The worst speaker I ever bought
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2018
- Welcome to my nightmare, the Beveridge Model Five electrostatic speaker. I bought it, I hated it, and I couldn’t wait to unload it. That was back in the early 1980s,, but it turns out Beveridge Audio is still in business. I haven't heard any of their current models, they might be great, bevaudio.com/index.html
Please consider a small monthly pledge to support the Audiophiliac Daily Show here, / audiophiliac
I bought Beats studio h’phones on impulse in an airport in NYC because everyone and his dog were raving about them (2010). As you will know they make music sound like a 3 year old has been playing with your graphic equaliser.
I could strap cheese sandwiches to my ears and have the same experience listening to my hi fi.
The only reason I’ve kept them is to remind myself that I really am that dumb. When I notice that I’m getting cocky again, I put them on while making and eating a cheese sandwich.
Seabud Nothing like good old fashion hype, huh? I simply tried a pair of Beats headphones when they first came out and my ears did not register anything pleasant. I knew these were nothing but hype beast in the making. However, I’ve made mistakes in various other places in my life that more than compensate for that good discernment. 😉
Seabud 2010 is when Beats were actually good, at least compared to modern Beats headphones.
I had a couple announcers at my station that RAVED about how awesome their Beats headphones were. Typical V-shaped EQ with exaggerated bass and high end on them. For $200+. OUr standard studio Sony MDRV6's that cost $99 a pair were much, much better.
This was an incredible post. Just a perfect replacement to beat headphones
Seabud LOL!(yes I really did laugh) I have comparison listened to those against Sennheisers and Sonys at a shop and I thought for a moment something must be wrong with my ears, so I took a break, listened to my own AKG's for a bit and went back - same sound.
But what made me laugh the most was that I still have a similar purchase that was stupidly expensive, bought untested and I still have it as a reminder to never, ever, do something that stupid again. Thanks for the story!
Back in the late 70's I worked for JBL speakers. The engineering department would buy every make of speakers to sound test the competition. Occasionally they would sell off the competitor speakers to clear out the lab. It was then I purchased a pair of BES Geostatic D120 sight-unheard based solely on its appearance. For those unfamiliar with the Geostatics, they resemble electrostatic panels and looked very modern at the time. When I got them home and listened to them for the first time, I couldn't believe these were suppose to be high fidelity speakers. They were absolutely the worst speakers in existence. I've heard tabletop radios that sounded better. I was dumbfounded that Geostatic found any customers at all that didn't quickly return the product as defective. Or maybe they didn't have any satisfied customers because they weren't in business very long. Fortunately I only paid a fraction of the retail price for these crappy useless pile of junk, so I wasn't mad at myself too long. But I did have to put up with the ribbing from my coworkers for buying the worst possible speaker among all the other fine speakers put up for sale that day.
Not a speaker, not an expensive piece of equipment, not a story of how hard it was to get rid of, but certainly a parallel in the realm of disappointment. To make a long story only slightly shorter: I had been running an old Luxman L-30 for years and decided it was time to "upgrade". I didn't have very much money at the time, so I did my research and decided to get a NAD 316BEE that had been all the rage at the time. At first I loved it. It seemed to have nice clarity and musical flow and grip, good soundstage, etc. However, about 2 weeks in after it finally burned in (yes, I believe in burn in time, sue me) the sound changed *completely!* And not for the good. At ALL.
All of a sudden, the soundstage and imaging sucked...REALLY bad. The soundstage shrunk and everything, and I mean with EVERY recording, things like vocals and drums were all very present and front stage. But guitars, flutes, saxophones and many other instruments, as well as smaller details were pushed WAY to the back and were distant, and nearly missing in the mix. And in some cases, some instruments and details were completely gone altogether! Again, the same instrument/soundstage pattern was repeated with everything I played, *regardless* of the song, album or format being played, how it was recorded, or what speakers or other associated equipment I had hooked up to it. EVERYTHING had the same sound signature and soundstage and I absolutely HATED it!
Soon after, I found out about NAD's notoriously crappy reliability too (I was not privy at the time), when the right channel stopped working. It was still well under warrantee, so I sent it off to NAD to be fixed. When NAD called to say what they had fixed, they said it was some "resistor" that had gone, but they also needed to re-solder nearly everything on the main board as well due to cold solder joints! Great quality control, guys!
Anyway, I got it back with the hopes that maybe that was causing the soundstage issues I was having. Well, the right channel was fully functional again, but the SAME damn sound was still plaguing my ears! The sound of this thing drove me utterly insane! I absolutely DESPISED this "thing"! At that point I was totally done with it. Shortly after, I posted this piece of garbage online and sold it within hours.
I love my music and I can't even begin to say how much I hated what that NAD did to the sound of my music. It screwed up the sound so bad and placed vocals and instruments in the EXACT same spots within the soundstage without fail and regardless of what was played through it. At one point I was so sickened and upset at what it was doing to the sound of my music that I wanted to take a hammer to it out of sheer frustration and principle. I couldn't get rid of that piece of crap any faster. Worst product I have ever owned. BY FAR! *gets off soapbox, takes chill pill...
It's too bad about your experience with NAD. I have never heard of any reliability issues with NAD. I believe it's just a few people that are doing a lot of the talking making some outlying factors seem bigger than they are. And the fact that they were open with you about everything they had to do with your piece of equipment is a point in their favor.
I've bought their stuff before. Actually the 3400 integrated, 2400 power amp, 5100 CD player and later on a C 275BEE and never had a problem with any of them. As a matter of fact, the 3400, 2400 and 5100 CD player all sounded great and performed flawlessly and remained within spec for 30 years. I'm not a real big believer in so-called burn in with the exception of some full range drivers with delicate construction. My stuff sounds great when I plug it in and if there are any changes, they are inaudible.
You just had a bit of bad luck. That's what trial periods are for. And if something changes within only 2 weeks of owning it, it gets swapped for a new unit of the same or something completely different.
Thank you for being mature and humble enough to share your mistakes as an audiophile! God bless you, best Steve!
Moral of the story: Don't buy a Beveridge you can't fit in a cup holder.
Mark Colegrove Nailed it!
Mark Colegrove
A parable of bitter tea.
My last name is Beveridge, really, no relation.
Lol..... Believe it or not I was disappointed in a pair of Cornwall's They would blare so bad that I had to get rid of them.
I thought the moral was that audiophiles shouldn't trust their golden ears
i bought 2 pairs of beverage second hand so cheap....back in the 80s...all 4 together they sound amazing...
