The Never Ending Equipment Cycle: Speakers

[Paul R]

That's it! Paul, check out the online reviews - I think these may be the answer for you. I've read a little about the components that go into these, and my reaction is wonderment at the relatively low price.

 

That's a pretty good recommendation, and the pricing is certainly great on these right now. I almost ordered a set just now, but the website is so unfinished, it made me too uncomfortable to order them. I guess I will call one of their dealers tomorrow and get an idea of things like - can I return em if we really don't like em?

 

Both you and Scott say they are astounding...

 

-Paul

[Paul R]

(Some folks made recommendations off line...)

 

The Gallo CL2 / CL3 speakers. We borrowed a set of the CL2s on Saturday and have been listening to them over the weekend. They are really sweet speakers, but at least in our room, generate virtually no bass. That can give them a bit of a harsh sound. Of course it could be easily fixed with a sub, but.... In terms of treble, and especially of imaging, these are utterly gorgeous. If you place to fill them in with a sub, you should listen to these. For us, though I think they go back next week. Almost want to cry about that, as I like the treble so much... The Gallo CL3 floor stander is oddly shaped, and only about 30" tall. I don't think they will generate enough bass either, but Karen wants to try them. They are- currently - the ONLY floor stander that Karen is really willing to consider. She is willing to consider Odyssey Loreli speakers, but only because she and I both think the world of Klaus.

 

In store, we listened to a set of PSB Sychrony 1Bs. They sounded beautiful, refined, and produced a massive amount of bass. At $2600/pair, they are slightly about the budget, but that's okay, I will stretch a little bit for them. THe Synchrony 2Bs are in the running too, a tad bit more refined than the Imagine Bs. And even the B's produce plenty of bass. Karen seems to like these the best, as they produce a sound that is comfortable and joyous to her.

 

We also heard a set of Ascend Acoustic Sierra-1 speakers. They sounded quite good, but didn't grab our attention. They would probably work well in the upstairs Den.

 

Karen is also making noise about possibly liking the smaller Maggies. Perhaps the "sofa legs" in this case are more about the look than the sound. Smaller, less imposing speakers might save the day, but all Maggies really need space from the wall, and that might not fly well.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys - we plan to try and hear the Monitor Audio GX50s this week if we can.

 

-Paul

 

P.S. These are the viable suggestions so far we have looked into, at least so far as looking at pictures on the web.

 

These are the suggestions so far...

 

PSB Synchrony 2B....................$1500

PSB Synchrony 1B....................$2600

Odyssey Loreli w/ Kismet upgrades...$----

Monitor Audio GX50..................$1500

Evolution Acoustices MM Micro 1.....$2000 / $2500

Ellis 1801b (Salk Sound)............$2000

Salk WOW1...........................$1000

Gallo Classico CL-2.................$1300

Gallo Classico CL-3.................$2400

Paradigm Signature s1 v3............$----

Mark & Daniel Ruby..................$2000

Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1...........$900

Spendor S35R........................$1500

"The Clue" from Sjofn HiFi..........$995

 

-----

These suggestions are great, but are probably not doable

for one reason or another.

 

Genelec 8240........................$----

Vandersteen 2x......................$----

Vivid V1.5 Spkrs....................$----

 

[Ajani]

Two other options are:

 

Revel Performa M22 Monitors $2K

&

KEF R500 Towers $2.6K

[wgscott]

 

What it lacks in affordability it makes up for in aesthetics, in a Dr. Seuss sort of way.

[bullmrkt]

As a couple others already have done, id recommend Zu, the soul superfly's to be specific. They are only about three feet tall, very compact, but sound great with solid bass. Im powering them with the 2wpc yamamoto a-08s, which happens to be the same setup Gerrit at Zu is running, and its glorious.

 

If you MUST have monitors, Id also second Amphion. Triangle also has some really nice looking monitors.

 

http://www.amphion.fi/en/products/argon3/

http://www.triangle-fr.com/en/magellan/duetto/

[johnr2009]

I'll throw my hat into this ring. I own a pair of Thiels in Birdseye maple that are subtly beautiful and although they are 2-way floor standing monitors they will handle bass down to about 70hz. Not a ground shaker but very coherent, especially so when using SS equipment. They are rated at 88 db sensitivity. I've supplemented them with a velodyne sub occasionally for a movie but I find I like them more as by themselves. Please contact me directly if you would care to discuss further.

Regards,

John

[4est]

You might want to think about spending more than you did for your Magnepans if you intend to maintain the level of performance you currently have...

