yep, more dumb questions! speaker suggestions.

O

Old Bob

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May 27, 2016
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:hey:

good afternoon!
I have been using this great forum for some months now.

I have improved my ancient system
now: oppo 105 cd player. just got, love it
triode trx 88PP tube, integrated amp. 50 watts/channel
two bowers wilkins CM6 S2 speakers cost about $2,000
two, REL subwoofers, T/5i

I welcome any and all advice. I do not have limitless funds. what I want, is best sound for the money. at this point, I THINK my weakest link is the speakers.

room is just 13 by 13 with 10 foot ceiling. listen to mostly full orchestral classical, not at deafening levels.

can you suggest 2 speakers, to go along with my two REL subs? they should be fairly efficient, considering my amp. what I have now, sounds very good. I am keeping the oppo, the amp, and the REL subs.

Price: $7500 or less. I am afraid to buy used equipment. I prefer not to get electrostatic speakers. open to all ideas! you can send private message, or answer here.

thank you so so much!
this forum has been so helpful! especially Mike Bovaird.
bob
 
Two local dealers both have new or almost new Quad 2805's at great prices. They could be awesome with your REL subs though they do like to be out in the room a bit.
 
Spatial M3 Turbo S. You can even test drive them for 60 days for the cost of shipping. Only $2795 factory direct.
 
Jack said:
Spatial M3 Turbo S. You can even test drive them for 60 days for the cost of shipping. Only $2795 factory direct.
Click to expand...

Great suggestion. Jack, do you think he has a room big enough for the 3 foot clearance?
 
Mike

Clayton's initial placement suggestion is 30 from the front edge of the baffle and then to work from there. I tried them in both systems from 30" to 54" and the biggest difference I found was the the bass area. Not much difference to me from there up. If he is going to run them with the T5's that would take care of that issue. Though i find them to have ample bass on their own, as you know just not what most people are used to, I ran them with two subs in each room because they were already there. I ran the subs in both systems at 50hz just as fill. If willing to take a chance on the shipping they are worth trying as the most you could be out is a couple hundred dollars which is much less than the hit on a pair of new speakers you buy and don't like. I just did it out of curiousity and ended up loving them. Was more than prepared to pay to ship them back if need be. He will not even give you an RMA until 45 days to make sure you have broken them in before making a decision. Another option in a room that size with subs is the Triton 5. I'm also partial to the Nola Boxer with subs and tubes. Or if you want a floorstander the Nola Contender. Also a great way to get more speaker than you intended is to look for dealer floor models or trade-ins.
 
Those Spatials never cease to amaze! I remember a certain guy who was the first to mention them. Wonder who that was? Hmmm. [emoji6]


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I know I had been following them since you bought the Statements it was only when the pricing got more in-line and the raves on AC kept on that I had to try them. He has a new speaker announcement coming soon with pricing a bit higher. Don't know if it will be unveiled at RMAF or not as he is in Germany finishing up a European production facility and Paul from Anti-Cable and Ryan from Red Dragon are manning his booth.
 
What is it you don't like about the B&W should be the question. Or, don't like what you are hearing in your system?

I know you said you love the Oppo, keep in mind, if your player doesn't retrieve any info from your disc, nothing you do downstream will allow you to hear the detail because it simply don't exist.

Sonist is a highly efficient speaker that uses a ribbon tweeter you may want to explore. You should look for something like that with high efficiency.

I've heard the Sopra, are they really tube friendly? My JBL's are rated at 94dB but I wouldn't try pushing them with tubes. It seems some speakers just like some current despite the sensitivity.
 
The Sonist is also an excellent choice and we have a member here that owns their top of the line model. The front loading would help in that smallish room and with the subs either of the monitors would work. I would love to hear the big one.
 
I'd recommend Devore Fidelity's Gibbons 3XL stand mounts.
Should work very nicely in smaller rooms and are known to image very well.

Have heard some very good things about Devore speakers on the whole.
 
THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!

Mr. Peabody. system sounds GREAT. BIG improvement from ancient system. listening to "paint it black" by the rolling stones, the treble seems pretty strident and harsh. on "lying eyes" by the Eagles, sounded great. maybe just some recordings are harsh????????????????

i am critically listening every day now, lots of types of music. i AM convinced, wrong or right, that my speakers are the weak link. the REL subs are superb. keep the ideas coming. and THANK YOU GUYS!!!!

best,

bob
 
Hello Bob. You have not indicated which part of the country that you live. Are their any audio dealers within a reasonable distance from you? Perhaps some road trips to hear some different speakers might be helpful in making your choice. Also attending one of the audio shows would give you the chance to get the "flavor" of many different brands. Also if there is an active audio society in your area, it would be another source of access to audition others systems.
Over the past several years I have had a multitude of speakers go thru here. Vandersteens, Legacy, Von Schweikert, Reference 3A, Coincident, Nola's & Sonus Faber to name a few. Most did not last longer than the initial audition.It can be frustrating.
As my amp power kept declining I kept looking for more efficient speakers and came across the Sonist line. I went for the Concerto 4's. They have been in my system for about a year now and check the majority of the boxes. Are they the perfect end all speaker? No. But in my room and system they perform at a very acceptable level.
A friend has a pair of Audiokenisses Zephrim 46's that are very nice and efficient enough to be used with a 300b (8 watts) amp. Well worth looking into.
Other speakers on my efficient "look for" list are Living Voice, Audio Note and DeVore.
Picking speakers and room integration have been the two most difficult challenges in my audio journey.
 
Hi Bob, indeed some recordings are worse than others, the Stones are a good example, especially the older material like on Hot Rocks. I can understand what you are looking for though, some speaker (gear) has a way of letting you know it's not such a great recording but still allows you to enjoy the music.
 
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