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High efficiency speakers around $500 - Page 2

post #16 of 29
5/29/07 at 3:14am
But you'll lose 3db or so of sensitivity, something to keep in mind when you've only got 15w and a tiny powersupply on hand.
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post #17 of 29
5/31/07 at 9:41pm
Thread Starter 
Boxed up the Klipsch to return, I also auditionied a pair of Paradigm Monitor 5v2's and returned those as well. These are both great speakers but they are just too loud and shouty for my room. Since the room was small imaging was smeared, and highs were harsh (although I think the highs might have calmed down after burn in). I tried the sock trick Wodgy, it worked well and I found I didn't mind the loss of bass presence. Neat trick.

At any rate I have been e-mailing Eric Alexander, the designer behind the Tekton speakers mentioned above, and he also has a 8"subwoofer specially designed for his single driver speakers. So I just bought a pair of the 4.5" speakers as they are supposed to be the best in terms of imaging and clarity, and maybe I'll buy a sub further down the line. First we'll see how these sound...can't wiat!
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post #18 of 29
6/1/07 at 7:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by daggerlee View Post
Boxed up the Klipsch to return, I also auditioned a pair of Paradigm Monitor 5v2's and returned those as well.
A friend of mine has a T-Amp and is shopping for speakers as well, he considered the Klispch but decided against them after a listen as well. I used to be a big Klipsch fan, but haven't been that pleased with their products in the last 10 years or so (except the classic line). We're going to check out some PSB's, but he's actively looking for some small monitors with decent efficiency to add to the hunt. I don't think we need to be only in the truly high-efficiency/SET friendly world, but those Omega's look promising.
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post #19 of 29
6/1/07 at 7:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cotdt View Post
it makes more sense to buy an amp based on your speaker selection IMHO.
Certainly a good approach, but the t-amps have such positive buzz, there's lots of desire to try them out with whatever they can drive appropriately.
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post #20 of 29
6/1/07 at 7:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by islewind View Post
Certainly a good approach, but the t-amps have such positive buzz, there's lots of desire to try them out with whatever they can drive appropriately.
T-amps have background noise, so high-efficiency speakers and T-amps don't mix very well. SET amps synergize with full-range speakers much better. I've built a bunch of T-amp and its variants, so I know.
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post #21 of 29
6/2/07 at 11:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cotdt View Post
T-amps have background noise, so high-efficiency speakers and T-amps don't mix very well. SET amps synergize with full-range speakers much better. I've built a bunch of T-amp and its variants, so I know.
Ive never heard SET, and would expect it to better the T amps, but my Tripath amp (modified Trends Audio TA10.1) has a total black background. If you pause the music and max the volume it is dead silent. However, supposedly if you crank it to the max during music it will have too much THD, but I've never ventured that far myself.
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post #22 of 29
6/2/07 at 12:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SR-71Panorama View Post
Ive never heard SET, and would expect it to better the T amps, but my Tripath amp (modified Trends Audio TA10.1) has a total black background. If you pause the music and max the volume it is dead silent. However, supposedly if you crank it to the max during music it will have too much THD, but I've never ventured that far myself.
Yeah same here. Whatever inherent noise there may be in a T-amp is minimized significantly by the Trends.
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post #23 of 29
7/1/07 at 2:10pm
Dagerlee did you receive your Tektons yet ? Any impressions ?
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post #24 of 29
7/2/07 at 7:49am
Late post, but diy open baffle speakers using either Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris Coaxial drivers or Visaton B200 drivers would be my suggestions. I own both and a heavily modded Trends as well. I have no idea why cotdt had problems with t-amps mixing with full range drivers. There was a popular trend of Charlize and Clari-T amps with the Visaton B200 in the past that contradict his experience. At the same time I won't argue that tubes synergize better - I think tubes generally always synergize better than solid state......
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post #25 of 29
7/5/07 at 1:34pm
I too am eagerly awaiting your impressions of the Tektons. They look very appealing.
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post #26 of 29
7/10/07 at 3:14pm
I've been playing around with this category of speakers for my 2nd system.

I started with a pair of KEF Cresta 10's. Seemingly neutral and unoffensive with nice imaging. Not very demanding of placement. Very good value for money. The slight lack of bass and treble detail got me itching for an upgrade.

Now I am using Klipsch RB-61's. My first impression of these was no-no-no, too bright, back in the box you go. But I gave them some time to burn in and switched amps from a Sonic Impact T-amp to a Trends TA 10.1, which does them much better justice. Recently I've picked up another TA 10.1 and have bypassed the volume controls with the jumpers, so they are effectively monoblocks with the DAC1 as the preamp. My impression now of the Klipsch is not that they are bright, but that they are very transparent and thus require good matching of electronics upstream. You will hear whatever you feed them with little filtering and shaping of the sound. The Trends is a good alternative to a tube amp in this respect. My main complaint on the Klipsch is that they seem quite directional. I'll need to spend some effort on positioning to get them right.

Also, I've ordered a pair of the Tekton Design 4" Fostex monitors just to try those out.
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post #27 of 29
7/10/07 at 4:19pm
The 6moons reviewer David Kan used them with Loth XBS1 which might be available around 500$. They are seem to be quite sensitive, rated at 94dB.

http://www.eminentaudio.co.uk/Fronti...eviews/BS1.htm

I have seen several folks here on head-fi and other forums who use the Trends with speakers slightly less efficient than 90dB, like Quad 12L and they seem quite happy with the performance. I suppose it all depends how loud you want to play.
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post #28 of 29
7/10/07 at 4:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by musicmind View Post
The 6moons reviewer David Kan used them with Loth XBS1 which might be available around 500$. They are seem to be quite sensitive, rated at 94dB.

http://www.eminentaudio.co.uk/Fronti...eviews/BS1.htm
Those look good. It's too bad they are hard to find nowadays.
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post #29 of 29
7/10/07 at 5:50pm
So many to choose from.

Search for some of the new Chinese built speakers by Aurum Cantus. Great build quality with ribbon tweeters.
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