LOL
Nicely done sir
So you're the one who ended up with them....lol.
What kind of beverage was it? Refreshing?
Justin even with the 10 inch woofers? I thought they were not the same caliber as the mid high screens?
Hello Steve, another great video, I purchased a set of celestion MP 1's they where like a style speaker, that were around in the 90s and the reason why I purchased them was I had a lack of space so I use these for a while, with a sub, in a 2.1 system, they were dreadful really poor sound quality, really dull & lifeless, so he went quite quickly👍
I discovered your channel recently and really appreciate your honest, humble approach to being an audiophile. To me, you seem like a good guy by any measure, and I’m looking forward to learning a lot from your opinions and experiences. BTW, some commenters are going to be jerks; don’t pay attention to them!
Yeah man like the tool above you
My friend had, and still have a pair of Beveridge Modell 5 that I first heard maybe around -87, and that sound has been with me ever since, and not in a bad way.
I particularly remember my friend putting on an old cassette tape with the Beatles. I was then sitting relatively close to the speakers and in the space between them the Beatles band started to play their music, almost so I felt I could reach out and touch their guitars. The cassette tape was old and wrinkled, and when the wrinkles came up, this image just fell to the floor, only to came back again. I have never since heard music being able to image in space like this on any other speaker.
During the years my friends pair have gone bad, as these electrostats tend to do, but he keeps them in the hope of getting them to sing again.
Send them to Rick Beveridge for repair or even update.
So Steve, what caused the disconnect between what you heard in the showroom and what you heard at home?
Was it that your home acoustics weren't similar to the store where you heard them?
Tell us about “the one that got away”
As in the pair you should have never sold...
I bought a pair of MartinLogan Scenarios, and surprisingly, every thing you said about the Beveridges applied to my speakers. Every thing.
Great story. Good that admitted that speakers being bad rather than swapping out other parts of your system to compensate, as I've seen with many customers.
Cake Batter exactly. "your system has no sssssssssssinergisssssm try these cables and these crystals in your breaker box"
Thanks for your honest review. Many thought those speakers were great. I personally never had the chance to hear them for myself. Never had anything I didn't like. I listened and listened and listened again before I bought.
I heard the 2SW at a dealer years ago in a house. They were the most closed sounding electrostatic I ever heard. It was like listening to music through a mattress. My Acoustats are stunning by comparison. So open sounding.
Thanks Steve ! Just when I thought i'd done the best of the NYC Jazz scene you mention Dizzy's! I'd heard of it but now I got to check it out! I live in Australia so it will be on the itinerary next trip.
Too long ago to remember the models, but I had bought the small Magnepan's in '77. By about '82 my wife decided they were not furniture friendly and I picked up some Polk Audio speakers; tweeter and two main drivers with a passive woofer. As soon as I got them home I knew it was a mistake.
To each his own. Those Polks sound like the Monitor 10, a pair of which I bought used from a college student for $400 around '85. I still have those Polk Monitor 10s and I really like them, although admittedly not for classical music. On the other hand, you were switching from Magnepans, so I can see how you'd be dissappointed.
Andy B Exactly. It was the transition, they were great for rock but I love Jazz as well. I think a better pick would have been Klipsch Heresy's for their detail. Similar sized box.
@@needlesswords Should have ditched the wife. Maybe the threat might have been enough LOL.
I bought some Bose 901’s after hearing them at a hi-fi show when they first came out and had a similar experience. After a while I hated them to the point that I couldn’t listen to them. I can’t remember how I got rid of them. I then took my time and narrowed my choices down to the Magnepans or Magneplanars , (whichever were the smaller single panels), and the Dahlquist DQ 10’s. Now, 50 years and 9 residences and a couple of electronics changes later. I still love them. The woofers (late 90’s) have been replaced and I always have used an M&K Goliath II subwoofer with them. Usually raised a couple of inches off the floor. Great combination!
Not sure what you ended up with - Maggie’s or DQ10’s?
I have always liked the Magnepan speakers, and I wish I would have bought a pair instead of the Monitor Audio Silver RX 8 that I bought instead.
Way back in the day, I purchased a pair of Sansui direct reflecting speakers. This would have been around 1972. They looked great and sounded great in the store, but when I got them home and hooked them up - they just plain sucked. I tried for weeks to like them but, ugh. Traded them for a pair of Bose 901 series II with the 1801 Power amp and matching 44401 pre-amp. That started a love affair with Bose that lasted through to the series IV (two pair) with a 50 watt amp. I remember going to a concert to listen to a 70 piece orchestra playing classical music and being astonished at how well the 901's captured the essence of that type of music in that environment. However, finally moved on to more conventional speakers, most of which I designed and built myself. Been an interesting journey.
very helpful Steve!
Thanks for the upgraded mic! Much better..!
I've used it for a few months, but thanks.
I didn't buy expensive speakers I didn't like but I was suckered paying cash for supposed high end speakers off a literal truck. The guy gave me a line about them being $1000 speakers, showed me some fake advertisements and reviews about them. He told me his electronics store received extra pairs that weren't on the invoice so it was essentially free money and I'm getting a deal blah blah. Being monumentally naive I went for it and paid I think $300 for the pair. Brought them home and hooked them up. They worked so I'll give them some credit but the sound was garbage. I put them in a closet and eventually gave them to a friend just to be rid of them. Not my brightest moment.
Confession, almost identical experience, both me and another coworker fell for it. Don't feel bad, live and learn. :)
@@jesuguru2394 It's the "white van speaker scam" been going on forever
A classic scam, big box, usually cloth covered to disguise cheap chipboard, made up name like 'audio perfection' and a story similar to what you describe. A friend who was a motorcycle courier got stung and shortly afterwards one of the bass drivers gave out, we took it out and it was dreadfull, tiny magnet, stamped tin frame screamed cheap cheap cheap, they must cost around $50 a pair to make with maybe another $5 for the fake brochure/review etc. ah well, live and learn.
I worked at the Beveridge "factory" in Santa Barbara for one day. Electrostatics are nasty business to assemble.
years ago I purchased a Denon integrated amp that Stereo Review had bragged about. They said it was better than anything in its price range.
I remember paying right under a 1000 bucks. Brought it home with my JBL's and that was the day I realized I didn't like Denon. Sold it to a friend for 300 bucks to get rid of it. I feel ya
I'm generally pretty cynical about 'audiophile' opinion on RUclips but I like your attitude enough that I actually subscribed!! Entertaining and honest.
