What would you decide between 300K$ and 30K$ speakers?

I wasn't judging, I was just pointing out that expensive speakers are an ineffective way to establish "social status"

 

If you can't find a good, er great sounding speaker for $30,000 than your not looking very hard.

 

Due to inflation, 3 million is not yet belong to old time millionaire class....

Wealthy for me is someone who collects cars like this:

 

The OP has posted the same story on Steve Williams' WBF (What's Best Forum). Some members of that forum own super systems. As expected, the responses are quite different there; but the post was phrased in a very different way. I think Thomas learnt from what happened here

How many of you are interested in Vintage Horn Speakers?

 

Whether anyone knows it or not or whether anyone cares or not...how anyone carries themselves in public, including what they say and how they interact...is a reflection on themselves.

This thread coulda been interesting for the subject matter under consideration. On that level it flopped. But a lotta what & how was discussed revealed a lot of ourselves. That's not a bad thing 'cos I'm more interested in the personalities than the gear. Post on public forums and sometimes a thick skin is necessary. No big deal.

I think we should be able to discuss high-end audio here. Even VERY high-end audio, whatever that is. It isn't that playing in ultra high-end makes for a bad conversation, it's that if somebody who plays in ultra high-end for the wrong reasons might not know anything. As in like the extent of their knowledge is what they read in Robb Report magazine. Boring. Laughable to think just having money could make someone interesting anymore than buying ultra high-end audio equipment makes one an audiophile. But I don't think there are many like that that hang out here.

It's less what you buy and more what you know and have experienced. It's not about the gear. The gear is just a means to an end. It's about how you got to where you are. Now that's interesting.

 

Are vintage horns really the end-all in terms of music reproduction? I wasn’t even aware they were a “thing” until I saw this thread.

 

I think you both make accurate observations...

The thread turned into an experiment of how we forum members interact with each other when there is a strong difference of opinion and had limited response to the op's original inquiry...
While we were bickering with one-another, he went to a totally different location in search of an answer.

 

And, most likely, he will buy and enjoy and truly appreciate the WEs, while some of us miss the point entirely. The distain for the wealthy is not healthy. I see a lot of envy in this thread. Oh, and I live in the US and my income is less that $20K a year. I am comfortable. I do not envy those who can consider a $300,000 pair of speakers. I WISH I could, but I have a (paid for) roof over my head, I eat 3 meals a day, I go to the movies every once in a while, and I have 3 cars in excellent condition. I also have 4 stereo systems. (I do not "Bluetooth"). I do not lack in material possessions. There are far more important things I desire and lack than buying more stuff.

 

As far as charity: When someone buys something, especially if it is new, (but to a lesser extent when they buy used) they are supporting the raw materials collection, the manufacture, the distributors, the sales, the advertisers, the infrastructure, the people who own the property and leases, the generation of taxes, and a whole host of interrelated occupations. So in effect a purchase helps feed the mouths of not only corporate entities but also the people they employ. Without the wealthy most of us would be forced to live directly off the land. It also provides for the new generation of wealth in which more charitable efforts can be realized.

 

Excellent comments and observations @SKATTERBRANE .

This thread has certainly run afoul.

 

Not so much to do with vintage or modern, but horn systems large enough to reproduce the full frequency spectrum of music are a pretty magical thing. The immediacy and life-like presence can be downright spooky. Plus, their efficiency allows big powerful musical passages to not only be distortion-free, but to sound effortless...as though you could always turn up the volume without worry of pushing anything too far.

But is it the end-all? No. The best horns in the world cannot duplicate the guttural impact of low efficiency/big amplifier modern speakers, nor can they provide that laser-like soundstage of some modern designs. Stated differently, there are things a big pair of Vandersteen's or Wilson's can do that horns cannot...and visa versa. Heck, a great pair of bookshelf speakers or floor standers with narrow baffles can do things the others cannot.

That said, if I had the room and the scratch, I'd go for big horns with SET amps over modern inefficient designs, but that's just my preference. Heck, let's have two listening rooms, one for each!

 

Very well stated, essentially depends on what you prioritize on the musical presentation/what’s important to you, there is no system that does everything, horns come with a sense of presence and naturality that can’t be easily matched.

 

Eh, what the hell, I'll buy them for you. Silver ones all right?

 

Final update on the situation.

I have my cash reserve in stock fund.

But due to recent crash of stock prices, it is very hard to get the money out of fund without incurring heavy loss.

Thus for the time being, I will give up the idea of getting vintage Western Horn.


I will try to audition Line Magnetic LM3 speakers in Hong Kong, or Main China before making decision on it.



After posting this thread, I found that there are three kinds of person here in the forum.

First class are the ones with audio knowledge who try to give as best as advice to other members.

Second class are the ones who do not have much audio knowledge and try to get information from the thread.

Third class are those who are ignorant and not afraid of making harsh comment eventually hurting their own reputation.


I thought all British persons are gentlemen but not all of them.

One British guy is the worst.

I do not want to see his comments in my post any longer.

 

There is an app for that.

 

so far removed from my reality...: (

 

The difficult thing as I see it it is to know how the speakers interact with your room. It can be difficult to translate from other situations. Horns do have higher directivity and this may or may not be beneficial depending on the room size and other things.

 

I was not even aware these existed so learned a lot, particularly on the posted link to the other forum. So thank you Thomas.

