[GirgleMirt]

hey! So a small update, went to a few places after work.

actually its long you might want to stick to the end
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One place looked very good (had TONS of speakers), but I was only there 20ish minutes since the place closed at 6...

Anyhow, the guy there looked very knowledgeable, and said that for the buck for buck, a bookshelf would give a better sound than a floorstander, especially in a small room.

His suggested brand for the price would be Whaferdale, but for my kind of budget, room size, etc.. He recommended, a Quad I think it was L1 or L2 not sure, (by whaferdale if I'm not mistaken) 999$can (OUCH MU WALLET!!), or a KEF Q1 slightly less expensive, 750ish if I remember, or, and I tell you the truth I've never actually considered it as a serious choice until I heard it, a Totem

, it was a slim one, either the arro or sttaf, don't think he mentionned the price.

Anyhow, supposedly, canadian products being cheaper in canada is bull since they're manufactured in china or I don't know where and they don't come cheaper than any other brand... Not only that, he said they didn't sound as good... In a quick 10 minutes, he asked what kind of music I listened to, told him I had a cd picked up The Division Bell by Pink Floyd. Put in track3 (didn't really have a track in mind at that time), he put in a cdplayer, and sound played thru Energy C5 floorstanding speakers. Sounded pretty good I thought!

He then put the cd in another cdplayer, and the Totem Arro (strange, very slim speakers floorstanding) played. At the time, it sounded good, but still similar to the Energy, but still better, couldn't really put my finger on what. Then new cdplayer & the Quad (bookshelf), and again, still better then before I thought... couldn't really put my finger where... So I asked to put the Energy back. Well... What do you know... It sounded like shiot

Well, not really, but still, hard to explain, but where was the detail, ?coherence?? The song, Poles apart, has a guitar playing fast notes, on the last 2 speakers, I could hear each string as it was being picked, but, with the Energy, much much harder to hear, and sounded like it was... I don't know.. mixed and faded behind, not clear and distinct picks like the 2 last speakers...

Anyway, he was closing, going back tomorrow for sure since he'll close at 8 instead of 6. After some other non-related speaker shopping, I went to another place who unfortunately, in the price range, only had B&W speakers. Bookshelfs and Standing, listened to the first one, the 601 which sounded pretty good, but not as good as the Quads or Arro (still it was a good 350$ cheaper), not as much detail, sounded a bit more like the Energy.. Then he made me listen to another higher end model (CM2?), who unfortunately was more expensive than the Quad, but didn't seen to surpass it in sound quality.. Also a bit lacking in bass to my ears, but still I didn't really notice the bass on the Arro & Quad either so I can't really make a comparison there.

Oh, I quickly heard a PSB 5T at another place also, very Energy like, seemed to lack the 'each string played' detail of the Quad & Totem.

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Anyhow, so what do you think about the Quad / Wharfedale, Totem and KEF's being recommended?

So far I've heard Quad 11L (might be 12L) and Totem Arro, and to me they both sounded better than PSB 5T, Energy C5 and B&W's.

There's still a lot of speakers that I haven't heard, and I'm just curious to know if anyone relates or differs from what I got so far! Comments, suggestions anything welcomed

 

[Sovkiller]

On this price range I should look into a pair Dynaudio monitors or so, nice sound but they are expensive, and hard to drive....

 

[coho66]

yeah, i'd go with paradigm, energy, psb, athena, sound dynamics; anything made in canada as that will keep your costs down. when i sold equipment i recalled getting slaughtered on exchange with U.S. and British made stuff. I don't think you'll go wrong with any entry-mid speakers from those manufacturers as i think you'd need better equipment to hear any better. if you want to spend more and get a better speaker i'd go with the paradigm reference stuff...is a great value and mates well with lots of equipment and applications.

 

[Gallaine]

Quote:

Originally posted by GirgleMirt Not only that, he said they didn't sound as good...

I would be very suspicious of such a blanket statement. Synergy plays a big role in how any component will sound in a system. Throw-in room acoustics and you have a whole lot of variables determining whether or not a particular component works for you. There are also alot of Axiom and Paradigm reviewers/owners, both professional and just plain 'ole joes who would disagree with the assertion that Canadian-speakers are inferior; I'll admit that I don't know if Axiom is made in Canada but they are a Canadian-based company.

If you did not do this, I would suggest taking along 5 or 6 discs representative of the type of music you listen to. And be sure to ask to be left alone while listening - or at least to be in control of when to change tracks or discs. If the store has similar equipment to what you have at home ask that the sales representative build a system with it so that you can get a better idea of what the speakers will actually sound like in your system (that's all that really counts anyway).

 

[coho66]

"Synergy plays a big role in how any component will sound in a system. Throw-in room acoustics and you have a whole lot of variables determining whether or not a particular component works for you. "

gallaine - i agree

 

[GirgleMirt]

"Not only that, he said they didn't sound as good... "

Well he was probably talking about what he had, which was Energy, and the rest I'm not sure. Anyway, there's a lot of dealers with canadian speakers, for sure give them another listen at another dealer with a different source, so that I might get a better idea of the true speaker's worth.

Unfortunately, I might not be able to hear Axiom as I've heard they're hard to find. But the rest of canadian I'll probably get ample chances to hear.

Quad: http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/lseriesbroch.pdf
Energy C5: http://www.energy-speakers.com/conno...kers1_c-5.html

Also, remember the price, the Energy C5 floorstanding was 800$ish cdn I think, where the Quad were bookshelf at 999$. So we might be taking into account added costs for the floorstanding materials, not only that its about 3 times the size of the Quad(more wood, bigger ship, build, etc..), it has 2 'main' speakers + 1 tweeter, where the Quad only has 1 main and 1 tweeter.

