[ephemere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 883dave /img/forum/go_quote.gif Go forth and audition as many speakers as you can. Everyone has an idea of what is the "greatest" speaker to them, but they may not be that "great" to you. Take what others have to offer, compile a list and again...AUDITION as many as you can. DO NOT buy speakers on the recommendation of others.

This is the best advice given in this thread so far. Otherwise, this thread presents the appearance that the only good speakers in the world are planars/electrostatics and the Orion. That's dangerously misleading.

The second best advice is what Bredin is talking about. Don't forget about room acoustics.

 

[Bredin]

Well actually, the best advice is a combo of them both. All speakers preform different in different rooms. Listening to a speaker in one room, and then again in another room (still using the same equipment) and it will sound different. So actually, you have to listen to all speakers in your room, because your room has a unique sound.

Same with our ears and ideas. Everybody likes different things, and we also hear different. Going after advice can therefore be very misleading.

 

[Donald North]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edstrelow /img/forum/go_quote.gif Uneducated! You appear totally unaware of the basic failing of loudspeakers. Certainly speaker listening can be quite impressive, but is always lacking in accurate imaging because of crossfeed between speakers i.e. left speaker going to right ear and right speaker going to left ear. These are the "phantom channels" of loudspeaker listening and this is not what the microphone hears and is a form of distortion. When you think about it it's 2 complete channels of irrelevant sound. 100% distortion. Most of us have got used to this, unless you have tried one of the proprietary system designed to reduce it. The Polk SDA systems work fairly well. I still have their original model and in spite of my general preference for planars have not been tempted to replace them. I am also in agreement about the problems of getting accurate bass. You cannot get around room resonances which create serious frequency response anomalies in smaller rooms. These are 2 important aspects of sound in which good phones will lick even the best speakers since these defects are fundamental to the nature of speakers.

The human hearing mechanism is complex and these phantom channels are not fundamentally a problem. At low frequencies the human hearing detects direction through interaural time difference. At high frequencies, direction is detected through interaural amplitude differences. A proper stereophonic recording, such as made with 2 figure 8 microphones coincident and crossed at 90 degrees per Alan Blumlein, will accurately capture and reproduce over a pair of loudspeakers the stereophonic left-right image.

If a recording is created for playback through loudspeakers, then this is the proper mechanism. Likewise if made for headphone listening, then it should sound best through them. I love binaural recordings and it's unfortunate so few are made.

Imagining in rooms with loudspeakers is damaged by side wall reflections, as they usually are delayed by a few milliseconds (depending on room placement) compared to the direct sound and can disturb perceived image quality. Adding room treatment or using directional loudspeakers will reduce the amplitude of these reflections.

Low frequency standing waves can be reduced by using multiple woofers throughout the room. I like the sound of dipole woofers which have a figure 8 radiation pattern like planar speakers. For the same on-axis SPL, dipoles radiate 4.8dB less energy into the room. Thus, their in-room frequency response is smoother than enclosed woofers, be they ported or sealed.

 

[DeusEx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by btf1980 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the laugh this morning, I needed it!

Are those B&W CMs I see in your avatar?

Best headphones: ~$1500
Best speakers: A million?


Not much comparison. That and law of physics.

 

[Bredin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusEx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are those B&W CMs I see in your avatar? Best headphones: ~$1500 Best speakers: A million? Not much comparison. That and law of physics.

Depends on the acoustics. How good will a million dollar speaker sound in a tunnel? The headphone will sure sound great

 

[UncleDavid218]

Just out of curiosity, where in MN are you?

 

[Bredin]

MN? Just telling you that acoustics are very important in the hunt of great sound. No matter where you are, the surroundings will always effect the sound of a speaker.

HAHAHA! Miss understood, thought you were attacked me XD

 

[anetode]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleDavid218 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just out of curiosity, where in MN are you?

St. Paul southern suburbs

 

[Scooterboy]

Quite a few posters have stated the virtues of planar speakers such as Magneplanars and that they provide the "uber" sound. This is not really true. For one thing they are very sensitive to their room environment and placement and also to derive the best sound from them a very narrow sweet spot is required. The "Sweet Spot" requirement makes listening to them very much like listening to a quality headphone. You can refer to my signature for my background.

 

[Dinan]

I didn't even get down to your options before I was thinking one of the Focal Electra Be models (1027/1037) or an Mbl but the latter is not in your budget as you will need much more for electronics.

I have owned 4 pairs of Mbl speakers and have a pair of Focal Grande Utopias, 1027Be, and the new 826W.


PM me if you want a nice used pair of 1027 as I am getting the new 1028be.

Both the Focals and Mbls do the planar magic better than most planars and have ALL the rest of the magic too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anetode /img/forum/go_quote.gif There's a problem with my speakers. Or not a problem, really, but a shortcoming: I've been spoiled by the detail in high end phones (HD800/D7000) and the Dynaudio 122 towers don't measure up. They're far too modest both in musicality and the low end. So it's time Present contenders include the Focal Electra 1027/1037 Be, the PSB Platinum T6/T8s, and the wild card, the MBL 111 technopyramids of doom. The Focals and PSBs claim great detail and linearity, hopefully close to what I want. The MBLs I'm somewhat scared to take a chance on, seeing as they are described as finicky with installation. Which set of speakers would provide the most detail and maintain a good balance of highs/mids/lows? Are there any other contenders I should consider? My budget tops out at around six grand. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[btf1980]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusEx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are those B&W CMs I see in your avatar? Best headphones: ~$1500 Best speakers: A million? Not much comparison. That and law of physics.

Yes, they are CM9s.

 

[Skylab]

I owned Magnepans for years, and loved them. They are the very devil to drive properly though, as noted above. You need some serious juice. And in the wrong room, they can have way too much treble energy, but if the room is right (and yes, with speakers, the room matters a LOT), they can be beguiling. There are times I wish I still had my Maggies (and a separate hi-fi and room to put them in).

But when my kids were born, Maggies became out of the question. In looking for a pair of speakers to replace them that sounded very natural, I spent almost a year searching, and ultimately decided on the B&W Nautilus 800's. But the point is not WHAT I decided to buy - it's HOW. I made a CD of test tracks and listened to DOZENS of different speakers. And when I had narrowed it down to three choices, I listened to them (at one audio store) multiple times. Fortunately, since I had been a good customer of that store, they were willing to let me listen as much as I felt I needed. I finally decided, and in the 7 years since, I have never even for one moment thought of changing them to something else. But that is due to the process I went through. If you're going to make a serious investment in loudspeakers, you need to do the due diligence.

 

[anetode]

Fine, if you're gonna be so pragmatic about it

RMAF it is then.

 

[Skylab]

LOL! The thing is, with headphones it's not a big deal to just buy some and give 'em a whirl. Speakers tend to be more expensive, and harder to integrate into your rig, and room. Best to be careful, especially if you plan to drop some serious coin on a pair.

 

[Dinan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusEx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are those B&W CMs I see in your avatar? Best headphones: ~$1500 Best speakers: A million? Not much comparison. That and law of physics.

Nah, I would have to argue that....the Million dollar speaker systems out there sound pretty average.

Best speakers: $180K (Focal Grande Utopia EM)

2nd Best Speakers: $250K (MBL 101 X-Treme)