 

Thomas, use the time to visit DejaVu Audio in Virginia. As I said before, Vu can come up with a speaker using vintage horns and drivers that will offer a similar sound as the $350K WE system at a more affordable price. I am pretty confident that will be more satisfying to you than a Line Magnetic.

 

I think the problem when people start talking about wealth is that they/we look at wealth from our own, generally, western perspective. We tie price of products we buy to a person's wealth. $30,000 Loudspeakers is the same as a top of the line fully loaded Honda Civic. Thus while very expensive speakers we see a LOT of companies selling $30,000 speakers and while out of our budgets - "meh - it's not completely insane"

$300K is 10 fully loaded Honda Civics - or maybe 2 Porches. So people view that as ridiculous.

Again though from our perspective - maybe because I have traveled extensively through Asia - but to someone in the Philippines spending $3,000 on loudspeakers would to most of them seem like $300k to most of us - ridiculous. Why don't you buy $300 speakers and donate the $2700 to a charity?

And the reality is in some circles the $300k the OP is spending is a piddly amount. Jeff Bezos makes $275 million a day or 11 million an hour or 5.5million in half an hour or 2.75 million in 15 minutes. So in 5 minutes he could buy 3 sets of these WE electric speakers in basically the time it takes to take a dump.

Interestingly there is a lot less grousing about all the people who spend $300k on a car - some of them vintage as well.

And speakers aren't showy like a car - Girls aren't impressed by your speakers. LOL. Most people think Bose is the best and you spending $1500 on 901s makes you the cool guy on the street.

And unlike a car - the stereo is generally more of a pleasure item than a rolling pile of cheap ass sheet metal, plastic, and some rubber rolling down the road.

 

Wealth, as in many things in life, is a relative thing and defines the reality for how we live. Which is the same as saying we all live in a bubble and, depending on how open or insightful one might be, that might help in getting to see and maybe understand better, somebody else’s bubble. For me, I am genuinely curious about others and their lives; I think it is cool when meeting or interacting with people that they can’t help but reveal things about themselves. True in real life and also true in forum cyber interactions.

The money, meh - who cares? On a web forum all of it could be real or it could be all made up. I do know I can & will form an opinion on who someone might be based on how they react and respond to things, especially to a personal hotspot for some like the topic of disposable income. And even then those reactions could be of an invented persona. Kinda like the obnoxious NYC/Brooklyn/Lower East Side hipster: seemingly desperate to covey undying cool with a overwrought disdain for money while the outward appearance of a trust fund baby’s lifestyle. Sheesh.

It calls to mind the cliche that “A fool and his money are soon parted” used to impugn someone who spends money in a way not understood and is therefore a fool. HaHa, I spend money on audio gear which to almost any non-audiophile makes me a fool many times over. I think it is great the OP was considering $300K on speakers. HaHa I’d only say that it was an error in contemplating an impending purchase of that magnitude that he left his funds in a volatile asset rather than converting to ready cash. But this too, is no big deal. It’s like losing out on buying the perfect house - you think there will never be another one like it. But there always is another perfect house that comes along.

I do not understand your assertion that wealth can be viewed from a particularly western perspective as I think wealth is viewed and handled commensurate with one’s earning and achievement in professional life/career. Having money doesn’t get anyone knowledge or class. So bragging or throwing money around for the showiness of having money is telling of itself.

 

Good luck to you Thomas. I hope you eventually get your dream speaks.

That's a piece of data I did not think I'd ever have! Thanks

 

The problem is not money or wealth, but consumerism/overconsumption in a society where the acquisition of more and more expensive gear is projected as the way to happiness (only if you could have that new thing - but of course it just moves you to want something else). Everything sounds spectacular though in reality we’re talking about subtle differences in most cases. So 300k dollars for a set of speakers might or might not be an issue, depends, but what is sad I think is what we see a lot of (nothing to do with the OP): limiting a genuine interest in music and authentic sound reproduction to a discussion about gear with people agonizing/losing sleep about getting what’s on audio press or on the forums, ending up constantly buying and selling staff, something not very different from women “collecting” bags for examples. I’ve seen too many cases of systems that cost enormous sums of money with a tiny and uninteresting record collection next to it. Again nothing to do with the OP.

 

When I saw these speaker's in another post, along with two other LM vintage type speaker's, I was really impressed.

I bet that they will sound wonderful! Maybe they will not sound exactly like WE's or other high end WE reproductions, but neither are they in the price range of higher end reproductions.

I am impressed that I believe that they will sound really nice, like efficient vintage horn speaker's should. I am equally impressed in the rather compact size cabinet the bass horn is in and the reasonable size of the midrange horn. I think the addition of the super-tweeter is well done.

More like within one year.

People just don't understand good hones horn speaker's, and they never will. The sound of an excellently designed and executed horn speaker is something to behold in the audio world.

Although I don't pretend to be in the WE or Acapella class, I also firmly believe that the best sound ultimately comes from horns!

Totally agree!

When you are not listening to totally acoustic instrument's, when you attend a live performance or attend a Broadway Play, everything that you are hearing is coming from horn speakers!

The best vocal artists in the world perform through horn speakers.

People in the audience are not sitting in their seats thinking, "this is really a outstanding performance, too bad she has to sing through horn speakers!".

If they can capture a live performance on stage, the same performance can be recreated at home, using those same types of horn speaker's.

 

Your wife should thank us! Save your money, you might need it. Divorce is expensive!