Last I heard Flem’s speakers were $130,000 the pair. I could neither afford them nor consider making anything that expensive. Just not in my blood.
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I think Gryphon Pen’s retail for even more in oz, because of the loading that apply.
I could never justify them either. Have heard the Pendragon’s, gorgeous. No need to speak afterwards. Recalling the music and awe-struck, wondering whether I could have told the difference from the singer being there.
It was a favour (“have a listen”) by the place where I bought my decidedly cheaper (and bought 2nd hand) speakers.
Think I’ll look into the fabulously priced ELAC and/or LS50 Wireless Active for more speakers throughout the home and get ready to dispose of the Salon2’s in anticipation of nothing at all or AN1 or AN2 for a ten year main listening room solution.
Any idea how much more than US$18k the 7 footers might be ?
The big 7 footers? A lot more. Here we’ve gone from two 12s and 700 watts for the sub section to six 12s and 2100 watts - three times more drivers on the front baffle, etc., etc. It’s the full magilla.
Guessing $50K the pair but right now it’s only a WAG.
Thanks for the broad indication.
That’s a lot. Of money, too. And a lot less money compared to comparable new equipment. When new, the big Gryphon’s run something like AU$350k, but the seconds were going for far less (and they’ve sold).
So, the AN7’s (the 7 footers ?) are tremendous value for those who would. But I might hold onto the Salon2’s for a bit longer.
Super impressive project.
The 7 Footers, the new aspirational speakers, but now 1/2 to 1/4 the price.
Hope I own a set of something that performs just like these one day, along with the purpose built room to go with it.
Good luck with the project.
Green Machine said I think Gryphon Pen's retail for even more in oz, because of the loading that apply.I could never justify them either. Have heard the Pendragon’s, gorgeous. No need to speak afterwards. Recalling the music and awe-struck, wondering whether I could have told the difference from the singer being there.
It was a favour (“have a listen”) by the place where I bought my decidedly cheaper (and bought 2nd hand) speakers.
Think I’ll look into the fabulously priced ELAC and/or LS50 Wireless Active for more speakers throughout the home and get ready to dispose of the Salon2’s in anticipation of nothing at all or AN1 or AN2 for a ten year main listening room solution.
Any idea how much more than US$18k the 7 footers might be ?
At the minimum the cost is going to be exchange rate+international markups. I guess anywhere between 30%-60% more expensive in Oz.
Not necessarily 30%-60% more expensive. PS Audio pricing in Australia is close to MSRP price in the US. Magico price in Australia same as US. Distributors of some brands in Australia try to keep close to parity, others slap on a much more generous mark-up.
If the new PS Audio speaker is $18K MSRP in the US, I suspect the street price in Australia will be close to $24k-ish AUD, especially if they travel via sea. Airfreight would bump up the price by another $1k-ish.
New hi-end speaker retail is a tough market. Customers upgrade their projectors, DAC’s, processors and other electronics more frequently than they upgrade their speakers. For me, parting with Magico to change to PS Audio speaker will be a tough decision to contemplate. New speakers are even worse than new cars. Drive them off the show room floor and immediately take about a 40% hit to get their used market price, which for me means I tend to not upgrade speakers very often (I’ve upgraded 3 times in past 10 years).
brodricj said Not necessarily 30%-60% more expensive. PS Audio pricing in Australia is close to MSRP price in the US. Magico price in Australia same as US. Distributors of some brands in Australia try to keep close to parity, others slap on a much more generous mark-up.If the new PS Audio speaker is $18K MSRP in the US, I suspect the street price in Australia will be close to $24k-ish AUD, especially if they travel via sea. Airfreight would bump up the price by another $1k-ish.
New hi-end speaker retail is a tough market. Customers upgrade their projectors, DAC’s, processors and other electronics more frequently than they upgrade their speakers. For me, parting with Magico to change to PS Audio speaker will be a tough decision to contemplate. New speakers are even worse than new cars. Drive them off the show room floor and immediately take about a 40% hit to get their used market price, which for me means I tend to not upgrade speakers very often (I’ve upgraded 3 times in past 10 years).
