Welcome back! (Forum).(Letter to the Editor)

I left New York in January of 1980. Before leaving, I sold about 600 LPs--mostly jazz--and my audio system, except for a pair of Rogers LS 3/5As, and a Hailer DH-220. I set out for San Francisco where I settled and lived as a lapsed audiophile with a secondhand clock radio for music.

Time passed. And one day I found a copy of The $ensible Sound #50. I read it from cover to cover; borrowed a friend's cassette deck with an output gain control, unpacked my amp and speakers, listened to this system for 15 minutes and the prodigal returned.

A glance at my inventory of entertainment gear tells how profound an influence your magazine has had on subsequent equipment purchase decisions. A Denon TU-680 pulls in FM with the aid of a Radio Shack indoor antenna. A Marantz 63 Mk II spins CDs for me. A Linn Sondek LP12 with an unidentifiable arm and Van Alstine Longhorn cartridge, mostly, collects dust. I have an Audio by Van Alstine Super Pas 4i preamp, my old Hafler power amp, a Kenwood CT-203 dual well cassette deck, a pair of Grado SR225s and a pair of Legacy Signature IIIs. An Apex AD-600A and a Sony SLV-660 HF feed images to a Sharp 32N S350 and an audio signal to the preamp. The Rogers, which function as well as they ever did, sit on a shelf while I decide what to do with them.

This stuff (some purchased new, some second-hand) is held together with Radio Shack interconnects and ten feet per side of Audioquest F-14. I am extremely happy with my $ensible $ystem but it's the Sig IIIs, which you never reviewed, that prompted this letter.

Some two and a half years ago, after reading your rhapsodic reviews of the Focus and Classic Legacy models, I visited Legacy's Oakland audition site. I listened to the Focus, Signature III, Classic and Studio models. I decided a pair of Focuses would be too large and too expensive for the relatively modest improvement they offered over the Signatures and Classics. Although, I felt that I would be able to live with a pair of Sig IIIs happily ever after; I decided to, someday, own a more affordable pair of Classics. And the Studios, though superior to the Rogers, didn't offer enough of an improvement to warrant consideration.

Fast forward to January 2000. We've just bought a new home in Oakland and started refurbishing and furnishing it. I've been telling my wife I plan on purchasing a pair of Classics. Even, took her to audition them with me, once. Gentlemen note: Significant Others who see absolutely nothing impractical about you purchasing them a $4,000 diamond ring will consider your decision to purchase yourself a $4,000 pair of speakers incredibly bizarre; they must be gradually acclimated to the idea. Be forewarned.

I call Legacy Audio and speak to a salesperson named Beth. Tell her I want ...