The Two Channel Advice Thread

Even a little bit is better than nothing, and we've been wanting to do something with that wall. Aesthetically, it's ok except... the house already has a ton of late 80's-90's looking wood trim and cabinetry. Yeah sure it matches, but sometimes more is not better right? The ease of installation is the other driving factor. Eh, I dunno, ultimately I don't make the call in this area.

Have you sorta narrowed down your speaker choices yet? How big are you willing to go there? or rather, how much space are you willing to give up on your desk?

 

Of the options at local stores, Focal Theva and Oberon 3 are about as big as I can manage. Kef R3 is definitely too big.

I'm hoping that the LS50 Meta gets me there. Seems like the best nearfield option on paper.

 

Interesting article about them.

Without any measurements it's a bit of a crap shoot. Should have a spec sheet like this as described here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/sound-absorption-coefficient
and here
https://www.acousticfields.com/sabins-and-sound-absorption-coefficients/

Do you have a mic and a copy of Room Eq Wizard? Getting sonic measurements of your room would be helpful.

As a Canadian, have you considered Totem Tribe? I use a II as a center and it's very capable; you can see it under the TV in my picture you linked. As on-walls I found them very attractive. Years ago I demoed a set of Tribe IV (LCR) and it was great and so was the price

P.S. For the price of the KEF it might be better to pursue a Lyngdorf TDAI and somewhat less expensive speakers. Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect was "designed" for rooms like yours. Any Lyngdorf dealers near you?

P.P.S. I had a Lyngdorf pre-amp for a while. The ergonomics are off the charts.

 

Neat, I'm getting an Arcam off eBay tomorrow, the AVR390. Supposedly nice, we'll see.

I was going to recommend Cambridge Audio but you already nixed them. PS Audio Sprout?

 

I haven't ever had a chance to hear it, but I've heard that people like the rogue sphinx around that price (class d with tube buffer), and there are still ragnarok 2's on last call for 1000 from schiit but those are both probably bigger and hotter - the arcam looks like a solid option though I've heard nice things about it

 

Yeah, my first big boy HiFi equipment was a Cambridge 540A. But the current line doesn't do much for me on paper, and the internal DAC isn't particularly impressive if I ever wanted to use it. The Sprout? Eh, class D just doesn't rev my motor.

Class D with tube buffer sounds like something I'd dream up to summon my own personal Satan. And yeah, Ragnarok was definitely in the running, but for various reasons I think the Arcam will be more suitable and user friendly.

 

Despite being a former scientist, I have actually never bothered with room eq and measurements. There's no sweet spot though, as seating will be anywhere from the couch to the dining table to the kitchen.

See that big gap in the middle where there are no dealers? That's me.

We do have a local dealer... but I don't want to give the guy my business. During covid I was helping out a church with some basic sound and streaming equipment. Then the dealer guy came in and oversold them on a five figure setup that was completely beyond their means and ability to use. Not cool.

 

I know what you mean. Philly's "dealer" is David Lewis. I spoke with them years ago and the contempt dripping from their voice was palpable. Clearly a "main line" only business (the Main Line is Philly's equivalent to the Hamptons, iykwim).

 

Spent this afternoon auditioning bookshelf speakers for my very-nearfield desk....

First up was the Dali Oberon 3. These had deep rich bass and decent lower mids, but the upper mids were a bit scooped out prior to sparkly treble. Just made strings and female vocals sound a bit lifeless. I could have lived with these, but decided I shouldn't have to.

Second was the Focal Vestia no. 1. Super-stark contrast from the Dali. Bass was very tight but lean. Mids through highs were very nice, and I had zero issue with the typical Focal treble, but there's no way I would be happy with these without a sub.

Third, at a different store now, was the KEF LS50 Meta. They were playing before I entered the room, and the second I sat down I was instantly impressed. Perfectly balanced in tone; everywhere that needed bass had bass. Wherever I expected some treble sizzle, there was sizzle. And female vocals, by deity, just perfect. And the imaging from such a small speaker was In. Freaking. Sane. Not a blob in the middle, not left/right buckets, but an entire tapestry across the whole room.

Next up was set Audiovector QR1 SE. Just as these started playing, @Armaegis showed up to the party. These weren't bad, fairly well balanced, but didn't have the physical impact or sparkle of the KEF.

Switched over to the Audiophysic Classic 3. Meh, they were okay. @Armaegis noted a bit of a 'V' shape, I agreed, just not much happening in the mid range, with female vocals seeming very flat.

