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My favourite are my Monitor Audio Studio 6 rosewood laquer finished speakers, which I still have (and always will). Beautiful to look at, and they sound like a million bucks!!!!
Some components simply endear themselves to audiophiles
Bryston 2B amp. I've had Naim, Linn, Rotel, and two larger Brystons (3B ST and 4B SST)and the one I miss the most is the 2B. Something about it moved me, whether its the purity of tone, the complete lack of harshness I don't know. I've been thinking about getting a tubed pre-amp and two 2Bs. But, my friend says its surpassed and dated, but I know that its the best sounding Bryston and it looks cool. This is the original 2B, now called the pro.
My first serious turntable: the cheaper Empire with a Shure V15 Type 2. It didn't have an armlift in the conventional sense. You had to set the stylus down manually, but at the end of play, a magnet lifted the arm. It had a massive platter (relative to anything I'd seen), an external belt drive, and an oak base. It looked great and sounded better than anything I'd ever heard. How was I to know that it was just the first step?
KEF K120 Bookshelf speakers. They were part of the first "serious" system I owned, and for the first time in my life I was able to "see" the music out there in front of me! They were hard to get rid of; they were only slightly out-performed by their replacement, but I guess that is the price of progress!
Musical Fidelity MVX/A370 pream/power amp for 15 years. Because their are reliable, powerfull (the amp drives anything) and sound quality beats some modern designs like Plinius SA250, or Krell KAV400xi, or VTL450MB. At least it's my experience and point of view.
My Infinity RS3Bs with original EMIT tweeter, polypropolene mid, and dual 10" woofers. Played through my Hafler DH500 amp, which was tweaked by a recording engineer. I've never heard anything close to sounding nearly so sweet top to bottom. I've always had a thing for the EMIT tweeter and early Hafler amps, but could never afford them until recently. It's a dream come true for me and as much as I like my Paradigm Ref 60's v2, they are just no match. Yes I go to the stores around and here the latest greatest hoo haas, but they just don't come through as together as this combo. I will say very expensive B&W's come close, but ...
The Triangle "Volante 260" loudspeaker retains all the strong points of the original "Celius" and adds an octave of bass. Good, clearly defined bass, not blob. At around 6 grand, it is not cheap, but I just went all-out in my second residence with the Dynaudio Evidence: at 1/10 the price, the Volante actually makes more of my 3000 CD/2000 LP collection sound better than they ever have before; the Dynaudio is simply transcendent, but with only about half my collection. This is important to me, as I love a great variety of music, some of which is badly recorded. The Triangle is true to middle C, thus bringing a sense of immediacy to all my recordings. In my smaller apartment, I actually liked it better than the top-of-the-line Magellan. The Volante is 93db sensitive and will play just as well with 30 good watts as it will with 300. I wish I could wax nostalgic and recall my old Klipsch's, Altec A-7's, or KLH 9's, but today's technology puts anything I used to listen to into the "good riddance" category. By the way, anyone who says speakers are not the most important consideration for building a system is full of it. The Celius (which I reluctantly sold), Volante, and Dynaudios will all reveal subtle differences in electronics, cables, etc., but retain their basic "character" no matter what you drive 'em with: you'd better like the speakers you buy first and foremost, or you'll never be satisfied, no matter how much time you spend tweaking and fussing with the details.
Harmon/Kardon Citation II because it just sounds more like music should than any other piece of equipment I have owned. I have sold the CII in favor of other amps through the years, but end up finding another one after the novelty wears off.
My B&W800s They were great speakers, especially at their price. Then the genius of Dan D'Agostino, of Krell, redesigned the internal crossover to work with his electronic crossover to make it one of "the best speakers on the planet."