General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

I noted that the ATC 100 comes in a few flavors

SCM100ASL Pro
SCM100ASL
SCM100ASLT

The specs are identical.
Do these speakers sound exactly the same? Maybe there is slight differences due to the stand, additional cabinet volume, ground coupling, weight?

Has anyone compared them directly?

 

what are some good $500 powered bookshelves for using at parties at stuff? Just look for the biggest I can get from a decent brand? Sister needs a recommendation to buy some speakers for her club at college for events.

 

In general, ATCs are going to sound very similar, and all in the family even moreso.
To my understanding, "pro" for ATC just means it's an all black cabinet. Anything with a "T" suffix is the tower. The numbers are the volume of the cabinet, so a T version shouldn't have any more than a non-T version.

That all said, there are some small differences that have snuck into their cabinet design over the years, and some driver changes too, and it's tough to know what's what. If you really dig, some people claim to prefer older, while you'll find just as many claiming the opposite.

At the end of the day, if that's the size you're willing to go with, then grab whichever one has the best sale and don't worry about the rest.

 

Maybe someone else will have a better response, but at that sort of price-point and based on that description? "Yes"?

I have a pair of Klipsch R-15PM's wall mounted outside, under the cover of my sunroom (for protection from the rain), and aimed out over my back patio. I have them hooked up to a chromecast audio so I don't have to rely on crummy bluetooth and can instead stream to them over WiFi (I primarily use Roon with my own FLAC File Library integrated with my Qobuz subscription, but CCA will also play nice with something as simple as my Google Play Music subscription or my Plex Media Server, both of which cost a lot less to use). I believe they've since released a newer version of that speaker, the "R-51PM" (flipped the numbers; who knows why). I don't have much input or perspective on what's different/better about the newer model. I didn't want to over-invest in speakers that I was just using as background music oustide on the patio (for party's or family gatherings, while I"m grilling, etc). I also looked at the Aperion All-Aire's for this same application. FWIW.

This all comes down to background and perspective. I have no idea what kind of other gear or speakers you have or what kind of sound you are used to or prefer. If you have have access to some really high-end stuff (that usually costs way more than $500, at least new), then you will see/hear the flaws in this kind of system. If, however, what you've become accustomed to is the kind of $50 mono plastic bluetooth speaker than you can find on the shelf at your local Target/Wal-Mart/Best Buy... then something like this will impress and I think you will be quite pleased with the purchase.

 

I'm moving away headphones to just IEMs and desktop speakers and was wondering if people had some recommendations for desktop speakers in the $300-$600 range?

I'm looking for something great for vocals and R&B and wont be terrible a little close to the wall, last speaker I really enjoyed was the ELAC B5s if that helps, I also already have a pair of JBL studio 230s for HT so not really interested in lsr305s.

 

Vanatoos or KRK Rokit 5 G4 on stands.

 

@shanchandi The VXT series of the KRK are a step up from the Rokit, and sound great. You can buy a pair with the 6" drivers for around $400, or the 8" drivers for $600 if you search around 2nd hand.

 

Id stay away from the chinese KRK, JBL, budget speakers.
on a budget, new, nothing can even come close to a good diy speaker kit

the continuum kit is a great sounding speaker for 400$. just need to build the cabs.
https://meniscusaudio.com/product/continuum-ii-full-kit-pair/


the other option is to look at 10-15 years old used speaker from the likes of dynaudio which used great drivers.

Just on CAM, here's a couple of decent deals:
https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649530795-spendor-s35se-bookshelf-speaker-in-light-cherry/
https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649554406-focal-cms-50/

the focal cms 50 are great. I used to own those speakers. for 650$, impossible to beat in the active world

BTW, I think kef ls50 used are starting to show at around 600$ USD. good no risk choice

 

The Adam A7X and KRK V6S4 smoke the living shit out of diy designs with homebuilt cabs and Internet rando crossovers like the Spanish Inquisition up close. The Quested S series and passive H108 (Ns10 type mid peak on this) are also great and you won’t be able to easily clone them or afford the quality power amps in them at anywhere close to the price.

Focal is distorted Lofi crap, good clear amps are expensive or require repair skills, and all of those old used Dyns are defective due to knockoff Chinese relays (since replaced in the parts post TC Electronics, who sent their pro monitors down the toilet) and will die. If you have repair skills, you can recap, refuse, and put new relays on a broken pair of BM6a or 15a with intact drivers and hexfets (you can even replace these and rebias) but everyone else is better off buying them new.

The LS50 are dog shit.

 

Living up to your title oh so well!