[Paul R]

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What it lacks in affordability it makes up for in aesthetics, in a Dr. Seuss sort of way.

 

Anything with a handle she can use to pick up and hit me with is definitely out! -Paul

[Paul R]

You might want to think about spending more than you did for your Magnepans if you intend to maintain the level of performance you currently have...

 

I had not planned to budget any money towards speakers, and instead, was going to seriously upgrade the DAC a bit. In fact, this is the money I had budgeted for the DAC I had my eye on.

 

Circumstances conspire against me in this - between taxes and our oldest son getting married in October, speakers and/or DAC upgrades past this amount are on hold for about a year and half. I can live with that, but I need something to live with in the meantime. Those Joseph Audio Pulsars would be perfect, but are quite a ways out of budget... 3X or so.

 

Surprisingly enough, the Imagine B's do a yeoman job, putting out quite enjoyable music in the living room. They struggle to fill up the room, especially with TV programs or movies, loosing dynamics the louder they play. They are, without a doubt, just too small for a room with a ceiling that slopes from 12ft to 24ft over a 24ft length, and has only a partial back wall. Bass response is tough in there too.

 

Karen loves their sound, and the bass, and especially the way they look in the room. And with the 1.7s out of the living room, I have to admit, the B's look gorgeous in there and I finally understand a bit of why Karen is insisting on stand mounted speakers. They really do look nice on stands, with some visibility under them.

 

I guess the only thing I am truly a bit put out with myself about is that I purposely wanted to match the electronics to the Maggies, and they did indeed match well and sound gorgeous. I am not certain they will match as well with any box speakers.

 

-Paul

[mayhem13]

You might want to think about spending more than you did for your Magnepans if you intend to maintain the level of performance you currently have...

 

There's far too many variables to make that conclusion....fortunately.

[mayhem13]

 

I guess the only thing I am truly a bit put out with myself about is that I purposely wanted to match the electronics to the Maggies, and they did indeed match well and sound gorgeous. I am not certain they will match as well with any box speakers.

 

-Paul

 

Maggies being a dipole planar will sound completely different from box speakers regardless of well mated components. Their radiation pattern is anything but conventional. Maggie's are tough on amplifiers though where some more conventional speakers may be quite a bit more efficient allowing for improved dynamics from your amp.

[Jud]

That's a pretty good recommendation, and the pricing is certainly great on these right now. I almost ordered a set just now, but the website is so unfinished, it made me too uncomfortable to order them. I guess I will call one of their dealers tomorrow and get an idea of things like - can I return em if we really don't like em?

 

Both you and Scott say they are astounding...

 

-Paul

 

As usual, I'm going to urge some caution. I heard them "out of one ear" so to speak while on my way elsewhere in the show; for mini-monitors they were sounding amazingly full range (and playing loud with no discernible distortion), so there was a head-turning moment of "Wha...?," then I asked the person at the door to the room (the Norse Suite) what those were, and she said "the Clue." But I didn't linger because I didn't particularly care about mini-monitors. So I can't tell you they are pleasing on a long term basis, though they have had very good reviews.

 

Edit: They do appear to be quite a bit less than some other speakers you're considering, so if an audition is possible and they turn out to be satisfactory you've saved yourself $1500 or so.

[Paul R]

As usual, I'm going to urge some caution...

 

Oh yeah. Funny, I never really thought about it before. In the $500 and under level, I am not very risk adverse at all. If something turns out to be a total flop, well, the amount of money gone is not going to keep me awake at night.

 

Up to about a $1000, I am moderately risk adverse - as long as I can return them, perhaps paying shipping or some small fee like that, I am okay with it.

 

Above $1000? I gotta hear them first, and for more than a few minutes. And I probably still want an option to return them!

 

Which is why I do so appreciate all the advice and suggestions from you guys. Left to my own, I would definitely cheap out someway or another, and wind up spending more money than I really need to.

 

-Paul

[Kiwi2]

A couple of points about the "the Clue". First, I have read that they are normally $1500. $999 was their special price for the NY show. And secondly, if they are designed to be placed very close to the wall to get the bass response, then maybe they wouldn't be ideal speakers to go with a TV screen that is sitting on a cabinet, as normally you want the speakers well in front of the TV screen.

[Paul R]

A couple of points about the "the Clue". First, I have read that they are normally $1500. $999 was their special price for the NY show. And secondly, if they are designed to be placed very close to the wall to get the bass response, then maybe they wouldn't be ideal speakers to go with a TV screen that is sitting on a cabinet, as normally you want the speakers well in front of the TV screen.