The salesman didn't elaborate on bookshelfs sounding 'better' than floorstanding, but as I had originally thought, there must be a kind of a quality vs quantity relation going on here. For the same price you get a MUCH bigger box and two extra speakers. So quality has to be affected..

Take B&W 601 vs 602. Same speaker, but one is floorstanding and the other is bookshelf. The 602 is like a hundred bucks more. Add a 2nd speaker to the 602, that would again raise the price. So we're kinda comparing different beasts here, and I think its pretty logical that bookshelf vs floorstanding, buck for buck, that the bookshelf sounds better.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Quote:

Originally posted by GirgleMirt I think its pretty logical that bookshelf vs floorstanding, buck for buck, that the bookshelf sounds better.

Usually. But, don’t forget the added cost of getting quality stands.

 

[pbirkett]

Probably not too common over the pond, but I'd recommend some Mission M51's or Volare V61's. I've compared the Missions with the likes of the Quad 11L's, B&W 602S3 and KEF Q1. Beats them all in one way or another. Outstanding bass performance that is prominent but also tuneful and agile, plenty of detail but not analytical, and they image like nothing else I've heard for the price. Worth a consideration at least....

 

[jefemeister]

I have the Paradigm Reference Studio 40. I have a similar aprtment setup to what you're trying to put together.

They aren't terribly afraid of being put into corners, they put out a decent amount of good-sounding bass but don't expect them to fill a large room, the higher frequencies are a bit more rolled off than I care for but a lot of the detail of cymbals and the like is quite good. The midrange is as good as you could hope for in this price range. That's where they shine. Volcals sound warm and full. They throw a pretty believable soundstage too.

They definitely don't sound like mega-buck speakers, but they don't try to be. That's probably the best thing that can be said about them.

Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Jeff

 

[GirgleMirt]

yep, well... after a hard days work and listening to a few cd players, amps, speakers, my mind is melted...

Tried Totem Arro (1300$cdn/950US), mites, Rokk(700$cdn/513$US), Paradigm Monitor 3 & 5 (475$cdn 15% TAX INCLUDED / 350$US, the 5 is 100$cdn more I think) and a Wharfedale discontinued due to ripping off the top rotating tweeter of B&W (dont remember the model) 500$cdn+tx.

For a third of the price of the Arro and almost half of the Totem rokks, the Paradigm monitor 3 can stand proud. Definitely a quality speaker. The wharfedale sounded good too, but was with a higher end cdplayer & amp so not sure if it means anything.

My mind is dead now, and I'm pretty mixed up.. Arro sounded darn good but 1300$, Paradigm didn't sound as good, but they're not really in the same league either.. Same for the Rokks... All it seems I can say is that they're all good in their own way... Arro bass and detail, sound is just soo good.. Rokk, bass isn't quite there vs arro, less detail, but less $$ too...

Paradigm & rokk weren't at the same place, so hard to have a direct comparison, but... I'd be dishonest if I'd say night and day difference, but I'd still say rokk > paradigm. But again less $$ for Paradigm, almost half price...

So I don't know.. lol.. looks like finding a good set of speakers isn't the challenge, moreso determining which one would fit better for me... And I haven't even started with the cdplayer/amp synergy and all...

1300$cdn is probably a bit over budget, but then again it would suck to buy something cheaper, and later on say: "crap I wish I had spent a few hundred bucks more and gotten the other one!!"

Bah, anyway, hard choices! LOL, and there's even more (good) speakers I haven't even heard yet... great!

OH... And unbelievable the difference between a 600$(440$US) nad amp I think it was and a 5000$(3700$US) Conrad tube amp...

Same cdplayer, same speakers (totem Rokk)... I would have never imagined SUCH a difference.... Sounded like he took the Rokks and replaced them with speakers worth 5 times more... That also speaks volumes for the Rokks, but anyway, that amp is slightly over my budget!

Oh, and a funny fact, I'm probably gonna stop by the Totem headquarters tomorrow. Nice little half hour bike ride!!!

 

[00940]

Quote:

Originally posted by GirgleMirt His suggested brand for the price would be Whaferdale

hehe, this guy has some good taste

The little 8.1 are real good for the price.

 

[D-EJ915]

The Paradigm Monitor 3 has kind of sloppy bass, that's why I didn't recommend that one, the Monitor 5 is much better.

 

[PinkFloyd]

http://www.bandor.com made solely by women and a superb small speaker!

 

[MacDEF]

For your particular use, I second the recommendation above for the Triangle Titus. You can get them for around US$500. Check out the online reviews

 

[Trawlerman]

Quote:

Originally posted by zeplin GirgleMirt, some of KEF's bookshelves are awesome. go to kef.com to check them out! the thing about KEF is their Uni-Q design, which allows the wonderful imaging that they produce, to fill the whole room rather than one sweet spot. then, to find the right price, go to yahoo and type in the specific speaker that will work for you, and follow that by typing in "for sale" and a bunch of websites will come up with great prices on KEF speakers. if i were you, i would look at the X-Q or the Uni-Q series. they both have the tweeter set in the middle of the mid range drivers. i bought the Q5 towers in the cherry wood colour, and they are both great sounding and incredibly beautiful. their sound can be described as on the neutral side with a slight hint of warmness and great bass to boot! check em out that's one good thing about choosing speakers, there are literally hundreds of choices and great deals to choose from, which can prove to be kind of difficult sometimes. good luck to you

The KEF Q series are a great speaker. I've got a pair of Q15.2s that take pride of place alongside my Spendors / Quads and ProAcs. They are that good!

To my mind, the only downside is that i've found that to get the best from the Q15.2s one needs to have a amplifier that can put some power it's way. It tend to sound very ordinary otherwise.

In the right setup it can rival speakers at least 2-3 times its price.


I'm very impressed with the Q15.2s