I had the Beveridge 2SW2 loudspeakers and they were fantastic! And the Beveridge RM1/RM2 preamp is fantastic too!
Bought a used pair of Beverage 3's from a New York City audiophile in the late 80's ( thought he got them from Lyric on the east side, maybe used ). Hooked them up in a small NY apartment through a Hafler 200 amp-- they were obviously too big for such a small space. They sounded worse than awful. Put them in storage, forgot about them. Fast forward to the year 2000, put them in a big room upstate and they came alive ! but only with the right amp -- minimum 100 watts -- have been running them for 20 years. Now using the Nakamichi Stasis PA-5, and they are killer -- dynamic range, imaging with sweet highs and great bass, no mods.
I've been lucky so far. Every time I spend money I can hear the improvement. But I've only been building this system for less than two years. Just ordered all these drivers for a new speaker build, hoping none of them are lemons because the whole kit ran me about six grand.
I got back into the stereo game and I had the same experience, though at a lot less cost. But, my speaker search ended when I got the aDs l810s and then the 910s. No need for me to look any further as I doubt I could find speakers that fit me so perfectly.
I couldn't afford Beveridge, but remember hearing the big 6' tall models back in the 1980s. Never will forget that experience, what an incredible speaker!!! The Quad, AR9, Ohm 1, DQ10, Vandersteen, baby Maggie, Altec Lansing, Allison, KEF, Fried TL, etc etc etc... Best I ever heard!!
How were they placed when you heard them?
I remember meeting the late Harold Beveridge at CES in 1982 or thereabouts. He was really hitting the vodka, and enjoying hid speakers that way.
Hard to believe they're still in business!
Steve, As a long time audiophile I routinely enjoy your videos! I currently use Beveridge 2's and they are one of the all time greats along with Quad ESL 57, Apogee Full Ranges etc. You are quite right that the smaller Beveridge speakers were not nearly as good as the orginal model 2 or 2sw. The smaller 3 was OK but then they fell off the cliff. I am in Chicago and if you are curious to hear the larger version. Let me know! I also remember visiting Stereo Exchange on my trips to NYC to look at their used gear. It was there that I saw vintage Marantz tube gear for the first time. I think they were located near Tower Records so together they were a treat for the visiting audiophile. Keep up the good work!
Bob
Bob Aranyi I agree I am trying to get Model 2 SW to upgrade from my 3s. I want the OTL built in Amplifier built to Roger Modjeski’s RIP design, which made them powered speakers. They use stacked 36KD6 high power television horizontal output tubes.
Bob is right, the Bev Original Model 2, their first product w/o subs, we’re the ones that really demonstrated the purity of what was possible with a full range electrostatic. The speed, tone, pace continuity was unsurpassed, might still be true. No they didn’t have slam in the bass, or piercing highs or ultimate SPL, but if you had a very quiet environment, meaning low background noise level, the Bevs could articulate the nuances of the music at incredible low levels, which gave it within its capabilities quite a decent dynamic range, but they never could do 100 dB, but because they allowed insight into the music at very low levels you did have soft to “loud”. That was the problem, they teased you with the dynamics but couldn’t do real life volumes. One of the cool things that line sources do is the intensity drops 1/d while all other speakers drop at 1/d2 (squared) so the drop in actual sound level as you moved around was spooky realistic, the sound in a smaller room didn’t really change dramatically. Another issue was they had to be at least 6 feet from the back wall and pointed at each other to achieve what they were designed to do, create music. According to Walt Bender maybe 60 total pair made of the BCSS Model II, still a very cool tune machine even today if you understand their limitations, they deliver the goods, like Quad ESL 57 (stacked setups preferred) or WE/Altec 755a or …..
@@bobsmoot8454 good to see you are still around!!
I worked at Beveridge 1982 through 1984. I demonstrated them at Vegas and Chicago CES. They were an excellent speaker, but were not for everybody, as you point out.
Too bad you aren't selling yours now, I'd buy them!!
I do a lot of refurb and repair, there many stories I have as well from a tech POV.
Each to their own, I say!
That's how I get mostly all my speakers. I buy something in decent shape and then refurbish them. DIY all the way. I've never been unhappy with what I've bought. The only speakers I ever bought new was the Mission 765 (not the 765i). Now I would buy such speakers just to play with what drivers I could put into them.
P.S. love the last two album reviews
I heard a pair of Beverage electrostatics in the very early 80's at a high fidelity show at the New York Statler Hilton. They were driven by discreet Kenwood amps along with matching subwoofers also driven by discreet Kenwood amps. I can't remember the preamp but all of this was set up as part of a demonstration for an ADC cartridge. I remember passing by the doorway of the double length room and feeling something I hadn't heard/felt before. A 16 Hz peddle note from a performance of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor was pushed through my chest and abdomen. It wasn't you typical rock concert base thump in the chest, it felt like air was being pushed through me. I actually felt a bit ill. That was the hook.
I went in and took a seat between the speakers. The music changed to a violin solo. If you closed you eyes it was impossible to tell if someone was actually in between the speakers playing a real violin. That impressed me far, far more the pipe organ piece. Until then I had never heard a speaker driver that had the ability to move fast enough to capture that live performance sound of an unamplified instrument. However it struck me back then that it probably wouldn't sound very good with most other music that a typical 20 year old would listen to in the early 80's. Not to mention the $10,000 dollar price tag as I remember (could be wrong on this) was an even bigger turn off.
Leonard Bernstein, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. to mention a few had the Beveridges 2 and the 2SWs. They should know the accuracy of sound and music... Harold Beveridge made only 120 pairs of 2s and 2SWs...
The Beveridge 2SWs did sell for $12K in 1972 when they were introduced and it was very expensive in comparison, a new Rolls Royce was going for $19K at the same period of time...
I still have my 2SW since 1986 and still playing to date...
K. L. Kayo Ong I agree. As I said if you EVER want to get rid of them, I will drive to wherever you are.
Magnepan 1.7is were my most costly mistake. They were fairly easy to sell but I still lost about $800 on the pair. The other was a popular and rather expensive class D tube/hybrid amp. It was easily bested by amps costing 1/3 its price. Such mistakes are difficult to avoid when you don't live in a city that has multiple audio salons like NYC.