@brodricj it depends… different models have different mark-ups between RRP in Oz and USD RSRP converted to AUD. I just compared the current pricing and after conversion from USD MSRP (1.3) to AUD the difference in pricing ranges from +14% to +35%. I predict your predicted amount is too low and mine too high. It is all fun and speculation until it happens.
Whatever the conversion rates to AUD (and couldn’t we just base that off the comparable process for other PS Audio gear ?), Paul has been kind enough to indicate the price of the AN1 & AN2’s (or AN5’s and AN7’s - since I have no idea which is 1 or 2).
AN5 - roughly US$18k
AN7 - WAG (presume Wild … Guess) US$50k.
In the case of the BHK 300’s, US$15k => AUD$22.8k or roughly 1.52 times.
If the AN5’s come in at AUD$27k RRP, much less than a bunch of others (B&W’s, Kharma, and so on).
If the AN7’s come in at anything like AU$75k RRP, and beat the ISRV’s in performance, I wonder both how I would justify:
- buying them
AND
- not buying them…
It’s a hell of a lot of money, but it may be a complete one-off opportunity to pick up a speaker like that.
Independent confirmation of performance by reviews / Music Room 1&2 comparisons / etc all necessary, and
there are a bunch of cheaper, active speakers coming onto the market that might make a lot of sense. ELAC, LS50 Active Wireless
But, what might be better at each price point ? I don’t see anything that would compare to successful designs of true full range speakers at each price point.
Looking at the calendar, I see that the 2017 RMAF is Oct. 6-8, 2017. Can’t help but wonder if that might be an auspicious debut venue for the AN1.
LOL!Paul McGowan said
PAUL in room one are the IRS set up symmetrical or asymmetrical ?
In improving them .
the two places I can think are for one speed while keeping the same tonal and note Thickness.
Second would be a coherence of tones accross the mids and tweeters. This would improve clarity even more.
There is a speaker that uses and folded ribbon.
THe same company makes headphones that angle off your head a bit. Amazing sounds
and all the best of luck in sales
They are symmetrical but the room is not, thus I get the best of both worlds.
Folded ribbons, or AMTs are cool. We’ll be using them in our own speaker next year.
Paul, looking forward to the speakers! I am waiting to purchase new ones until I see the offering from PSA.
For those interested in our progress, here’s a new set of cartoons for the AN-1, the big dog. This beast is 7.5’ tall and likely will weigh in at around 500 pounds. 6 12" woofers per side with a 3,000 Watt servo amplifier for the woofers. They’ll be efficient too, probably 4 Ohms and able to be easily driven with tube or solid state amps of one hundred Watts or so. If they turn out as we expect, I will be replacing the IRSV in Music Room One with these beasts.
Probably cost on the order of $50K a pair, so not for most people and we will likely limit production quantities to one or two a month. There will be lower cost, smaller derivatives of this bad boy, but this will be the gold standard. The front separate baffle you see for the midrange tweeter line source will be milled from solid aluminum. The woofer cabinet is inch and a half wood, heavily braced (which makes sense since the amount of pressure inside will be enormous.
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Extremely cool, but beyond my budget. As is the new house with a big enough listening room. Looking forward to hearing about the smaller siblings!
I am sure they are beyond most people’s budgets but, there will be those few who want to experience the best speaker in the world and can manage it. There won’t be anything even close. Hard to get economies of scale at one or two pair a month max.
Hard to get economies of scale at one or two pair a month max.
Very, very cool.
Paul McGowan saidThis would be a tough market to break in to. There would be those like me who would buy simply out of brand loyalty, but many would want to hear them in a dealer show room before buying. And there is the difficulty, dealers keeping $50k speakers on the floor to demo are few and far between.Probably cost on the order of $50K a pair, so not for most people and we will likely limit production quantities to one or two a month…