 

what diy speaker kit you ever compared to the Adam a7x or KRK? my guess is none.
Diy cabinet made of birch plywood is miles better then the cheap shit mdf cabs from Adam or KRK or any budget active chinese crap you keep on recommending.

the guy has a 600$ budget. the A7x are quite a bit more, the focal cms50 are decent for the price. I dont follow the hate for focal. Ive compared A7x to CMS 65 and I dont find either one clearly better then the other.

ls50 are indeed lacking in many ways, but again, the guy has 600$ budget.

Personally, ive disliked every active speaker ive ever owned. I would always recommend passive over active speakers. My recommendation are indeed not to buy 10 years old active speakers, only passive if that wasnt clear @shanchandi

 

If they don't sell it at guitar center...

 

@murphythecat There is a reason most companies continue to use MDF cabinets, it sounds better, as long as it's properly braced. Pretty much nobody in pro audio or hifi cares about birch plywood.. The only people arguing for birch are DIY budget objectivists who probably only think it sounds better because it costs more or because they've never compared it to a properly braced mdf cabinet.
I've compared several DIY cabs to a7x and the bigger KRK I think unless you really know what you're doing with DIY, you will struggle to get anywhere close to the performance of these cheap pro audio speakers.
As far as hating on all active speaker, the jbl 705p or 708, or atc100 + active series would probably change your mind.

 

That's crap. Most companies use MDF because it's cheap and does the job well enough. Birch plywood is a superior product in pretty much all applications, whether audio or kitchen cabinets, any half decent wood worker will tell you as much. High quality plywood is much tougher than MDF and will last longer too, it's just more expensive. Ultimately the material used wont make a damn difference in sound quality as long as its properly braced.

 

My Klipsch speakers, from their Professional line, are birch plywood. The motorboards are still MDF, but even then it's a higher quality 1" MDF and not the super cheap stuff that you find in most of the pro audio world.

Companies that care about their products and their performance use better quality components when it makes sense.

 

There is an endless discussion about this on DIY forums. I'm in the camp that MDF sounds better. There is science behind it with MDF being a more consistent density etc. Not just price motivation.. do you REALLY think that JBL uses MDF in there high end synthesis line because it's cheaper?

Who cares what you use to make Cabinetry or kitchen tops out of?? How is that relevant to the acoustic properties of a speaker cabinet?

 

The big Klipsch forte I heard has a lot of cabinet resonance due to poor bracing.

 

The early 80s through the mid 90s was a horrible time to be a large speaker manufacture. Margins were slim and corners were cut. Most manufactures either returned to making quality products in the late 90s or doubled down on crap and now make nothing.

 

im pretty sure the reason mdf is being used is due to being cheaper and lighter. there's no doubt that birch plywood is more solid and likely better performance.
Many companies use birch plywood over mdf.

but that was not my point. I was answering to the nonsensical comment from psalm about diy cabinets. diyer cabinets are easily as good or better then commercial speakers.

 

Yeah Xec if any expensive, well designed hifi speaker uses special wood over MDF, it’s a veneer for WAF. WAGs don’t like massive black painted mdf boxes (ATC, Quested, big Genelecs, and good pro Dyns) in their living rooms. Thick enough MDF, bitumen damping, acoustic foam, and wadding. There's no way around it for the thin chinesium or wood speakers.

Focal are a distorted lofi mess. The drivers and speakers are incredibly inconsistent. The woofers vary incredibly and can be massively distorted, tight, or sound very off. The metal tweeters have major resonances and no damping. The Focal CMS line sounds boring because it’s massively distorted. They remind me of an old KRK Rokit with a nastier tweeter and beefier plate amp. They’re horrific and do nothing well. Unit to unit variation is massive and might as well be a different speaker.

Most hi-fi bookshelves suck far away and suck up close. They are not suited to be placed three feet from your face and fall apart further back. LS50 are godfucking awful, boxy, nasty, thin uneven trash. I’d rather stick a later version ns10 on a desk. The HS5 with muddying desk reflections or placed near a wall sounds more natural. But you can buy cheap speakers that don’t suck designed to be placed three feet from your face. The JBL LSR 305 doesn’t suck. The KRK Rokit 5 G4 does not suck. You can get stands for cheap or free in package deals from dealers. Just search or ask. The Vanatoos do not suck and can be placed on a desk. Even the iLouds don’t suck below 80db.

Active speakers are just better. The very expensive ones do not compromise on any components to execute the design and you pay for it. ATC and Quested have crazy good plate amps. Quested's are just straight up rebranded MC2, who used to own Quested, class AB power amps. Dyn uses 500 W Pascal modules in the Cores and the BM uses Hexfet Mosfet amps. To get a comparable amp for passives is more money and will be worse.