Last up was the Elipson Heritage XLS 7. The quirk of these is an adjustable +/- 2 dB on the tweeter. I quite liked these, decent balance and a bit of sparkle, but the soundstage really consisted of just a small blob in the centre - it had @Armaegis hunting behind and above me for the sweet spot. He noted they would probably be fatiguing, and I can totally see that.

For a final listen we switched back the KEF. Yep, this is it, I'm in LOVE. The imaging, the tonal balance, the impact, all absolutely perfect to my tastes. They can't summon chest thumping sub bass, but the impact on anything above that was deeply impressive.

Walked out with the KEF at a tidy discount thanks to the owner's prior work with @Armaegis, and it seems that by bringing in a new customer, he was offered a deeper discount on the speakers he was trialing.

It was a good day.

 

Oh, I almost forgot, the last little thing was a small box speaker from Tri Art Audio. Gorgeous woodwork, fitted with a single woofer, maybe 2.5 to 3" in diameter. Sounded like any regular two-way speaker with a blown woofer, just awful. I'm still not sure if the store owner was serious or joking.

 

To echo some sentiments... I mostly sat outside of the sweet spot (roughly in front of the left speaker) and decided to just stay that way for most of it to keep my impressions consistent apart from the occasional lurking around behind @Beefy

Audiovector QR1 SE: I agree that they felt reasonably well balanced, nothing really stood out, supposedly the same AMT as the floorstanders I heard but this newest release model had a grill in front of the tweeters that was supposed to reduce sss and plosives (sort of like a mic screen? it certainly looked like it could be but I wasn't gonna scratch at his brand new showroom speakers)

Audiophysic Classic 3: felt V-shaped to me but at least not shouty; would be a good "party" speaker if you needed something compact (and this was actually quite a bit smaller than the others); staging also felt below head level which is very odd, but hey again a party speaker on an actual bookshelf above head level seems like an ideal thing for these

Elipson Heritage XLS 8: I didn't like any of the Elipsons the last couple times I was in the store, and while this was the least objectionable I still didn't like it. There's something in their upper mid to treble range that slowly wears on me; I would absolutely adjust the treble knob down on these to reduce the glare

KEF LS50 Meta: coming off the Elipson, this was like a relief on my ears; upper end had air instead of grating on my ears, had just as much kick as the Audiophysic along with more body to fill it out; staging the widest of everything we heard today by a very wide margin, no pun intended.


So @Beefy walked out with his new toys, and after some further haggling with the owner so did I. Well technically the LS60 were still set up from my in-home audition, I just have to finish paying for them now.

On my way out, the owner did mention that if I wanted to improve the speaker response in my room, he did have these little bamboo thingies with what appeared to be white blue-tack on them. He said a couple of those on the window would completely change the reflections. Ah, hmm, yeah. Maybe next time.

 

I believe both of us thought "hey, that's a nice butcher block cutting board that someone shoved a tweeter into"... The most ridiculous thing is that it also had a supertweeter in it. I just don't get it. As small bookshelves go, this thing was weirdly chunky and deeper than it was tall. Even though it was sealed, with the cabinet volume it should have been able to go deeper. Hell, I've got 30+ year old PC satellite speakers the size of rubik's cubes that can reach just as low.

 

IME these were rather amp dependent in terms of the treble but yes, most of the less expensive Dali I've listened to all have upper mids that are a bit scooped out.

 

I wonder if you considered the KEF R3 as an alternative to the LS50? I'm also thinking about improving my nearfield setup, and while I am curious about, I worry they would be too much when very close.

 

I would have liked to hear the Opticon at around double the price, but the guy only had the Rubicore at *five times* the price. No thanks!

I ruled them out pretty early. Too big, too heavy, too expensive for my needs.

 

Nice to see someone still putting in effort to make small efficient amplifiers without resorting to class-D.
I have heard some good things about this one, no personal experience.
If pro audio is acceptable then Powersoft is unbeatable in form factor vs audio quality - Class D, but the only one I like.
Some great used market deals around and .. no lack of power, for head room.

 

I ended up getting a really solid deal on the Arcam A15 from an online vendor that doesn't charge provincial taxes. Decided that an extra 20W and a bit more heat wasn't worth an extra CA$1000.

Always weary of buying unheard gear, but I found a *LOT* of people who happily use this amp's predecessor, the SA10, with LS50.

 

I've got a Bryston B60 integrated if that piques your interest at all to try out. It's the size of a 1U rackmount, and even has a built-in dac if you can feed it coax (I also have it typically fed from a Schiit Eitr).

 

B&O make a coupla things like that, the Level and the Emerge. Tempted sorely by the Emerge.