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Definitive Technology/Vienna Acoustics/Mirage/Martin Logan ...which would be best?

post #1 of 25
9/17/07 at 9:37pm
Thread Starter 
I am currently in the process of upgrading my speaker setup and I would love some advice from people with knowledge of good speakers. For now i'll be using Audigy digital out -> Beresford mk6 -> Denon DRA-397 stereo receiver -> speakers. I am limiting my search to these brands of speakers (see thread title) because I get a heavy discount on all of their full lines. I think what I want is floor standing speakers as opposed to bookshelf because I am looking for the best sq. The price i'm willing to spend on each speaker before the discount is applied is around $600 but if it's really worth it I can spend a little more. I will use this setup for movies but by far the most time will be spent on music. I love all kinds of music like rock, classical, electronic, reggae, hiphop, jazz etc. So what speakers should I go with? Thanks in advance..
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post #2 of 25
9/17/07 at 11:27pm
I have recently purchased a Mirage speaker for my beach house home theater set up (got the uni-theater R/C/L bar, and an existing subwoofer to get it started with). I am not familiar with your other brands, but don't think there are too many floorstanders in your $600 price range.

You might get more response here if you price the speakers in each of the lines, and ask if anyone has experience with them.

I love my Monitor Audio RS6 Silvers. Did not get a chance to listen to any Mirage floor standers, but their satellites are pretty good.
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post #3 of 25
9/17/07 at 11:28pm
floor standing != best sq
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post #4 of 25
9/18/07 at 12:03am
Also look at the Magnepan MMG's. These are often regarded as some of the best value in speakers. Just keep in mind that these are very revealing of the capabilities of your support equipment.
http://www.magnepan.com/_mmg.php
http://www.magnepan.com/the_offer.php
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post #5 of 25
9/18/07 at 12:05am
Also be sure to poke around audioasylum as it is a great source of audio information: http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/MUG/bbs.html
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post #6 of 25
9/18/07 at 8:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by datura647 View Post
I am currently in the process of upgrading my speaker setup and I would love some advice from people with knowledge of good speakers. For now i'll be using Audigy digital out -> Beresford mk6 -> Denon DRA-397 stereo receiver -> speakers. I am limiting my search to these brands of speakers (see thread title) because I get a heavy discount on all of their full lines. I think what I want is floor standing speakers as opposed to bookshelf because I am looking for the best sq. The price i'm willing to spend on each speaker before the discount is applied is around $600 but if it's really worth it I can spend a little more. I will use this setup for movies but by far the most time will be spent on music. I love all kinds of music like rock, classical, electronic, reggae, hiphop, jazz etc. So what speakers should I go with? Thanks in advance..
so you have a friend that works at magnolia?? hmm its too bad that you cant get some monitor audios (which are at REAL magnolia hifis), the RS6 would beat any mirage/viennaacoustics/definitivetech/martin logan $1000 pair of speaker out there

Vienna acoustics has the hadyn grand for $1000ish, but all of vienna acoustic speakers are beat by speakers half their price, they are definitely not an "audio value" in any sense of the word. definitive techs tower is either a love it or hate it speaker, i think they are muddy as all hell, are ugly, and have a subpar performance in lows/mids/highs. martin logan has a $1000/pair floorstander i think, its called the mosaic or something, i cant remember, but thats probably your best bet. Mirage floorstanders only get good once you get into the $5000 territory, their cheaper ones are pretty much "niche" speakers.
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post #7 of 25
9/18/07 at 8:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gotchaforce View Post
but all of vienna acoustic speakers are beat by speakers half their price, they are definitely not an "audio value" in any sense of the word.
uh...kind of a 'scratch the head' moment for me; if anything, VA is certainly whole lot more musical than many of its counterparts in their respective price ranges. I can think of several pkrs that sound like nail on chalk board...oh..the pain

I am sorry you had some adverse encounters with VA; that happens to everyone
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post #8 of 25
9/18/07 at 9:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by chesebert View Post
uh...kind of a 'scratch the head' moment for me; if anything, VA is certainly whole lot more musical than many of its counterparts in their respective price ranges. I can think of several pkrs that sound like nail on chalk board...oh..the pain

I am sorry you had some adverse encounters with VA; that happens to everyone
its a solid musical speaker, and they definitely do sound good, but for the same price you can get speakers that easily outperform them.
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post #9 of 25
9/18/07 at 1:44pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the responses!

gotchaforce: Actually I work at Best Buy and we have an in-store Magnolia, still pretty perceptive I was looking at Def Tech super towers because they had a low price, but I also noticed what you said about lack of refinement.

chesebert: I attribute my "floorstander must be better" due to the extra room in the box allowing more to be done with it. I did not mean a speaker is better than another simply because it is a floorstander. Also in the future I would like to upgrade to 5.1 and it would be nice to have two beefy floor speakers in front

The Monitor Audio RS6 looks beautiful and the price seems to be around what i'm willing to pay. Does anyone know the best place to buy these (and other) speakers? Thanks again for all the feedback!

edit: One more thing. I just took a look at golgi's first link, what do you all think of Magnepan MMG specifically or planar speakers in general? I have never seen a speaker like this and it is very inexpensive.
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post #10 of 25
9/18/07 at 4:03pm
Magnepan speakers can give you an absolutely fantastic staging effect, where the speaker itself absolutely disapears. When i used the MMG's predecessor, the SMGc, i loved the effect (and i still do).

