General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by shotgunshane, Mar 7, 2017.

  1. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Don't you have really heavy stands?

    WAF? I too like my speakers to look good. Light oak is my preference.

    The competition here is not between stand mounts and room dominators: the 15"-woofer guys, or the men with big horns, are not going to consider standmounts as suitable speakers anyway. I'm not talking massive cabinets, just floormounts that occupy about the same footprint, but look nicer and probably give more audio per buck.

    On consideration, though, I might go stand mount for the same reason as @GuySmiley'sMonkey. If I had set my heart on ATC, for instance, it might be the only practical way of getting ATC. And the sound payback might be enough.

     
  2. santoshmanivannan

    santoshmanivannan New

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    I have been reading various threads on SBAF for the past few weeks, and I'm currently at the point of paralysis by analysis. I'm looking to get into powered monitors for a while but

    I'm in the market for a pair of active speakers at around USD 1000-1200. Where I live, it's not easy to find the usual brands (except for KRK, Yamaha, some Focal models, some Tannoy models, Genelecs and some Dyn models). Also finding gear to audition isn't easy, only exception being for high-end speakers and components.

    I'm currently on a stereo Apple homepod setup which is very nice but also sounds like fairly large thin paper of sound where there is instrument placement and separation within the stereo field but no depth, I've tried to pull the homepods away from the wall, putting them next to my ears (like a headphone setup) sounds good and I can hear some depth but the effort of having them in that configuration vs the sound isn't worth it IMO. I've heard good speaker systems of friends who have passive speakers, separate DAC and Amps, they sounded amazing but I don't have the luxury of having such a setup because of economic and space constraints.

    TL;DR Need new active speakers in the USD 1000 - 1200 range, looking for something that can produce depth, listening position less than 2-3 feet from the speaker (because of space constraint), speaker position from the back wall 2-3 feet maximum. The back wall has some absorption and diffusion inspired by designs from Sonitus USA.

    Options available easily:
    1) Yamaha HS8
    2) ROKIT 10-3 G4
    3) Tannoy Gold 8
    4) Adam T8v

    Thanks in advance for any / all recommendations/advice.
     
  3. EagleWings

    EagleWings Friend

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    Santosh, my recommendation is to skip the T series Adam and the Yamaha. I own a pair of Tannoy Gold 7. A nice neutral-ish speaker and is easy to work with. Because of the coaxial design, it images quite well. I have been quite curious about the KRKs myself. But I’m more interested in the V series, which I hear is a better value for the money over the Rokit, despite being more expensive than the Rokit.

    Btw, how big is your room?
     
  4. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    No answer, but a question!

    Do you consider Indian Sonodyne worth considering?
     
  5. santoshmanivannan

    santoshmanivannan New

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    Thank you @EagleWings and @Thad E Ginathom

    @EagleWings My room is about 10ft x 8.5ft, I sit facing the longer wall because there is a large window in the dead center and it's easy to place stuff in symmetry. Nothing else much in the room, which might be bad for sonics but I'll be adding more treatment to the room. Does your tannoy have good depth? (I know for speakers it's about placement but considering you place them in the ideal position, does it have good depth?)

    @Thad E Ginathom I've heard about sonodyne as a value-for-money audio electronics company, but didn't know they made speakers. Never heard a sonodyne system.. I'll do some reading about their offerings on Indian forums.
     
  6. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Indeed, including active speakers marketed as studio monitors. About a decade ago, I was hearing that they had reliability problems, but their range is entirely changed since then, I think. And I have never heard any.
    I used to be active on hifivision.com
     
  7. EagleWings

    EagleWings Friend

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    By depth, if you are referring to how the center image is placed behind the speakers and farther from you, then yes, the Tannoy can do that, if I pull it out from the wall and adjust my listening distance. On the other hand if you are referring to depth in terms of, relative distance/placement between the front elements to the back elements, then it depends. First you need a DAC that can do depth. Like, it hardly did depth with the Modius, but it improved quite a bit with the Bifrost2. While its depth capability is going to be a bit limited relative to more resolving speakers, it wasn't a deal breaker for me. The aspects that I wish it did better are micro-details and bass impact.
     
