General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

Local dealer, might work well pushed back against the rear wall. Plenty of ability to mod. Maybe see if IQ will do a deposit for audition?

And don't forget about these. I don't recall if anyone here paired the A26s with Aegir solo.

 

Yeah certainly audition those Klipsch if they’re interesting at all. Not sure that they’re known for necessarily for imaging, more for dynamics. Plus at a close seating distance, the stage will likely sound low to the ground (unless you’re willing to lift off the ground). Fantastic deal though if you like what the Heresy’s do.

 

Probably too small for your but I just picked up some Dynaudio Evoke 20s and I like them a lot. Decent bass for a bookshelf, they do some very nice things. My first Dynaudio experience and I find them smooth, detailed and just very pleasurable to listen for a long time. The associated equipment is an Audiolab 6000 CDT transport, a Gungnier Multibit, Raggy 2 alternating with a Muzishare X7 tube integrated. Kimber and Audience cables. They retail for $2200 but I found an open box for $1750. I'd rather have another finish but not for another $450. Good luck.
Maybe a pair of Evoke 10s with a couple reasonably priced subs could work. Should Trim out at about $2200-2300. Good luck.

 

Hey there folks. I'm looking to get into the 2-channel game, and I'm wondering what pair of active nearfield monitors I should invest in. I have roughly 1500 dollars to spend for speakers, though of course, I'm more than happy to spend less than that. I'll be running them from my Bifrost 2 - I'll likely get a Schiit preamp down the line. My room is pretty small.

As far as tonality goes, I'm looking for something similar to the JAR HD600...upper-mids slightly emphasized, with some upper treble rolloff and a slight mid-bass bump. Slightly scooped lower-mids is fine too.

Generally speaking, this is my list of what is most important to least:

1. Timbre
2. Tonality
3. Microdynamics/Texture
4. Macrodynamics/Bass Impact
5. Staging/Imaging
6. Detail/Resolution

So far, I've been looking into the following speakers, from both recommendations here and on gearslutz:

-Hedd Type 007 (A little expensive, but I can stretch)
-Klasik 2020 (I save $500!)
-Genelec 8030
-Dynaudio BM6A

I would appreciate any further suggestions/recommendations, as well as information about the speakers I've been looking into! Thanks everyone.

 

Also check out the Nearfields for audiophile listening thread. What setup are you planning, e.g. at a computer desk or stand mounted, and what type of music?

 

Yes, I have been reading through that thread! Great resource.

I'm planning to have my speakers stand mounted. I'll be listening to Classic Rock, Classical, Contemporary Indie-Rock, folk, singer song-writer, and progressive rock, as well as a good amount of acoustic music.

 

Long-time member, still shit pants when making a post in a forum - haha!

Anyway, I just purchased a Schiit Vidar (had a Marantz PM8006 on order, but canceled today). All my gear (in sig, I think) is fed into Freya, which, in turn, will feed the Vidar.

1. I'm looking to update my speakers (currently use Polk Audio RT25i) in the near future. I'd like to hear suggestions for speakers that would work well with Vidar. I prefer stuff that can be purchased online from places like Music Direct or Crutchfield, but I can do boutique stuff too - e.g. Tekton Design has some stuff to die for. Right now, my listening environment is as follows: speakers are about 6' from wall (no choice), and they are about 6-6.5' from each other (cone to cone). Listening spot is about 6' from each speaker - kind of a equilateral triangle with sides 6-6.5'. I also have a subwoofer that I like. It is a Klipsch Reference R-110SW.

**At some point (1 year from now, 10 years from now... who knows?) I will be in a situation with a more traditional set-up - speakers could butt-ass up against walls if I wanted, could go 7' to 8' on the legs of the equilateral triangle. I want speakers that work now, but won't be ass if I can expand my space - IS THIS POSSIBLE?

2. To feed the sub in my future configuration, I'd just take SE Out from Freya and connect to subwoofer, correct?

I'm dying for the Vidar to show up, but Schiit is backordered, so I won't see it shipped until 1/15/21 at the best (yes, I almost typed "1/15/20").

