"price no object" component (ex/spkrs)

[gmgraves]

What wonderful instruments to learn on ...

 

Old Dog, New tricks. You get the idea!

[coot]

One of them golden gooses who lays golden eggs for components and rooms and Porches and, and, and...

[TubeLover]

Maybe this one from Nagra:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23019[/ATTACH]

 

The Nagra gear has such awesome design, construction and performance............would love an entire system if I had that kind of funding.

 

JC

[Rock Bottom]

A dedicated listening room - wrapped in a house, with a stellar view, and a pool (it's like 40/100 degrees in Cape Town today)

An Eames lounge w/foot stool (original & A+ condition please)

And the simple gear I already have...cuz all the adding and building and changing is just too much fun!

 

The good news is my dream is in play and will hopefully be complete this coming year. Well almost, I will settle for a new Eames lounge as the originals are $$$$.

[4est]

What's the difference between an original Eames and the present model? FWIW, the headrest screws up the listening experience IMO.

A dedicated listening room - wrapped in a house, with a stellar view, and a pool (it's like 40/100 degrees in Cape Town today)

An Eames lounge w/foot stool (original & A+ condition please)

And the simple gear I already have...cuz all the adding and building and changing is just too much fun!

 

The good news is my dream is in play and will hopefully be complete this coming year. Well almost, I will settle for a new Eames lounge as the originals are $$$$.

[Rock Bottom]

The difference? 5 or 6 grand I think.

[Rock Bottom]

I'm joshing 4est. Since price was no object I was imagining one with impeccable provenance.

 

BTW the headrest comment was very well received, thank you! I didn't see the obvious.

 

Cheers

[4est]

No worries. Provenance? From Royalty? lol From what I have seen, the new ones go for about the same as used older ones. They are (or at least were) made here where I live in West Michigan by Herman Miller. I think they are still built the same, but I could be wrong.

Eames Lounge and Ottoman - Lounge Chair - Herman Miller

 

I'm joshing 4est. Since price was no object I was imagining one with impeccable provenance.

 

BTW the headrest comment was very well received, thank you! I didn't see the obvious.

 

Cheers

[Rock Bottom]

Cool, yeah Herman Miller is (or is one of) the leading contract furniture manufacturer in the world and has been for what, 60 years? Maybe longer. I'm from the states and studied design so I'm a fan. With you on the price of original HM versions, especially considering used ones are readily available...but not in here in Cape Town

[Paul R]

Cool, yeah Herman Miller is (or is one of) the leading contract furniture manufacturer in the world and has been for what, 60 years? Maybe longer. I'm from the states and studied design so I'm a fan. With you on the price of original HM versions, especially considering used ones are readily available...but not in here in Cape Town

 

I am not a fan of mid 20th century modern design, but those are comfortable chairs. A poor man's alternative is the Ikea Poang chair, with the more expensive leather pads. Very comfortable, incredibly sturdy, and fits with that mid century cool look. (Actually, it is Danish modern, but who's keeping track? )

[Lee Henley]

For me it would be Audio Note UK Ongaku amplifier

[4est]

Early Arne Jacobsen was influenced by Eames, and not the other way around IIRC.

I am not a fan of mid 20th century modern design, but those are comfortable chairs. A poor man's alternative is the Ikea Poang chair, with the more expensive leather pads. Very comfortable, incredibly sturdy, and fits with that mid century cool look. (Actually, it is Danish modern, but who's keeping track? )

[Paul R]

Early Arne Jacobsen was influenced by Eames, and not the other way around IIRC.

 

Absolutely. I was talking about the Poang chair there though, which was designed by Noboru Nakamura back in the 1970s, and was a take off on the Aalto Chair 406, designed in the 1930's by the great Alvo Aalto. T

 

he Aalto Chair 406 will set you back a couple grand or more, while the Poang (originally POEM) chair will cost you only a couple hundred. I cannot help it, I am cheap. I also like the tough little chair that easily takes my weight.