Ugh...I bought a set of Polk Audio RT3000's back around 2000 or so, sight unseen and unheard, after we moved into our new home and trying to set up a 5.1 system. I could NEVER get them to sound right, no matter what I did, at least for music. They were fine for movies, but they never grew on me for music. Tried to unload them...no buyers. After a couple of years I think we ended up donating them, or, heck...they may still be in our storage somewhere, lol. Other than those, I cannot recall any other equipment that I had such a hard time with. At least you were lucky enough to have only paid the dealer cost, or pretty close, so your loss wasn't as bad as it could've been!
My biggest mistake was persuading my grandfather (I was a teen at the time in the early 80s) to buy a pair of Celestion SL6.
These boasted that famous copper dome tweeter and high tech woofer, with both drivers benefiting from the then new laser analysis systems for their design.
God they were so dull, lifeless and boring! - a technical masterpiece and a musical void. Way worse than the very sweet and dynamic little Haybrook HB2s they replaced.
Worst speakers I bought were the Celestion SL600...the much more expensive version of the SL6. The the insult of their extreme blandness was only made worse by their very low subjective efficiency. I returned them in exchange for the very worst preamp I ever had:(
Red Robbo's Workshop the CelestionSL12Si is so much better. It was the reference speaker for Julian Hursch. I still use them in my AV system. Nothing more accurate and detailed.
HaHa, I had SL7 replaced by Heybrook HB1 and your opinion is on the money, wish I still had the HB1's and Creek 3040
Hello, I have Jensen model 5, 3- way 12 inch speakers in the living room stereo system. They were good, but now I have E-V ZX-1 on top of the jensens
as a replacement. They have 2-way 8 inch with a titanium compression driver and they sound great. In the mono sub output of the Denon receiver
I have an EV powered sub 12 inch. I will switch it on if I play a DVD, Sounds great. These are pro installation components, not really made for a home stereo.
Thank-you
Bob Born
Many years ago when my brother was buying audio gear on dealer asked him to bring his wife along. Good advice.
Good videos and insights. Just one thing: I really hate it when I see a thumbnail image that interests me and then what I saw there is nowhere to appear on the video. I really really hate that.
OK, but since since I haven't owned those speakers for 35 years I wanted to show what the Beveridge Model 5 speakers looked like.
Design Observatory You must hate RUclips in general then. At least he was talking about what was in the thumb unlike most.
Flag it as misleading thumbnail spam, which it is.
“Thats it?” 😂
And I thought “Whats their name, beverage?”
Way back in 1988, I found a ad in the San Jose Mercury News classifieds for a complete system including a pair of Infinity RS II B’s and a Marantz Model 2500 receiver for $600.
After auditioning the system and verifying that everything worked, I was puzzled by how poor the system sounded. The RS II are a large speaker and the 2500 was a monster receiver. I gave the guy his price knowing that this was a $5K system and the Marantz alone was worth the price.
My current system consisted of a 100 watt JVC receiver a Dual 701 tt and a wonderful pair of Klipsch Fortes.
The Fortes were better in every way except the looks department. While the RS II’s looked amazing, they were just awful sounding compared to my Klipsch’s. After trying all the usual tricks with placement and gear I put them up for sale in the SF Chronicle and they sold for $800 bucks the next day. I kept and used the Marantz for 15 years and ultimately sold it too for a $1400 profit. With so many Infinity lovers out there, I’ve never understood what was up with the RS IIB. The Fortes were so good, They’re still making them. The funny thing is that they sell today for what the Infinity RS IIB’s went for in 1981. About $3500?
Go figure?
Hi Painter Dood, I also have a pair of RSIIB’s (DOP 1986) which sound phenomenal! The problem you experienced is improper matching of the electronics to the speakers. The Marantz may very well be a fine receiver in its own right, but is a total mismatch with these higher end speakers. It’s like putting bias-ply retread tires on an exotic car! The sound of any high-end speaker is VERY dependent and critical on the electronics driving them. I was working in the industry so I could experiment with different electronic combinations. First, I owned an Audio Research SP-9 pre-amp ($1400) and a pair of Kenwood LO-9M 300 watt mono blocks ($600 pr on closeout) which sounded very disappointing. Then I borrowed my friend’s Quicksilver 60 watt full tube mono blocks ($1400 pr.) and thought I found the Holy Grail! Great imaging, dimensional, smooth and open. I took them into the store (amps) and listened with other high-end speakers and then compared them with an Audio Research D-70II 60wpc full tube stereo amp ($2000) and was blown away by how much fuller and richer it sounded in addition to the other attributes of the Quicksilver’s! Ultimately I paired up the RSIIB’s with the ARC SP-9, ARC D-70II on the ribbons (EMIM’s & EMIT’s), and a pair of Kenwood LO-7MKII 150 watt mono blocks on the woofers.
Keep in mind that when you double your amplifier power, your overall output level only increases by 3db which is the next change in output that is perceptible. There may be other sonic improvements because of a more robust power supply and other circuit improvements.
I had a pair of Cabasse speakers paired with Denon amplifier.
For a year I thought I didn't like music anymore.
But in fact, it was the sound of the speakers and the amplifier combined that I didn't like.
I have sold them for almost nothing and bought new gear .
I still love listening music 😃😅
I had a similar experience with B&W 802N. Despite I tried many different room placement, various ampifiers (up to 700W!!) etc... no way... to my ears they sounded cold, dully, totally unexciting. Fortunately I managed to sell them, but I lost quite some $$$$.
Funny you said that ppl pay for a name but the listening experience be trash
I thought the biggest mistake you bought was that shirt 🤣🤣
I actually think it's kinda cool, at least its not boring.
:-) thinking the same thing...
Jim Petosa yeah he’s fuckin blind as well as having golden ears 🤣
lol I actually like it and was admiring it.
He’s always wearing wacky shirts
My local high end boutique was a Beveridge dealer. I remember when they were pushing the things. I remember it wasn't for long. Not my cup of tea. Didn't take long for me to figure out that the most direct path for me was to refine the dynamic speaker than to try to get one of the oddball types to overcome its inherent shortcomings.
My worst speaker buy was when the sat/sub craze was starting. I got a pair of Canton speakers that were a little larger than the little die-cast aluminum models that everyone was getting, promised to have a nicer midrange without the tinny aluminum sound of the more popular ones. They were supposed to go with a matching sub, but I was getting my first apartment, so I put the sub off until I had saved a few more paychecks. What happened instead is that a friend donated a pair of mid-fi but large speakers to the apartment (I was the first in my circle of friends to strike out on my own, so the parties were at my place) and the little Cantons never became a complete sat/sub system. Just as well, they were pretty dull in their range. In this case smaller really was better.
