What Audio Gear Ended Up Being Better Than You Initially Thought?

uhm maybe I don't want to try horns after all with my el cheapo SEP amp. Maybe I'll just keep on smiling with what I got. Although I've been interested in hi fi stuff for decades it has all been box speakers (Acoustic suspension and vented box) and Magneplanars. I've never really considered horns because of the take your head off reputation and they all looked gigantic to me and I've never really had the room for them. Magneplanars are large but light enough to where they are easy to move out of the way - the big horns not so much.

 

Yes, a pair of Radio Shack, Realistic Minimus-25 two way bookshelf speakers.
I purchased these in the early 1990's as shop speakers to hang on the wall and provide noise...er, music while I work.
I really had no great expectations and figured they would be ruined within a year or two...at which point I would purchase another cheap pair of speakers.

While these speakers are not high end audio, they are far better than I ever gave them credit for.
They currently reside under a high shelf in my computer cabinet and provide great sound when I play something through my computer.
I do wonder how much longer the foam driver surrounds will last before drying and cracking.
When they do fail my daughter and I will rebuild them and keep on listening.

I don't remember what I paid for them. I know they were on clearance and I did not pay much.
They have absolutely outperformed their original expectations in every manner.

Here is a crappy shot I grabbed on the net.

 

It is just the La Scala's that "take your head off" (along with cheaply made horns).

These A7's do the opposite (the photo is from back in 2013, shortly after their arrival). As you say, they do take up some space!



Here is a photo of one of the Altec 828 bass bins, while undergoing restoration in California.



Here is one of the La Scala's. The custom wood work of Blatic birch was done by the same individual who restored my Altec A7's.

These La Scala's are original commercial cabinet's, which are black painted plywood. But the commercial cabinet's are more heavily reinforced than the normal home versions were, so there is less cabinet resonance. The driver's and crossover's are all original (at this point).



Here is a shot without the custom top grill. the large horn is the awful squaker horn that I had commented about.



The cabinet's are very heavy. Far heavier than the stock cabinets would be, because of the custom plywood work!

For some sense of scale, the cabinet's are 2' square and 30" tall.

Sometimes, I would sit on the floor, right where this photo was taken and just listen to one cabinet (though, not at a very loud volume).

You can not do this with most of today's tower speakers, because the HF driver's would be a too high off of the ground, making their listening height too high. Here, all of the drivers are close together and even at this close distance, they all blend perfectly together.

 

Good to know that not all horns are "take your head off" I'm afraid though that my wife would serve me papers if I showed up with those huge horn speakers

 

Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 speakers. I was expecting them to sound good as they are very highly praised and they measure very well but they definitely exceeded my expectations and I haven’t been able to get rid of them for 5 years. I’m definitely in need of a speaker upgrade but I’m struggling to find something I like as much as these.

 

Besides that, you just can't take commercial horn speakers and drop them into your living room and expect them to sound good.

The A7's have custom crossover's in them. The bass speakers are not Altec by Eminence speaker's which match the HF horns and driver's.

On top of that, I am using a super tweeter to extend the HF range and a large commercial sub for the bass and sub-bass below 40-Hz.

I have used them with a whole bunch of SS amps and a dozen tube amps before learning what works best with what music.

Audio is all about synergy and always will be. You can't just slap thing together and expect that they will sound good.

Mostly, they will not and setting up a proper horn system will take more work than most direct radiator speakers paired with a SS amp.

But, when you get everything just right...

 

Bought some Yamaha DXR12 Active Speakers for my lounge room. Was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful crisp highs it could put out.

 

audio note uk dac 0.1x Giant killer dac !!

 

I was surprised how good the Schiit Vidar and Saga turned out.

 

Pair of Skullcandy ear buds for $8 from TJ Maxx. They sound great and isolate a lot of noise. Good for the beach.

 

My Pass Labs INT-30 Integrated was a nice surprise, but the purchase of Focal Sopra No 1 speakers was an even bigger surprise. Like them so much I sold the pair of Wilson Audio Sophia 2 speakers they replaced.

 

FiiO X3. I bought one when it initially came out and thought it was just going to be cheap Chinese junk. The sound quality easily beat my iPod, I could use a microSD card in it and no more having to sync through iTunes.

 

Good thread.
I would say what surprised me most was when I went from Cardas power cords to Shunyata. Was expecting a small improvement if any and was blown away from day one on.

 

Yup, I have that little begger too, surprising what a little well designed box can do.

 

The cheap Behringer PP400 phono preamp surprised me, but it took a long time to burn in. A little lacking in ultimate detail and tilted to the highs a little bit, but it did have detailed bass. Heck, for $20 it surprised me greatly.

 

Picked up a pair of Infinity Prelude speakers, very pleased.