[wallijonn]

i build (& built) my own speakers - i just wish i could build my own headphones. my amp building days are over, though i do 'build' computers.

when i buy a house i'll be building speakers using (4) 15" woofers

and yes, i preferr horn midranges and horn tweeters. everything else sounds like there's a pillow over the mids and highs. i'm past my magnaplars, sold my klipsch horn corner speakers, past tube amps, building pre-amps, etc. and find myself being drawn into cans - damn!

but i'm not going back into macintosh, dennon, marantz, carver, etc. it's too much a waste of money. i'd rather just buy camping equipment and camp at Jennifer lake, Wyoming

focal midranges rule! (for those who know what midranges these are). (4) 15" woofers in a mixed acoustic suspension / ported / labrynth enclosure with (2) 8" focal lower mid bass, a 24" x 8 " midrange, and (2) 5" bullet tweeters. heaven. custom crossover, natch. blows away $20k home theatre systems.

 

[markl]

Well, I was originally going to do just a plain old "speakers vs. headphones" with only two choices, but then I thought I'd get some flack. So i expanded, and expanded, and expanded. I still think that a plain old two-choice poll is more relevant. As it is, you kind of have to add up the speaker and headphone votes in your head, so the poll isn't as clear as could be.

Can't please everyone I guess.

Mark

 

[Ctn]

Speakers rule ! and um anyone want to buy my 580s?

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I think you should have stuck with the two choices, plus maybe one or two more:

I've heard great headphones and great speakers, and speakers rule.
...and headphones are superior.
I haven't heard great speakers, which is why headphones rule.
I haven't heard great speakers, so I dunno.
I'll see your orange to two of my apples.

That said, I have a very good speaker setup right now, very happy with it, but still (and yet!) headphones rule.

 

[Trawlerman]

Did we have this a few months back?

Anyway, I think this is horses for courses question and is too personal to be able to settle on a definitive answer.



I have a really nice pair of Speakers in my system - a pair of ProAc Response 1SCs which I drive with a pair of Tube Technology Genesis monoblock (EL34s), the front end is a Krell Transport/DAC or Hi-End Project Turntable. And you can have them when you can pry them from cold dead hands.

The sound from the Speaker system is superlative and I never tire of listening to it and show it off proudly when visitors come around. However, as much as I like this system it is just not practical at times. In so much as when the rest of the household is in bed, I often want to stay up and listen to som music but it would be downright rude and selfish of me to have this cranked up at 2am.



My answer to this is to have a really nice headphone system in addition to my speaker rig. To wit, my headphone rig consists of the Krell Tranport/DAC as the front end once again, a locally built Sugden Headmaster as my amp and then I have an assortment of phones from Sennheiser, Beyer and Grado. I can pick and choose to suit my differing moods and musical choices. I also fell in love with a pair of Stax Lambda Novas a few years back and have them to hand as well.

The headphone rig get many hours of use during the evenings and apart from if I get so engrossed in the muscic that I start to sing, I don't get any complaints.




I suppose that in many ways i'm very lucky to have the luxury of both a high-end speaker rig and a high-end headphone rig.

In my years of buying hifi on a budget, i've often found that digging out a bargain and then staying with it is the best way of doing it. Some of my gear is second hand and like everything, it has it's limitations, but I would like to think that I have learnt to live with those limitations. For example I have a pair of Quad 10L speakers that were absolutely slated by the reviewers, but I just love them for what they are - a minitaure monitor - sure, they will never shake the foundations of the house but I'm not altogether sure that I would want that from a speaker.



So, am I trying to say that you should be happy with what you have and enjoy the music? Probably so. After all, this hobby is all about the music and without that we dont have a hobby.

All in all, I'm happy, the rest of the house is happy and I never see my neighbours. What more can I ask?





Sound As Ever

 

[slindeman]

I don't have very great speakers (PSB Alpha) or amp (Marantz 2238) and yet if I didn't have to worry about bothering my office mates I would choose to listen to them over my HD580 (and every other headephone I've heard) every single time. The only reason I listen to headphones is for noise considerations, although the portability issue comes up occasionally. Speakers rule, but I get less than 5% of my listening time with them, so obviously I must invest more money in my headphone system.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

I own a cheap surround system, but have spent more on my headphone system, so it's a no brainer!! Headphones Rule!!!!

 

[scrypt]

Quote:

Speakers rule, but because I spend under 5% of my listening time with speakers, I must invest less money in these than in headphone systems.

Nicely put, slindeman! I couldn't have said it better -- though I couldn't help futzing with the language (even though my version isn't any better than yours).