Tower speakers for the future (specs inside)

one suggestion:

 

PSB Image T6 ($1199/pair)

Try and audition some Monitor Audio RS6 speakers.  The run about $1K for the pair.  Extremely good speakers at that price point.  They are usually easy to get to listen to as well.  Rated very well in Stereophile.

 

I had some with a Cambridge Audio 840a integrated amp, sounded very good, I feel they are on the "warm" side, not dry and clinical at all.

Audiogon is your friend. There are plenty of great speakers with original tags $3000 or more available for under $1500.

Auctions and classifieds, yes. Most sellers are just owners selling their own equipment, so the usual payment methods are Paypal, personal checks, or money orders. There are dealer demos and auctions though also on the site, and they usually accept credit card payments.

 

Some interesting choices on there now for under $1500: Snell D7, Martin Logan Clarity, Vandersteen 3A, Dali Ikon 7, Sonus Faber Grand Piano, Energy Veritas 1.8, Gallo Reference 3, Definitive Tech BP2000, Totem Hawk, and a couple of Maggie 1.6s. There's also some vintage stuff that looks good.

If you're willing to assemble, try the ProAc 2.5 Response clones. I've seen cabinet packs available on eBay and the rest of the parts are easily available. I knocked off a pair a couple of years ago - they're fine speakers. I think the cost was about $1,000. Check the Stereophile review of these. I haven't heard the originals, but the clones sound a lot like the speakers described in the review.

Don't limit yourself to full tower speakers. I went about listening to speakers and only looked at towers. I found some good ones and then one that I thought would take the cake. I went to another store to hear the Paradigm towers and while they sounded great, the demo guy accidentally turned on a pair of semi tower speakers on stands that totally blew me away. Paradigm Studio 40 v4 which I got for $1400 with stands and tax. I use them in a 2.1 setup with a Velodyne 12" sub with the towers powered by a 1983 Pioneer SX-9 125Wpc stereo receiver. Beautiful sound.

 

Not my picture:

 

Edited by Maxvla - 7/21/10 at 9:17pm

In this setup the sound isn't satisfying without the sub, but I do have it crossed over pretty low at 50hz.

 

Yes I very much preferred these Studio 40 v4 vs the full on Studio 100 v5 that were double the price. The bass on the Studio 100 wasn't realistic to me so I cut out the middle man and let my sub do a proper job with the bass and saved myself a ton of money. The salesman had been playing the Studio 100 v5 and went to turn on another tower, but hit the 40 v4 by accident and I told him right there to stop! It was one of those magical musical moments. I was completely in love and nothing else I'd looked at even considering a $4000 budget came close. I was very happy to find such a gem at less than half of my budget. I'm sure there are better speakers out there at higher prices (certainly not lower) but I haven't heard them yet. In most ways they put my headphone rig to shame.

 

I will say that I've caught myself enjoying my music on the speakers only to learn later that I'd had my sub off the whole time. They are great speakers that do 95% of what I need them to do.

Edited by Maxvla - 7/21/10 at 9:50pm

I'm not a fan of towers they use too many crossovers and hey need alot of power for them to sound good. I'd go with what maxla said or big bookshelf speakers and if you sill need more bass you can get a sub.

This sub is ancient. I think I bought it about 8 years ago for approximately $350. It's a Velodyne CHT-12. Not the most accurate sub out there, for sure, but the little I need it to do isn't worth upgrading.

 

Btw, the Studio 40 v4 is long discontinued. I bought the last pair my store had besides the displays and drove a hard bargain. They were 'on sale' really clearance.. for $1500 a pair, but I got them to throw in the stands ($150) and tax ($100) for $1400 cash. The Studio v5 series is the newest one and I don't remember seeing that they made a 40 model, only a 60 and 100 which are both full towers (and the 20s small bookshelves intended as surround speakers).

 

I think another reason full towers don't sound right to me (at least in the low end) is that the chambers are simply too large and not enough work is done to properly tune it. The sound from large bookshelves is clear, clean, tight, and realistic. Leave the sub-bass to a subwoofer and call it a day.

 

My main point though is not to suggest a certain speaker model or brand, just to make sure you keep your options open and listen to EVERYTHING without bias.

Edited by Maxvla - 7/21/10 at 10:14pm

Easily. This is one of the first lessons you learn when auditioning speakers. There's a reason why the classic two--way monitor has been such a successful design over the years. Monitor speakers cannot hit deep bass notes as hard as most towers, but that's really the only downside. At an equal price point to a full tower, a monitor will have better definition, imaging, and will wallop the tower in soundstaging and the ability to "disappear" into the room as the source of music. $1500 can buy you a decent sounding full tower, or a fantastic monitor.