However, the bass response is far from perfect. Without a subwoofer, you're lost. And even with a decent sub, you will have dificulties to find a working crossover frequency. The SMGc, and i'd guess the MMG too, starts to roll off at maybe 200 Hz. Almost any speaker in the pricerange will do better than that, and it's a severe flaw. I'm not talking about disco bass here, the bass is just to weak to reproduce even a male voice naturally. But then again, the airiness...

Today, i use the SMGc as a rear speaker (where it can play out it's strength without showing too much of it's weakness), with real high quality dipole speakers as front speakers. Once i got used to the fantastic airiness (which is a result of the dipole character of the Maggies, not of the operating principle), there's no way back for me. But with high quality surround dipole speakers, you may get a sound signature quite similar to the MMG's without their (presumably) flawed bass.
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post #11 of 25
9/18/07 at 5:41pm
I don't have the mmg's but from what I've heard from well respected members of the audioasylum planar forum, the mmg is actually pretty good on bass and goes down to pretty good levels. It's not earth shaking booms but rather clean accurate bass. If you look the mmg is actually rated down to 50hz.

I have the MG10 which only goes down to 90hz or so but even that has pretty decent bass. What is there is very accurate and not bloated. In my setup I do have a sub. But I've heard of many people who have full range Magnepan speakers such as the MMG not even using a sub and not having a problem with the sound.
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post #12 of 25
9/18/07 at 6:56pm
In another "Maggie"-Thread i posted this:



Although it (by far) does not sound as bad as it looks, one should be aware that there maybe tradeoffs for the exceptional qualities the Maggies might have.

I mean:
Quote:
rock, classical, electronic, reggae, hiphop, jazz etc.
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post #13 of 25
9/18/07 at 7:42pm
It's FR curve like this that has been keeping the Maggies deeply grounded in Class C for many years and for many years to come
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post #14 of 25
9/19/07 at 4:18pm
i'm personally not a big fan of any of the speakers you listed... if i had to pick one of those, i'd go with Martin Logan.

i do think the RS6 are mighty nice... almost went with a pair myself, but decided to splurge a bit more something else that was more my taste.
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post #15 of 25
9/20/07 at 2:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by datura647 View Post
Thanks for all the responses!

gotchaforce: Actually I work at Best Buy and we have an in-store Magnolia, still pretty perceptive I was looking at Def Tech super towers because they had a low price, but I also noticed what you said about lack of refinement.

chesebert: I attribute my "floorstander must be better" due to the extra room in the box allowing more to be done with it. I did not mean a speaker is better than another simply because it is a floorstander. Also in the future I would like to upgrade to 5.1 and it would be nice to have two beefy floor speakers in front

The Monitor Audio RS6 looks beautiful and the price seems to be around what i'm willing to pay. Does anyone know the best place to buy these (and other) speakers? Thanks again for all the feedback!

edit: One more thing. I just took a look at golgi's first link, what do you all think of Magnepan MMG specifically or planar speakers in general? I have never seen a speaker like this and it is very inexpensive.
Hmm bestbuy employees get magnolia discounts if its in the same store, guess that makes sense, its basically bestbuy merchandise after all.

So im guessing your discount doesnt apply to magnolia Hi-fi standalone stores? because if im not mistaken thats the only magnolias that carry the sonus faber, monitor audio, and rel lines, and if you get the discount at those then go for monitor audio no doubt. I got 10% off the monitor audios when i bought them (came to $900 + some tax), so maybe if you mention your a bestbuy employee they can give you like 15-20% off...

I am biased as hell though becuase i HAVE monitor audio RS6s, but generally almost all reviews point out they are great for the value. If you were planning on spending $1000 without a discount, and want other options. Theres the dali suites 1.7, aperion audio 633t, wharfedale evo2s, usher v602. These are some of the best $1000 floor standers IMO.

aperion is internet direct, so you are blindly jumping into them, but because they are internet direct they are priced significantly lower than rivals that are only in brick and mortar stores

*oh yeah and the martin logan montage is the one i meant not the mosaic
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