Ahhh, the 80's discovery of video with music spawning home theatre oriented shit tinny satellites and heavy sloppy subs of the 90's. The good ole' days! :)
Actually the sat/sub thing started in the late '70s (TV a lot earlier than that) between bookshelf speakers and the awful mini-tower speakers that still plague us today. M&K was a major player, but some brand that I can't remember sold a lot of the little aluminum bassless speakers in the '80s, often without the sub. I saw a lot of them in college dorms and offices. Even a few on package shelves in hot hatches. Thing was, the much cheaper Radio Shack Minimus 7 sounded just as good, made a great TV speaker for use with MTS stereo TV.
Yeah, I was thinking the beginning of MTV in the 80's when people started thinking it would be cool to have better sound with their TV kicking off satellites and subs.
Interesting perspective! The first time I saw MTV, the sats and subs were entirely different. It was in a nightclub that had a satellite truck brought in for the MTV launch, and a special PA system installed, including a line of W horn subs under the projector screen.
At roughly the same time, our local PBS station, WTTW was working on a prototype of the new TV broadcast stereo system with their locally produced series "Soundstage". I wasn't officially involved in the testing, but unofficially used the stereo signal during testing, and was an early adopter of stereo OTA TV as a result. That's why I always chuckle when people talk about getting "Soundstage" from buying a speaker, because I actually stood on the sound stage where "Soundstage" was shot. :)
StringerNews1
Very cool!
That story reminded me of a T.V. / stereo simulcast concert I heard once, done by Frank Zappa. I thought it was a cool concept at the time, and taped it on cassette. It didn't sound right though, and I didn't know exactly why. Some time went by and I let an audiophile friend who was a Zappa fan borrow it. He listened to it and told me there was a point early in the broadcast where the sound went out of phase, like having your speakers wired backwards. I wonder how that could've happened?
I do know it wasn't from the recording, because you could also hear it in the broadcast when the sound changed.
Same thing everytime I’ve bought a Kef speaker. Thankfully tho the “hype” gets them sold quickly without a lose.
I bought a Unison Research Unico CD Player about 17 years ago - still have it but it’s drive tray has given me endless headaches. It still sounds decent, when it reads a CD. I’ve had the tray repaired and replaced but the fault always comes back. One can get around it by rubbing the inner ring of a CD with alcohol but that’s a pain to do every time. At £1200 most definitely my worst buy 🙁
In the early 90's, I bought a pair of Mirage M3si speakers thinking they were the speakers for me. No matter where I placed them or what I drove them with, I could never get them to image worth anything. I sold them within 6 months of buying them. They were terrible in my room.
I bought a NAD B356BEE amp for $900. It's 80 w per channel and supposed to be an amazing NAD (and raved about). But it's the same old "wiry" NAD sound, that I was never really impressed with when I had my first NAD (I got second hand). I also bought a Digitech 200 w per channel amp for $330 just after I bought the NAD (cos the 200w amp was so cheap) (brand new, regular price). And I listen to that cos the bass is so good (maybe it's the power). When you crank it, the bass "increases" instead of "decreasing" like with low wattage amps (for that particular room size). And when I first had the amp my ears rang at night in bed. lol But even at lower volumes when (with some songs) you can hardly hear the bass, the bass still "dominates" in some way. I love that, a good foundation to the music. So I spent like $1,200 when I could have only spent $350 dollars. But it's good to have a spare amp in case my 200 w one fails, I suppose.
Well, might still be in business.. but not a big one.. this is from theire home page: From their introduction in 1974, a total of about 200 Beveridge systems were produced. The company is presently in contact with about 140 Beveridge owners in 23 countries. Many of these owners were the initial purchasers.
Hey Steve, have you ever heard a speaker called ESS Transor. I may have the name of the speaker wrong, but the manufacturer I am certain of. It was like an art piece. It had a Hiel Air Motion Transformer on top and four woofer drivers in linked pairs with what looked like carbon fiber rods that would move in sync with the woofer magnets. A picture might be helpful. I saw them in an audio store back in 1976. I know I am dating myself, but I have been in audio since dirt was a youngster!
I remember the ones he made back in the day that looked like coffins and cost a fortune.
After roughly 25 yrs of loving NAD, I bought my first and last NAD, a 512 CD player. It had some crap called a 1 bit converter, and was easily the worst CD player I've ever heard.
NAD strength lay in the non-disclosure of returns for repair, in a non- internet era. The salesmen joked about NAD as Noise & Distortion, but this was more a hidden warning than jocularity.
My most expensive mistake was I bought a pair of Bose 901 speakers in the 1970s. Mainly because I was impressed with how loud they were for their size. I replaced them within a month with a pair of Altec Lansing Voice Of The Theater speakers. Also because they were loud, but they sounded a LOT better than the 901s.
I had the 901 speakers sitting in a local record store for over a year before anybody bought them. They sold for less than half what I paid for them. The store had JBL studio speakers (Probably 4311) playing normally. So when he switched to the Bose 901 speakers for people to hear, I doubt anybody was impressed. Most likely whoever bought them did so because of their looks or because of the name recognition.
I bought a pair of 1980s Polk audio power tower speakers with 5 inch drivers and the bass ported on the bottom. They cost 300 bucks and what a deal . They sound better than my modern Psb speakers which cost around the same price .
I just looked at the Beveridge Audio website. It looks like it's from 1997 :P
The worst speakers I ever bought was a pair of ADS L-810’s, that I bought very inexpensively at a thrift store. I hated the way they imaged, which was, none, and the way they soundstaged, which was, zero. Everyone kept saying “what about the midrange”? Yes, but, the novelty wore off quickly. I flipped them and did well, but was it worth the effort and back pain? No. I think I’d take a sledgehammer to a pair if I ever see them again out there in the wild.
There's a Mrs. Audiophiliac? Who knew! With all that gear in that tiny apt. I figured Steve flew solo too.
I'm glad I never bought the high end Beveridge speakers. They received one rave review and many bad ones. Stereophile magazine had a hard time reviewing them in the correct placement and said the sound was pinched, thin and to the point of stridency. The updated versions later in time received better reviews in better detailing and cleaness of sound due to complete re-engineering of the product. Good review.
Just the opposite with me. With the 10 inch drivers removed and at least Rel subwoofers.
Bought some Dynaudio DM 3/7 because everybody raves about Dynaudio. I listened for 5 minutes and was like "nope, this ain't it." Went back to my Cantons and have been happy sticking with those ever since. I did hear some Dali Oberons and really liked them a lot, so I might give the Danish school another try someday. The Dynaudios are in my home theater but they really aren't any better than the cheap Polk Monitor 60s that used to be there. IDK, they look really neat at least.