 

On stands close to the wall is good with us - preferred in fact. The television is wall mounted over the fireplace.

-Paul

[Jud]

A couple of points about the "the Clue". First, I have read that they are normally $1500. $999 was their special price for the NY show.

 

Yep, they have a special whenever there's a show. Something tells me it will not be terribly difficult to get the special pricing, but be aware it's not the MSRP, so to speak.

[Gregor Samsa]

With a couple of those cute little "coffee table" DW I woofers.

[mayhem13]

A couple of points about the "the Clue". First, I have read that they are normally $1500. $999 was their special price for the NY show. And secondly, if they are designed to be placed very close to the wall to get the bass response, then maybe they wouldn't be ideal speakers to go with a TV screen that is sitting on a cabinet, as normally you want the speakers well in front of the TV screen.

 

I also read the statement about the Clue needing rear wall re enforcement for midbass and bass response. Interesting approach as many of us don't have an option other than on/near wall placement. How a speaker transitions from half space to full space radiation is critical to the midbass clarity with such placement usually resulting in a horrible peaked response from 300hz on down but if these guys have found a way to get around it, I'd sure be interested in their approach.

[Paul R]

With a couple of those cute little "coffee table" DW I woofers.

 

Hi Gregor- trust me, that thought has very much occurred to me. (grin) I have doubts they would be able to fill up the room enough to provide me with happy face sound, but hey... Have thought about just buying another set of MMGs, this time with white fabric, but then, who knows?

 

-Paul

[bdiament]

Hi mayhem13,

 

...Maggie's are tough on amplifiers though where some more conventional speakers may be quite a bit more efficient allowing for improved dynamics from your amp...

 

I must disagree with this. Maggies are not at all "tough on amplifiers". On the contrary, they display a quite flat impedance curve that is in fact, quite <i>easy</i> on amplifiers. The proviso is they require an amp that can deliver sufficient current into their 4 ohm load. And of course, they certainly won't play as loud as Cerwin-Vegas.

 

To the subject at hand, Paul, I strongly suggest you take Karen along to audition whatever you might replace the 1.7s with. Not just to hear them but to see whatever it is too.

 

Good luck and have fun!

 

Best regards,

Barry

http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com

[bdiament]

Hi Paul,

 

Gregor's suggestion of Mini Maggies might be the ticket - especially with a second woofer.

 

If you want something <i>really</i> tiny, I'd suggest trying to find a pair of Monsoon MM-1000s.

They've been discontinued and the used market may be the only place to find them nowadays. I paid $150 pair (!) new and got two pairs several years ago (one sits on my computer desk and another in the kitchen system). If you aren't familiar with them, they consist of a pair of ~5" x 7" satellites (based, I believe, on Eminent Technology's drivers - a sort of micro, pseudo Maggie) and a small boom cube for frequencies below 200 Hz.

 

They ain't Maggies but then, what is?

In the end, I think Gregor's suggestion might be worth investigating.

 

Whichever way you go, have fun!

 

Best regards,

Barry

http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com

[Paul R]

Hi mayhem13,

To the subject at hand, Paul, I strongly suggest you take Karen along to audition whatever you might replace the 1.7s with. Not just to hear them but to see whatever it is too.

 

Best regards,

Barry

http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Hi Barry - yes, I agree Maggies are pretty easy to drive.

 

You can bet Karen is along for this ride. Doesn't mean a lot though, she was on the ride for the Maggies too. I think, but do not know for certain, that the problem was more the color and size than anything else. May revert to some of the wall mounted guys or even just a white covered set of MMGs. The black ones will just "not do!"

 

Either that, or the current running seems to be for a set of PSB Synchrony 1 Bs. They are not Maggies, but they do seem to sound pretty good. Going to test a set in-house over the weekend. They are quite beautiful, though they are a tad more expensive than the Maggies...

 

-Paul

[AudioDoctor]

Paul, can you get your maggies, or exact copies, done in white?

[Paul R]

Paul, can you get your maggies, or exact copies, done in white?

 

Oh yes, I can. The problem is probably involved with the size though. Have to go to a smaller model. Wish someone would offer me a deal on a set of white 12s, MMGs, or even MMGWs.

 

-Paul

[AudioDoctor]

Paul if I were you, I would be heartbroken to see the Maggies go, especially after spending so much time picking electronics to drive them so well. Perhaps you need to plead your case some more.