General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

On stands, the actual space requirements of most "bookshelf" speakers end up close to that of floorstanders.

 

One of the most annoying problem with bookshelf speakers is that even they are small, they require much higher power to sound properly. Most bookshelfs have "real" sensitivity below 85dB, I means real sensitivity, not the sensitivity in advertisement. You can go to stereophile, and see the sensitivity measurement of speakers, most manufactures overrate the sensitivity of their speakers by at least 2dB, and 2dB in power means that you need 1.5x power. Not to mention that because most manufactures want their speaker to go deep, they overstress their woofer, and it sucks even more power. Power of amplifier right now is cheap with advances of class D, but quality power is not cheap at all. So when a customer buys bookshelf speakers, it requires them pay more for amplifier.

 

Klipsch Heresy speakers are technically a bookshelf speaker, admittedly a pretty big one. Stands for them are pretty easy to make. I wouldn't shy away from a pair of Klipsch Heresy II if you can find a pair in good condition locally. at 96dB efficient, an Aegir will not only power them well, but has enough extra if you want to piss of the neighbors.

 

Heresys are awesome but let's not forget they're also like 3.6k euros and not far from marv's jbls in size

 

Heresys? They’re only little guys about 2’ tall. And I hope they’re not that expensive in euros. You may be thinking the Forte?

 

Oh yeah! So I was.

605mm by 394 by 305 is still large if your space is constrained enough you're looking at bookshelves though. Our scms are large but this is over twice the volume. I just checked and I couldn't fit them, they too tall.

 

My response was mainly to @ChaChaRealSmooth who asked about bookshelf speakers and is in the US. A used pair of Heresy IIs often go for around $600-$700 where I live, sometimes cheaper.

 

Hi all,

Need some advice to potentially pair up a sub with Dynaudio Focus 260 speakers in a 2.1 config. My current chain is: Schiit Eitr --> DAC --> Tube preamp --> Freya in passive mode for remote volume control --> Vidar --> Focus 260s

I am looking at adding a Vandersteen Sub 3 (I welcome other recommendations, especially cheaper solutions here) and am interested in going with an active crossover/high pass filter that would allow lower frequencies to be handled by the sub and leave the rest of the band to the Vidar.

I know next to nothing about xover/HPFs but have been reading up some and would appreciate your thoughts on what would work best / other possible solutions / or whether this is even needed considering my gear/setup. The Dynaudios while great are somewhat lacking in the low end, and I think a sub would fix that nicely.

 

A sub that takes speaker-level inputs usually does that for you, provided you then hook the speakers to its speaker out taps.

The other way is to have a good analog crossover (expensive) or do the crossover digitally (requires 2 DACs and preamps) or build your own external xover.

 

Ok great, that makes things easier/cheaper if the sub is going to handle this in that way. Thanks for your input!

 

If you’re talking about actually offloading the low frequencies from your main speakers, I don’t believe the Vandersteen will do this. It only has speaker terminal inputs, but no outputs, at least not according to the website. You’d need something with speakers terminal outs that includes a high pass filter.

Or as @Taverius said, put a separate digital or analog crossover in your chain.

 

Thanks for checking. I am not dead set on the Vandersteen necessarily, so I'll ponder whether to go maybe with a pricier SVS that includes a HPF or something like the Vandersteen and build a crossover.

 

I noticed that even premium headphones use plastic drivers, but I haven't really seen speaker drivers like this. Any particular reason why? I've seen other materials crossover (planar tweeters, estat, aluminum, beryllium, etc) but no plastic unless it's a cheap speaker.

Edit: (Answering my own question) Actually I think some compression drivers might use plastic diaphragms

 

I have seen some AudioNote speakers that looked to have plastic drivers but I have always hesitated to touch other's cones.

 

Depends what you call "plastic". Some of the best drivers are from polypropylene/mineral sandwich.

 

Particularly what's used for the HD 600/650/800. I feel like it's some kind of PET

 

Lots of drivers are made out of synthetic organic polymers. Nomex, Kevlar, polyesters, polymer foams and polypropylene.
These, save for polyesters, usually are composites. Nomex/Kevlar fibers in a resin or covering strong foam, like Rohacell, making a sandwitch structure. Carbon fiber cones and the new fotm graphene drivers are simply those pieces mixed in a resin or attached on some substrate, which in sum could be still called composite plastic, most cases.

I wouldn't call these 'sandwich', these afaik are not layered, just granules randomly mixed into the molten stuff.

 

Main reason you don't see pure, naked plastic drivers in speaker land, unlike headphones, is that stuff responds to the incidental UV exposure speaker drivers get by cracking.

You have to mix it or layer it or anyway protect it somehow.

 

I heard Klipsch RP-6000F floorstanders today driven by the Musical Fidelity M2si. Lovely pairing - with the smooth, sparking highs and the well balanced and controlled low end of the MF refining the immediately engaging and lively presentation of the Klipsch speakers. I normally prefer richer mids but what I heard was closer to neutral than a V signature.

What’s the consensus here on the Klipsch RP range and Musical Fidelity amps? I was impressed by what I heard but unsure of the bang for buck the system presented.