Thanks for feedback and comments.

 

1. What are you budget and size requirements/limitations?

2. Yes you can take the SE out from Freya into that sub.

 

I'd like to keep it <$2,000/pair.

I can do floor standers if they aren't gargantuan. Tekton Design Dragonfly is about as big as I'd go: Height 50 x Width 10" x Depth 13".

The bigger they are, the more questions I have to field from my wife, so there is that...

I'd lean towards bookshelf speakers unless the floor standers give me the option of not needing a sub. That would be interesting.

 

I was looking at the Wharfedale Linton speakers for a while before going with JBL 4312g (which are big, need a sub and probably wouldn’t pass muster as a living room speaker unless you like industrial looking design).

https://www.musicdirect.com/speaker...th-Anniversary-Bookshelf-Speakers-with-Stands

If they don’t need freight shipping or you are close to a dealer you can audition them reasonably, and they’re pretty well reviewed if you check google or youtube. If you already have stands you can save $300 but they’re relatively big and heavy so you’ll want beefy ones and these are nice enough to have some WAF.

 

How high do the stands have to be for those 4312? I was taking a look at the 4307 - FWIW, both models have really come down in price. Not sure if that is permanent or just a holiday hangover.

 

Stands on the 4312 depend on orientation, some people prefer them arranged horizontally. I have mine vertical on 24” stands. Be sure to read @JK47’s thread where he compared the 4312 vs 4307 here:

https://superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/jbl-monitor-4307-vs-4312g-beatdown.8990/

The $1750 price seems pretty standard but unless you can buy them up locally they’ll need to ship freight (another $75 from MusicDirect) which wasn’t included in the free shipping policy and means a much higher cost if you want to return them (supposedly $200). It took a good month for them to really open up, they’re still not bass monsters by any stretch but it’s enough I don’t usually use my sub.

 

The Vidar's binding posts look like they take banana plugs. Am I correct? I read the manual, but couldn't find anything specific...

 

Where's @Psalmanazar?

 

you have no idea what you want and a colored as hell source chain that you should keep anyway and get a cheap passive pot for now. These are all meant to be 1-2 m from your face on axis.

You can’t afford anything better than the APS Klasik or Hedd 07, which are still good enough to reveal the flaws of your source chain despite the cheap plate amps. BM6A is totally inoffensive good but not great 90s design for 2000 bucks. You can get the great 90s stuff for only a little more. BM6A costs more than ATC SCM 12, which is ridiculous.

Id go APS because it’s cheaper but you have to pick your poison: Seas drivers and aluminum crunch vs AMT sear. Except for the Genelecs, these are all decent speakers. The other 3 are 100x better than any Sennheiser. You can’t even compare them. The Sennheisers are defective and you’ll never use them again.

passives are better until you hit 5k a pair type price points but you can’t afford the great stuff or even good stuff with a good amp unless you score one of the 80s and 90s amp that can easily be modded or restored for a few hundred dollars by a good experienced tech armed with an audio analyzer. I mean a real tech, not your dumb ass guitar or hifi repair shop.

 

^ i like that this is what passes for advice around here LOL

 

The truth hurts

 

Well, I really expected nothing less from Psalm. Was it perhaps a bit caustic for no reason in particular? Certainly. But was it nonetheless helpful and insightful? Yep!

 

He did it without swearing or referencing genitalia. That's quite tame by his standards all things considered.

 

A question for @Psalmanazar or maybe anyone that could chime in: Would you still recommend KRK V6/V8 S4, and to be more specific, with Bifrost 2? Do you feel KRKs belong in the same tier as the speakers that @dematted mentioned?

I'm in the market for nearfield speakers with (surprisingly) the same preferences as @dematted, and KRK is one of the few brands that are readily available here. HEDD Type 07 was what I wanted as well until I saw that the shipping cost and tax almost double the price of the speakers...