I would not overestimate the relevance of such anecdotal reports,
Neither would I.
but nevertheless it would be interesting to know from which speakers someone has switched to which other models, and why.
I was going on memory, and of course here we’re talking about people reporting their preferences under informal listening conditions. Obviously, nothing scientific, but then that’s the scenario we are talking about - people satisfaction in their real world listening situations.
But while I couldn’t find the specific posts I had in mind a very quick check yields
someone who had Salon Studio 2s for a year, switched to Maggie 3.7s and “ would never go back.”
Another switched from
PSB M2 Platinum stand mounted speakers to
Revel M106
and felt regret, liking the PSB more despite that they clearly don’t measure as well.
Then we have somebody who showed up on this forum who, in comparing in his home,
preferred the more colored Linn Karan speakers over Revel M106
As I’ve mentioned, when I did a mega speaker search to replace my big Thiels (too deep they partially blocked the room entrance) I listened to everything under the sun, which included several auditions of Revel speakers. I had at least one very good audition with the Revel Perform F228Be speakers. And they sounded just like the measurements predict: beautifully neutral, smoothly balanced and controlled from top to bottom, no obvious colouration, sounded smooth even off axis. They just screamed
“ competent speaker design!” (in fact, they were the speaker that more than any other reminded me my Thiels).
However, I found myself much more besotted with some maligned (on ASR) Devore speakers. It was very clear that compared to a speaker like the Revel the Devores were coloured. But they were coloured in a way that to my perception was incredibly engaging. One of my pet peeves about reproduced sound on most audiophile systems (of living room friendly scale) is that I find it very reductive sounding: whether we’re talking about acoustic instruments, voices, and sometimes even electric instruments, it’s all reduced in harmonic complexity and richness, and in size, heft and density. In real life instruments sound so much bigger in physical presence than they tend to through sound systems. (and that includes what I heard through the Revel and other neutral and non-neutral speakers).
In contrast, the Devores produced sounds with more scale, richness, heft, presence, that continually reminded me more of the real thing. The Revel was ultra refined “ standard” but the Devore was just a different animal sonically. I played the same drum solo track on every speaker I auditioned, eyes closed, and I’ve never sat in front of a speaker that produced the sensation of being in front of live drums to the same extent as the Devores. I’m not talking a huge difference from a speaker like Revels or my Thiels - but enough that I found it significant given what I listen for in reproduced sound .
And they kept me pinned to my seat excited to hear track after track in a way that the Revels did not. The colorations were just canny enough that they did not scream to me colouration, but rather a welcome enriched scale and body and physical presence. Singers tended to sound less disembodied, and more like heads attached to resonating bodies as one hears in real life. IMO.
So out of the two I would’ve bought the Devore. I can’t say if the honeymoon would’ve lasted over years or not, or whether their particular sound would wear on me. I was unsure enough about that to stick to something a bit more traditional when I replaced my Thiel speakers.
Again, that is of course all anecdotal experience. But at the moment, that’s what we are focussing on: what are the consequences for different measuring speakers in what we perceive in normal listening scenarios.
Cheers.
- my apology to 