 

-Paul

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto

[Blake]

I am not a fan of mid 20th century modern design, but those are comfortable chairs. A poor man's alternative is the Ikea Poang chair, with the more expensive leather pads. Very comfortable, incredibly sturdy, and fits with that mid century cool look. (Actually, it is Danish modern, but who's keeping track? )

 

I'll cut you some slack since you are not a fan mid-century modern, but that fugly cheap crap Poang chair is an alternative to the Eames chair only in the sense that is provides something to sit on.

[accwai]

For me it would be Audio Note UK Ongaku amplifier

 

You mean Gakuon? OP did say price no object right?

[Paul R]

I'll cut you some slack since you are not a fan mid-century modern, but that fugly cheap crap Poang chair is an alternative to the Eames chair only in the sense that is provides something to sit on.

 

Hah! We agree, if you swap the chairs one likes around. I like 30's styles, but not 50's and 60's.

[gmgraves]

Hah! We agree, if you swap the chairs one likes around. I like 30's styles, but not 50's and 60's.

 

 

I'd love to have a pair of Mies van Der Rohe's "Barcelona" chairs in tobacco brown in my living room along with a matching Barcelona couch! Unfortunately, the "real things" are very expensive. a Knoll brand single Barcelona chair will set you back US$8000 or more.

 

I think one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen was on the cover of "High Fidelity" magazine back in the early 1960's. It pictured a room with a thick, fine-pile light tan carpet over hardwood floors, with the aforementioned tobacco brown Barcelona chairs (with matching ottomans) and long couch grouped around a low, glass-topped coffee table. Against the facing wall was an Altec Lansing "Paragon" stereo speaker system in oiled walnut. Ever since then I've wanted something similar (well maybe not the Paragon for SQ, although it couldn't be beat for looks) but "life" has always gotten in the way of that particular dream. Sigh!

[Paul R]

I'd love to have a pair of Mies van Der Rohe's "Barcelona" chairs in tobacco brown in my living room along with a matching Barcelona couch! Unfortunately, the "real things" are very expensive. a Knoll brand single Barcelona chair will set you back US$8000 or more.

 

I think one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen was on the cover of "High Fidelity" magazine back in the early 1960's. It pictured a room with a thick, fine-pile light tan carpet over hardwood floors, with the aforementioned tobacco brown Barcelona chairs (with matching ottomans) and long couch grouped around a low, glass-topped coffee table. Against the facing wall was an Altec Lansing "Paragon" stereo speaker system in oiled walnut. Ever since then I've wanted something similar (well maybe not the Paragon for SQ, although it couldn't be beat for looks) but "life" has always gotten in the way of that particular dream. Sigh!

 

Boy Howdy you can say that again!

 

Those are the "X" chairs right, with the buttoned leather upholstery? The do look exceeding cool and comfortable though. Never seen one in the tobacco leather though.

 

I like his Brno chairs with the flat metal best though. Utterly modern and timeless

style.

[gmgraves]

Boy Howdy you can say that again!

 

Those are the "X" chairs right, with the buttoned leather upholstery? The do look exceeding cool and comfortable though. Never seen one in the tobacco leather though.

 

I like his Brno chairs with the flat metal best though. Utterly modern and timeless

style.

 

 

Here's a tobacco brown one:

 

 

It still looks so fresh and modern, that it's hard to believe that Van Der Rohe debuted the chair in the German pavilion at the Barcelona International Design Exposition in 1929!

 

Yes, the BRNO chair is also a classic and timeless "Art Decco" design as well, but it's more of a chair for a table or desk than it is a lounge chair (IMHO, at least).

 

George

[4est]

Knoll? Another West Michigan firm! Btw, it is JBL Paragon, and not Altec Lansing...

I'd love to have a pair of Mies van Der Rohe's "Barcelona" chairs in tobacco brown in my living room along with a matching Barcelona couch! Unfortunately, the "real things" are very expensive. a Knoll brand single Barcelona chair will set you back US$8000 or more.