  8. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    Picked up a pair of JBL 305p mkii powered monitors and they sound great (Using EC ZDSE as preamp). Not alot of experience with speaker buying, but from what I understand you'd have to spend quite a bit more to beat the sound of these?

    What would be the logical next step up from these, quality wise that isn't a side-grade?
     
  9. JayC

    JayC Resident Crash Test Dummy

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    I suppose one of the Genelecs or ATC powered speakers would be a good step up (if you want to stay active).. I still have the 305s at my parent's and they're still quite enjoyable. I miss some detail, clarity and stage depth/width but its a huge factor cheaper than what I have at home
     
  10. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    If you’re looking for something powered, not sure I can help you (haven’t heard much), but it might be helpful for folks to have a budget range. Also is this for nearfield or general home listening? And do you prefer bookshelf or ok with towers (and what’s you general size constraint if so)?
     
  11. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    You want to stay within the active studio monitor sphere?
     
  12. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    @rlow + @AdvanTech

    Powered or unpowered is fine. My ZDSE acts as preamp and I can always get a power amp for the speakers if need be. I am about 7 feet from the speakers in a medium sized room but I can sit further back if need be (3 or 4 feet more). I live in an apartment so no big woofers or anything, so probably bookshelf. I am happy with the JBLs, but they don't resolve quite as well as my HD8xx, so looking at options for something higher up, whether its soon or in the future. I am willing to spend about $1 - $1.5k for speakers, maybe a little extra if it means a substantial step up.
     
  13. Johnny Opps

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    Hi all-

    So I've reread this whole thread a couple times over the past few days, as well as the speaker thread, and they're both long, so I may have missed what I'm looking for. TL;dr: want to find world-class, mid-focused speakers to pair with Freya N/Aegirs.

    I have a 15x15' listening room, speakers will be on either side of a 8' wide non-functional fireplace, listening will be on a sofa on opposite wall. Softwood floor, several big pieces of upholstery. I'm holding onto a pair of Aegir's that my wife bought me on the Schiit crazy black friday special because she knew I missed mine (lucky, eh?). I'm looking for a pair of speakers that will pair well, particularly for classic jazz, prog rock, classic rock, folk/singer/songwriter, and piano.

    What's on the list, many of which have been discussed here before:
    • Devore Gibbon Super 9's
    • Tekton Lore
    • SEAS A26 (could build from a kit, not scared to take it on, have a friend who knows how to do veneer work and offered to help)
    • Joseph Crowe 1630 with super-tweeter (again, happy to build)
    • Zu Dirty Weekend Six
    • A bunch of Troels designs - 8008 corners, others.
    Of these, I've heard the A26's and they're fabulously accurate and fast and natural sounding in timbre, plus the tweeters are magic on-axis. I have not heard the rest, though I can hear some DeVore's not too far away. I know @bixby and @Partytime are big DeVore boosters. I'm willing to purchase something if I've only heard a close cousin, or even to build something I haven't heard if recommendations are strong enough, partly because I'd love to try building something. Unfortunately I won't be able to side-by-side any of these, so it's gonna be detailed listening notes for me. I've also never invested either my time (building A26 or another model) or this much $.

    I'm ideally looking for something that:
    • Has a reasonably slim profile (I can do the full 12" width of the A26 or Zu DW, but would prefer something slimmer if I can, happy for a reasonable height floorstander)
    • Can get in a nice finish (the bargain I made for getting the Aegir's as a present is that I'd get speakers that my wife can handle looking at, which kind of puts the Tekton's out of the running just because of their finishes)
    • Obviously: higher sensitivity, reasonably high minimum impedance not just 8 ohm nominal impedance
    I'm going to go listen to the DeVore's at a dealer next week. I can probably find a way near me in Boston to listen to some of these others. But I'd welcome any thoughts on what I should prioritize besides the DeVore and the A26 and the Zu.

