Too many pairs of speakers?

I think I may have crossed the line today from an audiophile who likes to purchase and audition large pairs of pre-owned speakers at home to someone who has converted their medium size listening room to a speaker storage facility...
I have large speakers lined up three deep in the room, I am literally not listening to music tonight because of how blocked the connected speakers are... Yikes....
You know you have too many speakers when you can not listen to music because your speakers are blocked by other speakers.

 

You're not an audiophile; you're a collector/hoarder ! Keep as many pairs as you can reasonably connect and position within your listening room without affecting their sound (together or alternating them) and move the rest to another room from which you can interchange a pair with a wheel cart when you feel like it or/ebay/give away, etc the rest of them

 

Now I've heard it all.........

 

I would need to see pics to evaluate that statement.

 

Yes please post a view of this magnificent achievement.

 

You could turn this into a money maker and offer speaker storage and rental options for other people in your area.

 

Not at home at the moment, I will take a picture tomorrow and post it...
Altec A7-500-W, Jensen Imperials, University 312's in Barzilay style cabinets...
16' x 20' listening/living room. I am married so I only get half of it. She does not want the Altec A7'S on her side of the room, I don't know why?
I did sneak some Chapman Audio T9's over the line to her side. They are kinda like oversized Vandersteens...

 

Audioholic?

 

I did laugh out loud when I read your first sentence.

While I'm not yet ready to it a problem, I do have more speaker pairs than I need. Luckily, I have a large closet for storage. Also, I try not to buy speakers too large to get rid of easily.

 

I choose to hoard and collect phono cartridges and audio cables. They are just as much fun to compare, but a lot easier to put away when its time to simply relax and listen to music.

If you think about it seriously, you need to choose one pair of speakers and one amplifier that makes magic with those speakers. Then that "set" is your cornerstone, from which you build your audio hobby, be it collecting music or equipment.

Force yourself to choose your best combination of speaker and amp. Sell the rest, as uncomfortable as it may temporarily feel. Then use that money to play with smaller, lighter components. Your life will get simpler, and you will never regret it.

 

i think you should find the one speaker you enjoy listening to and just listen! get rid of the rest ... life is to short!

 

3 rows deep?????
Ahhahaha... I literally have a storage unit filled with old speakers, acquired over the past 20-25 or so years. (yes, I know I had hoarding problem once, LOL)
Would anyone like a list?

 

I agree with the philosophy of having ones money into a single set of quality gear as opposed to multiple sets, but I am still trying to determine what that set of gear looks like for me... Solid state? Tubes? Tube preamp into solid state amp? And that opens the rabbit-hole of trying to judge any of them without speakers that can highlight the amplifiers capability in order to do a fair comparison. We always talk about the only way to judge audio gear accurately is to listen to it in your own home for an extended period.
That is why I currently have Altec A7-500-W's and three pairs of vintage coaxial speakers that I prefer over single drivers, (+Wharfedale W70 's and University 3-ways) while deciding if I prefer a s.e.t. tube amp over solid state.
On the other side of the room is a pair of Chapman Audio T9 speakers that are being driven by 300 watts, they are my favorite, I do not see myself parting with those.

Anyway, there are certainly worse problems to have. A few more years and we are retiring to a small town where we own a house and I will have an unattached building to indulge my hobbies.

P.S. after I took these photographs, speakers not in use are being moved somewhere so I can listen to the big Altecs in the back tonight.






The Jensen Imperials purchased yesterday.

 

Five pairs in there. The shrink says it's healthier than collecting body parts.

 

This is some excellent advice.

To the OP: One thing that I notice about your system is that you don't have any speakers that are newer than 50 years old. Speakers have gotten a lot better in the last 50 years. Unless you truly love the sound of these vintage speakers, I would recommend that you get out of the house and go and visit a local store like Hawthorn Stereo where you can get your ears recalibrated to what some truly high quality more modern speakers and components sound like. A great store like that (no affiliation) can help you to find a truly synergistic combo of equipment that really works for you and they might take some of your existing gear in trade.

If you really love the sound of these speakers, then by all means keep them. But the fact that you cant decide tells me that you probably don't truly love any of these speakers. If so, then it is past time that you get out of the house and hear some slightly more modern gear. The fact is that you are probably leaving a lot of musical information inside your records completely unheard right now whether this is your intention or not.

 

Well, the pic is not as bad as the original image I had in mind from the opening post - I imagined waves of speakers, three lines deep - so it's not THAT bad

I can count off the top of my head 9 pairs of speakers in my home, not including various small bluetooth speakers for odd nooks and crannies. I don't put them in the same room usually and yes, a couple of these are in storage in the basement awaiting some imagined repurposing, but once I count my main rig, old speakers, and stuff on various desks, they add up. It's an affliction but things could be worse....

 

NO. U need atleast 2 pairs...so u can go Quad/5.1

 

Can you move them to one side to create a Speakers Corner?

 

I have 5 sets of speakers, all set up with different systems in different rooms. I like them all, they all do different things and I enjoy having multiple spaces to enjoy music. I can't possibly see a situation where getting rid of any of it would be an improvement to my life. Just as you can enjoy the sound of different cables and carts, its possible to enjoy a variety of of different amp/speaker combos. Going down to one set would mean I would stop listening to music in spaces that I'm spending time or I would become a weirdo that never leaves his dedicated music room. While that wouldn't be a very long trip I would miss vintage horns, modern towers, BBC monitors and the amps that light them up.

It's an odd position to take where is't OK to collect one part of a music playback system an not others. Now, I would never advise someone to set out with this as a goal, spending all you can on one set of speakers and building around that is the most reasonable approach. I did that and every subsequent set of speakers I have acquired were less expensive and in some cases better and in every case interesting/enjoyable. I think limiting yourself to any one way of anything is only depriving yourself of options, experience and enjoyment. It also tends to make people in this hobby endlessly argumentative. Much like digital vs. analog, "I've made my choice now it's time to fight for that decision."

I will say that putting multiple set of speakers in one room that prevent either from working as designed is madness.

 

I'll gladly take those Jensens out of your way, being the philanthropist I am.
You won't even have to pay me.

 

I once sold a couple of pairs of speakers (Advent and Smaller Advent) to a gentleman who had his apartment filled with speakers. I don't exactly recall how many rows deep they were, but there were a lot of speakers.
He used to have a store at one time which apparently was well-known. He told me he liked vintage speakers and I guess that was why he collected them.

 

You need more music rooms!

 

LOL, when playing your music, how do you keep the sound on your side of the room?

 

Speakers are a pain to unload and ship but I wouldn't be able to stand the aesthetics of more than one pair of floorstanders in my main (living) room so that keeps me in check.

 

I only directed my advice to the OP, because his post seemed like he has constrained himself from listening to music. But from the pictures, it doesn't seem so excessive to me either. We just love the equipment as much as the music itself.

I also have 6 listening rooms with various different speakers in each one. I love the variety too: AN/E-Lexus-HE, AN/E-AlNiCo, Theil CS3.7, Theil O3a, Aerial 10T, and Acoustat 1.1 with subwoofers. And I love the process of assembling a system to make great sound. Once I achieve what I like, I don't change anything, I just start another new system.

6 different turntables, cartridges, preamps, amplifiers, and cables. But what I REALLY have a lot of is cartridges, MC step-ups and cables. MASSIVE numbers of them. NUTSO, CRAZY collection of them... "and loving it" (Maxwell Smart, agent 86).