 

I think one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen was on the cover of "High Fidelity" magazine back in the early 1960's. It pictured a room with a thick, fine-pile light tan carpet over hardwood floors, with the aforementioned tobacco brown Barcelona chairs (with matching ottomans) and long couch grouped around a low, glass-topped coffee table. Against the facing wall was an Altec Lansing "Paragon" stereo speaker system in oiled walnut. Ever since then I've wanted something similar (well maybe not the Paragon for SQ, although it couldn't be beat for looks) but "life" has always gotten in the way of that particular dream. Sigh!

[skyline]

Ah the quest for the holy grail component continues . .

 

I take the systematic approach so I would go for a

 

1) state of the art isolation rack (which I already have)

 

2) top of the line grounding box (Entreq Olympus or Poseidon)

 

These 2 essential building blocks will help you realize the potential of the components you already have, and that potential is way higher than you imagine.

[gmgraves]

Knoll? Another West Michigan firm! Btw, it is JBL Paragon, and not Altec Lansing...

 

 

Yes, My bad. It is indeed James B. Lansing rather than Altec Lansing. Beautiful piece of furniture, irrespective of which Lansing company made it. I haven't heard one since the early sixties, and I wasn't really impressed with the sound at that time. Of course, my tastes have certainly changed since then, and I really would like to hear one again.

[4est]

Please excuse the pedantics, it just sounds wrong to hear as Altec - same man, different company. The chair and speaker would make stunning combo!

Yes, My bad. It is indeed James B. Lansing rather than Altec Lansing. Beautiful piece of furniture, irrespective of which Lansing company made it. I haven't heard one since the early sixties, and I wasn't really impressed with the sound at that time. Of course, my tastes have certainly changed since then, and I really would like to hear one again.

[gmgraves]

Please excuse the pedantics, it just sounds wrong to hear as Altec - same man, different company. The chair and speaker would make stunning combo!

 

In their day, the Paragon was the most expensive speaker on the market. IIRC, they were like US$1800 in 1960 and each took over 100 hours of hand finishing to complete. From 1957 to 1983 when production ended, only about 1000 have ever been made!

 

 

Simply gorgeous in oiled walnut!

[astrotoy]

A Bösendorfer 170 and a Martin D-45. ;-)

 

We were very fortunate in being able to buy our Boesendorfer 225 thirty years ago. In 1985 the US dollar was the strongest it has ever been, before or after, and for comparison the GBP was about $1.10 and the French franc was 9 to a dollar. We (my wife) picked out our 225 in Vienna at the factory finishing shop where they did the final voicing of all their pianos (and where she had the choice of four different 225's to choose from.) They had given us a tour of the factory the day before in Weiner Neustadt, south of Vienna (the Vienna New City which was about 1000 years old). We found that the Paris dealer gave us the best deal, so we paid in French Francs. They trucked the piano from Vienna to Paris and then flew it to LA, where it was trucked to our home in the SF Bay area. Total cost including shipping was $24,000 US. I believe the US price at the time was about $60K. The 225 has 4 extra keys - 92 instead of 88. The biggest models, the 290 (and I think the 275) have 97 keys. All the extra keys are at the bottom of the keyboard and there are a few pieces that have been written for the extra keys. The model numbers indicate the size of piano (metric length - so the 225 is 2.25 meters long (7' 4" ) while the 170 is 1.7m long (5'7", the size of a Steinway M). Our 225 is called a "Halbkonzert", half concert, and is often used in smaller concert halls, with the full concert grands, the 290 is 9' 6" are used in big concert halls. A 170 fits nicely in most living rooms.

 

Larry

 

PS. There are other great pianos - Hamburg Steinway and Fazioli are two. My wife particularly is enamored of the sound of the Boesendorfer and I have been playing quite a bit recently, a great sound and great touch.