    Local Boston questions: I know @zonto has gone down this path in the area, and @drgumbybrain sounds like he's chased a similar set in the area also. and @HotRatSalad has the A26s around here. Would be good to know what dealers besides Goodwin's are worth going to for anyone who's local.
     
  14. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Definitely check out the Gibbon Super 9's. Perhaps see if the dealer will allow you to audition with your Aegir's, too. I heard the Gibbon's at CAF (usual hifi show caveats!) powered by LTA and the sound was excellent, although I'd never really consider them for my own room due to cost. They did seem to be intentionally placed well into the room so that would be part of the calculus. But they imaged phenomenally (I think they're using some Seas Excel tweeters) and were voiced slightly mid-forward with very even bass.
     
  15. Johnny Opps

    Johnny Opps Facebook Friend

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    Thanks, bringing in my Aegir’s is a great idea. Much easier than bringing the speakers home. And upstream is my own damn business :). Duly noted on placement and the drivers. What are you currently using in your channel out of curiosity?

    Also, fwiw I’m beginning to learn. Not sure if folks have seen John Devore’s rant on how speakers changed starting in the 60’s but really in the 90’s to become such beasts with such needs for high voltage AND high current as a result of changes to how efficiency was measured and the move to power acoustic suspension. I’m early in the days of understanding this, but I bet that if you haven’t seen it, this would be a very interesting history lesson on how transducer construction and amplification changed, and how that change was mediated through a change in measurement. Interesting especially in the context of measurement obsession fuckery like SINAD and unintended consequences. Worth the time (at least for me at this point in my journey).

     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  16. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    I wasn’t trying to find a pair of speakers that met the same criteria as you are, so not sure I’ll be much help there. Aside from Goodwin’s, I’d also check out Audio Video Therapy in Nashua, NH. There’s another shop or two in Nashua, but I haven’t been to them for speaker demos (Fidelis AV is one). I think there was a headphone meet at one of these other Nashua shops years ago, but I forget which.

    There’s also Natural Sound in Framingham, which you could try for demos. I’ve had a bad experience there before and think they are douchebags, so prefer not to give them my money. There’s also Audio Lab in Cambridge, but every time I’ve gone there it’s just the owner and bunch of his annoying friends hanging out and it’s like I’m intruding by being there.
     
  17. HotRatSalad

    HotRatSalad Friend

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    Fidelis is a good place, they have harbeths and magnepans now as well. Guys there are pretty cool.
     
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  18. JayC

    JayC Resident Crash Test Dummy

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    Just got home with a set of Graham LS6f speakers, I’ll be posting more about them in the next weeks once I’ve got them setup in a decent way..

    Initial words are that they match quite well with the posts @rlow wrote for the LS6 in terms of forwardness and stage - which I’m still not completely sure fits my taste but I wanted to give them a proper try at home over a few days
     
  19. Garns

    Garns Friend

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    My speakers are on a fairly bouncy suspended wooden floor. I currently have my bookshelf mains on sand filled four column stands with the Herbie's gliders on the bottom. My subs have the SVS isolation feet.

    Any suggestions for any easy improvements here? I'm not putting down giant blocks of granite etc, just interested in views on other coupling/decoupling options. Eg spikes with a hard wood receiving base? Interface between mains and stand top? I have no idea, I just tried a few things at random and it sounds all right, but no idea if it's optimal.
     
  20. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Generally speaking, you're going to want to decouple speakers from a bouncy floor. Maybe try something like the diversitech cheapo isolation footers instead of the Herbie's sliders. If the stand is heavy and well damped (like, with sand or kitty litter) then you'll probably want to couple the speakers to the stands, either using spikes or blutak.
     
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