me at the time it was all about musical refinement, tonally balanced etc... My grail was a pair of TDL studio 1's or Mission 767 with a Cyrus two and PSX power supply amplifier combo, add a sweet CD player from NAD or Phillips and I was set. Eventually I did piece together a system like this and was very satisfied. Then life happened. A spouse, a child, a house, modern day problems and bills.. Needless to say my rig was sold off. There were many years with just a small set up, Cyrus one with a pair of Mission 760's and a nameless CD deck.
When I seriously got back into the hobby my tastes and budget had changed. I began seeking big exciting sounds and that started with a pair of Klipsch Heresy 4's coupled with a Mac 240. It has been a rollercoaster since. The Klipsch turned me into a horn loaded convert.
Present system is a pair of Volti Razz and SVS sub with a Luxman 550axii, Technics 1300G with a Parasound JC3 jr. pre and a Line Magnetic CD player. I am saving to move up the Volti line, a pair of Lucera or Rivals are on my horizon. I just cant get enough of the sound. Polite and balanced has flown out of the window, replaced by fun and real, and loud.
I believe we are all correct when it comes to the perfect sound that we seek. There is NO wrong answer. I don't get bogged down with delusions of superiority, I want everyone to have fun and get turned on every time they fire some music up on their system.
As my Dad used to say, "whatever paddles your canoe"
