Next up I demoed a pair of Jamo Concert 8 I was impressed by the mid-end punch. But the reality was quite different/ I really found the treble to harsh for me. With some tracks it was almost unlistenable They probably would have been okay with a valve amp But I just could not live with them. They also do not go low. 

Next up was my Silverline SR17
These are really nice speakers. Good soundstage, nice clean treble and above all musical. However my only real issue was I was missing the bass. I did try them with some Subwoofers and that made a nice difference but decided to just get floor standers instead

I was introduced to Open Baffle speakers when I first visited Vic from Trans-Fi There was something that I was interested in the approach. So I did a lot of research and came across the Hawthorne range. They were reasonably cheap and simple to build the design clearly explained. So I went for this approach Eventually I came up with my own design that Vic help to refine
Nice speakers That I had no plans in changing. Plenty of scale with good bass, mid and treble 

Nice journey John, like to hear those OB’s sometime. Still haven’t been able to collect my new speakers as I’ve been working the last three weekends to get this project finished. A month without a day off. :-(

Bit frustrating when you know there’s a new pair of speakers just sitting waiting to be collected lol.

great thread John...I still have the spendor sp1s you helped me buy.

I have 57s/frugels and eddingdale SRs love them all for theyre different qualities.

I think that may have been me Tony

Great to hear they're still doing their thing!

This is a great thread as it has forced me to remember some of the speakers that I owned very briefly and had forgotten about!

My first speakers were Wharfedale Diamonds, fabulous dynamic music makers with surprisingly punchy bass. I’m not sure but think I had the original mk1’s followed by mkIII or IV. Used these for many, many years!

The first big step up was when I got my Chario Syntar small standmounts that my mother used to own. I still have these and am going to use them for my son’s first system. Best small speakers I have had, and they have an excellent downwards firing bass system. I liked them so much I tried the Syntar 'tower' floorstander speakers but these didn’t work nearly as well, especially in the imaging dept.

I did however get to try the much larger Chario Academy II’s which I enjoyed for quite a while until I got my Tannoys. These had stunning hardwood cabinets, beautifully designed.
I guess their achilles heel was that they were just slightly soft in the treble for my taste but that probably wasn’t helped by the partnering equipment I was using then, so I may not have heard them at their best.  My wife hasn't forgiven me for selling them!



The only speaker I tried that I would have liked to have owned for longer was the Audio Physic Virgo 2. Stunning to look at and stunning sounding, but I couldn’t get the sideways firing bass drivers to work in my living room.



Other speakers I have owned?

AVI Duo Monitors sounded completely ‘broken’ in my system.
Rega RS1 - the worst speaker I have ever tried. Thin, weedy and brittle sounding, utterly pants.
Mission 751 - very pacy small speakers but a bit on the bright side for me.
ATC SCM19 - big standmounts and didn’t get on with these either but can’t remember why; didn’t keep them for long.
Also had some big Audio Notes which were quite impressive but somewhat coloured as I remember them - I trialled them but didn’t buy them.
Royd Merlin - brilliant small speakers, probably should have kept these but sold to Japan for a huge price!

Current speakers which have been long term keepers are Tannoy Chatsworth with 12” HPD’s - easily the most musically satisfying speakers I have ever owned.

My speakers were a single IMF ALS40 which I used for a short period until I could afford something else.

The reason for the single speaker, is that the first one had blown.