Canton is a very well known manufacturer here in Germany, actually not even very far from my home and so many people on the Internet recommended me to buy a pair of used Canon Ergo RC-L because of their ability in mid-bass because I like Heavy Metal and Hard Rock and stuff like that (infact i'm listening to almost any kind of music, every genre has to offer something interesting).
Well, before purchasing a pair for myself I had the chance to listen to them not far from where I live and I was quite satisfied with what I experienced. Just a few weeks after that I got my own pair, still in great shape, even the original spikes and the little "tone control unit" came with em for something around $450 to $500.
So I hooked them up and listened to them... and listened to them... and listened to them... and after a while my wife finally spoke loudly what I was not ready to confess to myself: "those tweeters sound horrible!" And yeah was she right. It wasnt my CDs (since I had some of them over where I listened to the speakers I just told), it wasnt my amplifier, it wasnt "my" room acoustics in particular.
No, it was more the room acoustics of the guy where I've heard the speakers beforehand! He had carpet all over the floor, he had carpet even on the walls - on all walls - in the room and the only window was covered by a very big wooly curtain. This very obviously damped the super-agressive tweeter of those speakers down to a level where I didnt recognize them as nerve-wrecking as they actually were in my own room. There were much more problems to the speakers. They werent able to project the music away from their chassis and into the room, there was no big, wide stage. They were loud, extremely loud, that's for sure but without any fun at all!
So I quickly sold them without losing much money and switched back to my Yamaha NS-G40 MK2 - really small standing loudspeakers from the early 90s but WOW, do they sound great, especially with the right amplifier! It's not that easy for me to describe in english (since I'm from Germany) but the sound just is so much more alive and floating through the room even on very low volume. So I guess, even though they have a pretty good reputation, the Canton Ergo RC-L were my worst buy in terms of speakers.
For me it would be the purchase some years ago of a pair of Devore Gibbon Super 8 speakers. I'd recently purchased the Shindo Montille amp and Aurieges pre. I wanted a better speaker match than I had for these wonderful products. I'd read that the Devore Gibbons were a great match. When I came across a used pair on Audiogon available for pickup locally I went for it. The seller, who happens to be a fairly well-known audio reviewer graciously demoed the speakers for me. I wasn't crazy about the sound. And yet I bought them anyway. Why? I don't know. Maybe because I'd read in more than one place that this was a great match?
I got them home and set them up. Instant dislike. They sounded lean, very lean. I thought it was a setup issue so I tried another position. And another and another. I just couldn't get past what came across to me as a dry, thin presentation. Switched to different electronics, no real change. I eventually gave up and decided the best position for these speakers was in someone else's home. I sold them. At a loss. This is what can happen when you make a purchase based more on reviews than trusting your own hearing. I listened before I bought them and ignored what my brain was telling me. Totally my fault. You live and learn.
I agree that, to be fair, you should review current Beverage models
La Scalas for me. They sounded like someone dumping a box of razorblades in my ears. Absolutely terrible.
Long story short I bought a pair of Forte III’s and they were so infectiously good I wanted more. So I figured I’d buy the La Scalas, not realizing they were very very very different. Hooked them up in my grossly undersized room, and immediately my ears were sizzling. Even at low volumes.
I boxed them up and got rid of them as soon as I could. I still have the Forte III’s. Just ordered the Forte IV’s. I’ll keep both. :)
It's amazing how you can become blind into thinking something sounds good that you have either talked yourself into or spent a lot of money on. For me a good rule of thumb is if I'm not tweaking the EQ or speaker placements etc for every different song I listen too then I know I have a good setup and everything is in focus, in general.
The worst I heard were a $1200 pair of Accoustats .
Played McCoy Tyner Super Trios at a high end store in Berkeley.
The sound was flat and uninteresting plus the speaker panels would buzz on low frequencies.
Best I ever heard were Clements Reference RT-7.
Damn,I remember seeing a RUclips video interview of Steve Gadd and sitting in the back ground were those speakers.
For me, it was the Shahinian Obelisk. Huge midrange suck out. Maybe because the version I had there were only 2 midrange drivers instead if the four the current version had.
yeah! I bought some Kappa 9 s, they sounded great but they were 1-2 years old when I bought them for my husband. the surround foam didn't last long at all. then they would clip with the amp we had, so we took them back to the dealer were we got them and he said he would fix the problem. , So he clammed it was the cross over,s. wrong. any way, oh they never clipped again but we didn't plat them much because the foam started breaking up on the woofer's. so they been sitting around now for a lot of years. in are house. my husband figured out we needed a better amp for one an money tight off and on so we never fix
fixed them .
Love the dashiki.
I once had a pair of Advent Maestros in my home for a few days. Truly a regretable speaker.
I recall that back in the late 1970s Peter Aczel in The Audio Critic raved about the Beveridge Model 2. You really don't try explain why you were so impressed with the Model 5 at CES and then hated it when you got it home.
Bose SATs/ Acousticmass Sub. Found out the truth yrs later after making sense of the frequency response for each unit. Gotta go, my tail is between my legs now.
So what you are saying is your imagination changed and you found new imaginary sound quality in equipment twice the price.
About six years ago I picked up a set of pork satellite speakers on sale and I was very excited because it was my first set of “audio file “brand speakers. Before that I had pretty much had boom boxes and HTIBS. Well, to make a long story short I got the speakers, brought them in and was very disappointed with their sound. I guess I shouldn’t expected too much from 4 inch cubes, But I really didn’t know any better back then.
Did you find your pork speakers to with well with your ham radio?
Poor speakers. At least they found a good home.
Great Story! I think every Audiophile has experienced the same thing! I know I have with Many Loudspeakers! The moral of the story is to be careful what you buy!
It would help if you were able to say exactly what you did not like about the Beveridge Model 5. As you ought to know, the Beveridge Models 2 and 2SW (original production) were very different from the Models 3 through 5 in that the former two speakers were directly driven by amplifiers especially designed to account for the frequency response anomalies that resulted from the lens and the closed cabinet. It's true that Harold Beveridge did not pay much attention to the supplemental woofer, even of the 2SW, but the (full range) 2 and the woofer-supplemented 2SW (and their direct-drive amplification systems) are easily among the most innovative and best sounding speakers of all time. In your defense, I have heard the 3 and didn't like it; I think the Models 3 through 5 were an attempt to sell product at more affordable prices. The 2SW is in my second system, and I love them, would never give them up. But I've replaced the Beveridge woofers with KEFB139 woofers in a transmission line, one per side with separate solid state amplification. Your viewers should not go off under the impression that Beveridge speakers are terrible.
