Though it’s bad form to talk about old relationships on a first date as I begin here at SonicFlare, I’ll recount some speakers in my past to give a sense of my tastes and sonic journey.

It all started with a pair of Marantz bookshelfs; blue cone tweeter, yellow paper woofer, woodgrain wallpaper ‘finish’. Not exactly reference quality, but in those days, you could walk into a real audio store with two hundred bucks and walk out with a system. And get treated nicely! Tried to spend nearly fifty times that recently in an audio boutique and the salesman couldn’t be bothered to swap out a CD player. I mistakenly thought it was a service enterprise.

Late high school/early college were awkward times. My Electrovoice Sentry 100s (Superdome tweeter! anti-diffraction grille! tweeter level control!) could go loud, but we’re kinda hard sounding. Overcompensated by dumping them for Polk 5s (passive radiator! inert vinyl cabinet!). Early Audio Revelation (EAR): sometimes warmth costs you transparency. Have been a cold-blooded audiophile since (those formative-year traumas, you know), not at all interested in a ‘slight midbass warmth that trades perhaps just a smidgen of accuracy for an inviting quality that makes you want to play disc after disc.’ If you want warmth, go to the source; but more on that another time. The Polks and I were a fling. Sold ‘em to Steve Schwartz for a hundred and twenty-five after a few months.

Phase Research Little Ds (ribbon tweeter!, time phased!, trans-mission line-like loading!, the !!!s go on and on!). A lot of listening around got me to these, my first real transducer love. Rocked the house in college, and with a purity of voice that was appreciated by ... well, me. They stood on plastic milkcrates back in the day when that was allowed by the audio police. Graduated to cement blocks, which improved things somewhat. Missed that sweet ribbon tweeter -- thought of her often -- in the following decade, and finally got back to that tech. with my current reference. I let a good one go here, thinking they were too big to bring with me to NYC, and the tiny grad. school closets I’d be living in. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Took me awhile to get over this, but landed on my feet with Spica TC50s. The notion of a computer-designed crossover was very cutting edge at the time. Discovered what soundstaging and depth -- holography -- is with these, and got how this added real-life texture to the music. Lacked a certain drive though, couldn’t play very loud, and even with the sub, not much bass. Sold them only after a year or so, and yet still consider this an important relationship. Kama Sutra-like in their relaxed, ethereal presentation, the Spicas opened my eyes to a whole new way to do it.

Embarked from there on what I think of as my first ‘adult’ search for an audio mate. Hit all the NYC A-, B-, C-list audio boutiques, yet it was one empty experience after another. Thought that a grand of hard earned bartending money would take me somewhere. My enduring boredom with B+W speakers started here. These were lonely, disconnected, tuneless times, but then I heard the Epos ES14.

This sounds like music. These things got it. No crossover to the midwoof! Driver baffle bolted to the back panel of the cabinet! Drivers made in house! They sounded....organic. They sounded ... alive. The music just poured out of the ES14s without restraint. After thirty or so unengaging sit-downs with this or that monitor, I was beginning to think it was me. Nope. And talk about growth as a person, I got my first pair of rigid and spiked stands.

As we got to know each other, I became better able to define what I liked about them. Transparency -- voices had presence; they were captivating in the way live music is. Timing -- they boogied. Slight timing discontinuity throws the whole rhythm section out of whack. The music no longer propels. Not the case here. Dynamic Ease -- as noted, the outpouring of music. Macro- and microdynamicaly unrestrained thus possessing the capability to surprise and maintaining the full-blooded texture of instruments. All without BS warmth.

The ES14s got me through a difficult breakup with a live-in girlfriend. She moved on and so did I.
Bottom line is I wanted more bass. Flirted with floorstanders as well as bookshelfs: KEF, B&W, Audio Physic, etc. The Acarian Alon IIs were making a big splash at the time. Spacious, but too diffuse sounding. Realized I’m not a dipole, bipole or omni-directional guy (though haven’t heard MBLs)-. Definition of my taste begins to clarify in this quest -- I want single-minded clarity, I want focus. Thirty or so more first impressions, and turns out as the song goes, I travelled round the world to find my lover next door.

The Epos ES25, not only cut deeper than the 14, it was also even more transparent through the middle and more dynamic. I learned the joy of a three-way here: the midrange free of having to go down low and perhaps muddying up what it’s best at. A larger volume cabinet with more driver surface area to move more air. I got how big speakers can energize the room in a way standmounts simply can’t. I also discovered the thrill of having a tube preamp in the system, the Melos SHA-Gold.

Must all good things come to an end? Another time, I can tell you an amplifier story (got you on the edge of your seat, huh?) which illustrates how the ES25s were under-appreciated speakers, even by the dealers who sold them. I will tell you now they were under-appreciated by me as I sold them, and made my first step sideways.

Even in the midst of a great relationship, men have roving eyes. I’d moved to a big new loft, was making more money and started thinking about big new speakers. And a ‘real’ multichannel system rather than the one I’d cobbled together from different brands as Epos wasn’t doing HT then.

Boring story short, I bought my first speaker system sight un-heard: Waveform Mach Solo mains, with the MC as a center and surrounds. Egg-shaped, diffraction and resonance reducing aluminum enclosure! Flat off-axis response! Fourth-order crossover for superb dynamics and power handling!

I’d read great reviews, but Waveform was a direct sales outfit only (which I’m OK with, btw). And the Solo was a new model, which made an audition impossible. And, I’d heard the active Waveform Mach 17 in a recording studio, which blew me away at the time.

Boring story short again, something was missing. They were dynamic, no question. They had a more stable image as you moved about the room than any speaker I’d encountered. They could rock my whole Lower East Side loft without compression. The surroundfield via my Proceed AVP then Lexicon MC12B processor remains unparalleled in my experience -- so seamless you were simply enveloped in music. But, but, but ...

They sounded flat. Had plenty of space to move ‘em around, optomize their positioning, and did. Got rid of the Lex. which I think was part of the problem, but still...

I knew something was wrong from the start. Took me over year to admit the mistake, then another two to rally the energy and cash to move on. Breaking up is easier said than done.

Texture and timing: lacking the former renders music bloodless, and the latter, when not spot on doesn’t get my blood pumping despite all the dynamics in the world -- the Solos missed on these.
I stand now with VMPS RM40s. (The return of ribbons! First-order slope, quasi-second order crossover!??) Looking back over my journey, patterns emerge. First, a predilection toward first order crossovers. Unlike a friend who only dates blondes, I did not seek this attribute, it found me. Second is a gravitation toward, uh, size. Big Bass! Wavelaunch!

Which, of course, brings me to my present small speaker quest ....