Lew Google, you are right. They are great sounding speakers once they are properly set up right... I still have my 2WS and the dedicated Beveridge RM1 preamp since 1987. The dedicated integrated powers amps were revamped with new panels by Mr. Harold Beveridge in the fall of 1987.
You should have heeded J. Gordon Holt's warning from 1978: "Initially, we were unable to get these to sound much better than dreadful ..." OUCH! However, to be fair, in a follow-up review of an updated pair, JGH was far more positive in his comments.
Gordon Holt! God rest his soul.
My father and Mr. Holt were close friends/drinking buddies. He was a really colorful and off the wall guy. I thought he was really cool.
My worst speaker was the recent Elac 6.2. Lots of good reviews around it and I jumped on board. It lasted only 6 days and I Craigslist’d it. Sold it for $50 more than I bought it for - so that’s the silver lining.
I agree, those were garbage and one of the most disappointing speakers I've heard probably, I traded those off the next day.
@@JukeboxAlley I don’t get why everyone is ga ga for Andrew Jones. I’m not impressed that he designed for TAD or Pioneer.
@@epi2045 I had high hopes, owning well over 200 different sets from budget to high end, I can say that those elac debut 6.2 (the only elacs I've tried though) are really really bad, the tweeters wasn't that bad and could've worked fine in a different design, the port design was terrible, the cabinet design was thin and obviously cut corners, and at anything over 60 db it had turbulence and chuffing, the woofer gassed out prematurely, for a nearfield guy it may work for some at 40 db or so, but I can name some not so famous brands that would make those look even worse in a shootout, I was really disappointed.
I like your shirts. It's good to be distinctive.
One of the worst speakers I wasted money on was the CM8 s2 by Bowers and Wilkins. Harsh top end, nasally midrange, and weak low frequencies. They sure looked good!
I haven't had major problems with audio equipment, but I use to have terrible luck with VCRs.
My goodness, I'm a bit surprised. We currently have two pairs of tube driven integrated 1500w, 7' tall, Beverage model 2SW and they are something to be respected. They are fantastic at immersion and Soundstage, by far the best I've heard, and I've heard thousands. They require very specific setup and they actually are meant to face each other in the middle of the listening room. Just awesome.
Are they best at precision, transients, bandwidth, impact etc? No. But they are innovative, unique, special and specific. The fact the electrostatic panels were designed and built in house and are still working some 30 years later is absolutely amazing.
All that being said, would I chose them as my apartment speaker? My only speaker? My desert island speakers? No. But they do deserve their space and recognition.
Mr. Colin Rohwer. You are right. I have a pair of the 2SW which I have gotten from Stereo Exchange (same place where Steve Guttenberg got his Model 5) back in spring of 1986. The staff at Stereo Exchange didn't understand the setup and they hated the sound of the speakers until I came along and set them up correctly and then were they amazed at the sound and the sound stage generated. They had them as front-firing speakers, which is wrong, for they had to place facing each at a distance of ten feet or more and closest to the sidewalls and a distance from the front wall... Anyways, I brought them very cheap and a year later I had Mr. Harold Beveridge update the OTL amps and with a set of new electrostatic panel elements for each tower for better sound efficiency... Since 1987, they are still running very well three decades later at 2019...
The other system is the Apogee Full Range with two added on subwoofer tower. Each tower has six 12" woofers. The Apogee system is powered by eight Krell monoblocks, of four KMA-100s (one for each of the mid and tweeters) and four KMA-200s (one for each of the bass panels and towers) and with a dedicated activate crossover by Apogee Acoustic company... The 2SW can stand side by side and only fall short in the lower bass region...
K. L. Kayo Ong I agree sir. If you ever want to get rid of the 2SWs I will drive to you to get them.
@@daviddrake7003 Sorry, but my daughter loves the Beveridges 2SWs and she wants and will inherit them. I brought the Beveridge 2SW and the Beveridge RM1 dedicated preamp a year before she was born in 1987. She grew up listening to them from her mother's womb before birth (wife said "baby fetus calmed down when I played classical music") and also she was listening when she was in her crib and all while growing up right up to the time before leaving to college... She likes the Beveridges over the Apogee Full Range system set up for the quick and transparent sound (probably because the Beveridges are using dedicated built-in tube amps and also driven by the dedicated RM1 which is also tubes...
Two bad purchases. First was a Luxman receiver, replacing a Pioneer SX-535. The Luxman FM tuner section couldn't pick up a five dollar whore. I discovered this right away and fortunately was able to return it within a week for full credit where I bought a Yamaha amp/tuner combo. I've been a fan of Yamaha equipment, particularly their FM tuners, ever since.
In the speaker field, my worst purchase was a pair of Bose 161s. I had a cheapo stereo in my bedroom with 5 1/2" full-range driver speakers. Had 'em for over 20 years from one of those compact stereos where the turntable is mounted to the top of the receiver things. When the foam surrounds disintegrated I saw no need to buy anything special and saw a pair of the Bose 161s on craigslist or eBay for sale locally at what I wanted to spend. I figured even though they're small, they're Bose-how bad could they be?
I found out. Within five minutes of listening to them I laughed at my regrettable decision. There was absolutely no low end to these things. They sounded worse than a table top radio. I quickly sold them on eBay and couldn't understand why anybody would want them!
it was back in 2017 Steve and everyone was constantly giving onkyo products a great feedback read reviews on audio forums and hi-fi magazines so i travelled into glasgow city and into richersouds and listened to a demo of the onkyo A-9010 pretty sure that was the model the were hooked up to a pair of Dali Rubicon 2 and sounded great in the shop, got them home and hooked them up to my speakers Wharfedale d330, heck it was a huge let down they never did a thing for me just sounded tepid and less than lacklustre, it took me a year to shift the amp
I bought and still use a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RX 8 towers on a good review, but I have never been excited about them. I think those inexpensive Elac probably sound better.
Good speakers were Infinity 2000A. I still
have my pair with original electrostatics.
ESL's will literately last forever. My current
rig is Martin Logan Request ESL's.
This is not about high end amps, but about an low end amp that was made by pioneer. Don't get me wrong they are great amps. But when I just bought my house i needed inexpensive, so I got what I thought would be safe cus of the brand. It sounded good at the store maybe because of the speakers or the space I don't know. But when I got them home I immediately knew it was a mistake. It was so bland and soulless, I wanted to gag. Just gave it away to my friends young kid with an old cd player. I learned something that time. Electronics are a mystery to me and should never be underrated. These people are masters of sound, sounds like a good band. If your wondering what I did I when my gal moved in I used her pioneer great sound and then found a Harman kardon AVR 65 cheap. I have been playing it for many years. I did have a very high end Yamaha that kept blowing out the power chip after the third time I let it go. Sad because it had beautiful sound anyone who heard it loved it. That's why I hang on to my Hardon, it's been my trusted friend for many years.
Q Acoustics 3020i I bought not that long ago. Having limited experience, I thought I was supposed to get used to the sound (since before I listened to some crappy no-names). But from the start they felt too forward for me. Weeks past and I still couldn't learn to like them. I quite literally didn't want to listen to my sound system. I've recently bought a pair of Elac Debut Reference... and I've fallen in love with them basically instantly. Goes to show, if you don't like a speaker out of the box, you will probably not like it ever. DON'T wait too long to change your mind. I can't return the 3020is anymore, coz I wanted to start to like them for too long.
Had some Q 1020's from their first range about 12 years ago (cheap then). Just horrible, awful .....switched off after 5 minutes. No bass, no punch and treble dry as a modern UK Summer. New ones LOOK very similar but about 3 times the price. Heavily promoted nowadays, no doubt reviewers getting brown envelopes ??
Many years ago a psyched roommate brought home a set of speakers he "just bought off a guy selling them out of a van..." Sigh. Probably the best thing about white van speakers is that they are so bad it becomes clear pretty quick what the differences between good speakers and bad speakers are. They are an excellent reference for what is bad.
I’ve owned 3 brands in my audiophile existence so far- Devore, Reference 3 A and B&W. My least fav were the B&Ws. Devore’s best all aground. Ref3A gorgeous midrange. Would love to own some Maggies, Tannoys and Avant Gardes before I shuffle off.
I only found out my speakers were shit when I recently upgraded to Tannoy
Sold my Krell KSA 100, which I really liked, and bought a Kell KSA 250. Big mistake. I never liked the DC coupled KSA 250. It's still sitting here. I don't think it even works anymore and I never use it.
Over $2,000 in the early '80s is huge money. About $7,500 today. Ridiculous. We don't have to think too hard to imagine what we can get for that money today. But it would be something good enough to not have to ever buy another loudspeaker.
I've never heard of Beveridge speakers and I would never spend such money on an unknown. My sympathies to you!
Great story, I know the feeling,, looks great NOW, and then at home,, oh no what did I just do?,, and nobody wants em afterwards when trying to sell
Holt trounced them, but them said they improved immensely in the next model to be in the top two at the time.
It was in middle of 70ties and produced in my country HiFi gear was extremely expensive. Speaker sets were not seen in specialized shops, rather empty shelves - available only with friendly contacts with sales personnel or with travel direct to factory in distant city. . I solved problem by cutting one damaged speaker into two sets - with hand saw. Surprisingly it gave charming result to ears, ugly to eyes (not surprisingly) . I was looking for really good and branded - like those ones with studio view and two woofers 20 cm, sphere tweeters and three times bigger vice ""my" one 16 cm diameter relatively small with cone tweeters. Miracle at last happened - in special sale shop for hobby, two pairs direct from factory - wooooww..Price was lower - as I remember about half monthly wages. . Paid pair, took home, connected to listen the improvement vice my accidentally hand made. It was really big change , at first I was sure that of course must be for better. Looks better so must be. Trying all recordings I realized that I hear many new sounds but they are all not the good ones . And nice sounds are not in that speakers. but still only in my old. How come? In old bass was just enough to complement whole timbre, all was readable, in beautiful new it was all muddy, bass wasn't separable. I tried to push myself to accept it ...for 3-4 days. And failed. Only got confidence that "art" I did was way above. After a week or something I gave announcement to press and it wasn't long when new lucky man was carrying away my "dream come true" I learned that nice outer view in audio is not necessary sign of happiness. . .
My worst buy was a Micromega cd player. It sounded okay, but broke down constantly.
I did that very recently I bought A pair of vintage Carver speakers I dont remember what model, I walked by them at a garage sale picked one up They were unbelievably heavy the cabinets were Gorgeous Paid 5 bucks apiece to get them home and the woofers were blown out but I guess the story doesn't end bad I put them on Craigslist make me an offer and sold them Immediately for $250 And the guy didn't even haggle
Before my audiophile beginning I bought a pair of 1st gen beats. Enough said.
Kacper Uminski I bought beats studio h’phones in an airport in NYC because everyone and his dog were raving about them (2010). As you will know they make music sound like a 3 year old has been playing with your graphic equaliser.
I could strap cheese sandwiches to my ears and have the same experience listening to my hi fi.
The only reason I’ve kept them is to remind myself that I really am that dumb ..... if I notice that I’m getting cocky again.
Seabud I bought a pair of bose replacement headphones elements from ebay. They have a beats sound. EQ the mid bass down and you'll get a nice smooth deep bassy sound. But stock they are not so great. They are also less revealing higher up.
TBH the current Beats' sound is actually quite good but they're still way overpriced and terribly built.
Hi Steve.....I have a fun story for you. I worked for Webb Massey in Orange California in the early 70's and we manufactured speaker cabinets for all the major manufacturers. They included Cerwin Vega, KLH, JBL, Infinity and others. It's been a long time and I wish I could remember which manufacturer labeled their speaker the POS. I'm thinking it might of been KLH, anyway, they came to us with a design for a similar set of speakers and the group was sitting around the conference table trying to come up with a name for them. Finally of of the execs said, come on guys, what are we going to call this piece of shit.....another exec said, why not the POS II, and that was that. So in the factory we always referred to them as the piece of shit ones and the piece of shit twos. I have a bunch of stories you might like to hear.
I made the prototypes for the Cerwin Vega Servo Screens, very impressive looking set of electronic speakers. I had a Fisher Quad receiver that had a wired remote and ended up with 4 Infinity monitors in my apartment along with my reel to reel, so the quality of sound was pretty good, considering the era.
The POS speaker was an Infinity entry level speaker. The founders of Infinity named it the POS because it was a PO,S as a friend of the founders i had some input in the name.
It was the POS ll I was referring to. The POS was already in production when I went to work for Webb Massey.