Speakers

Visited a local dealer today to audition some speakers before heading off to RMAF. Source component: Marantz DV6001 (DVDP) Amplifier: Marantz SR5003 (A/V receiver) The dealer had a sweet setup, a bunch of speakers were all lined up against the wall and there was an electronic switch panel to switch among them at will. Speakers I listened to: - Monitor Audio RS1 (bookshelf) - Monitor Audio RS8 (tower) - PSB Alpha B1 (bookshelf) - PSB Image T55 (tower) - PSB Image T65 (tower) Scattered impressions: First I'll start by saying I vastly preferred the Monitor Audio RS8 among all the others. It took a while for me to develop the preference, there was a wow fa…

Any recommendations? I don't have a price range. Just something that sounds clear and balanced. Biggie.

Hi, I am behind about 4 years, but apparently these are nice speakers. The lowthers have a new home, and the quads should be a nice fit. At one point there was a dealer that a lot of you guys went through for a nice price, that I can't remember, but if you had another source, let me know.

I don't think there is a general "I just heard these cool/sucky speakers" thread so I figure I can start one. I was thinking about consolidating and maybe getting my system down to two pairs: a nearfield monitors for late night listening and full range speaks for all out assault. So that is why I have being annoying a lot of hi-end sales people nowdays Yesterday I went to a few shops in NYC to listen to some stuff. First was a system with Devore Gibbons 9 with Shindo and Lab47 gear behind them. I did not like what I heard unfortunately. Dry and grainy, with shallow bass and strange coloration. I listened for an hour with a lot of different music. Listened to L…

Brought home a pr. of these amps to try with the Harbeths to see how 25wpc 845 would do with them. They use 1 pr. of 6sn7 and a single 211/845 power tube each. (monoblocks) they are Chinese made. Anyone have any info on them? I have always been a big fan of 845 based amps, and after Axpona i have had the itch to try one. If these work out I might try something a little nicer and more powerful like the Cary 211 or Cayin 9088 in my system.

Hey everyone, quick question for the speaker guys: I assembled my speaker system around a pair of KEF XQ40s and later on upgraded to the Jamo R907s, but never got round to upgrading the integrated amp (Marantz PM11-S2), which wasn't really up to the task. However, a few weeks ago I managed to snatch a pair of Bel Canto REF1000s monoblocks and couldn't believe how much of an upgrade it was. Turns out I had never really heard those speakers. My first idea was to use the Marantz as a pre-amp, but when I set-up the GS-X there I realized that the Marantz wasn't really up there as a pre either. So now I'm wondering about what options I should entertain at around $2K, ma…

Link Warning: do not engage, this guy is most probably a troll. But if anyone lives near this guy, definitely try to get yourself invited up for a listen.

Any of you guys tried any of the old ADS with a SET amp? I decided to set up a listening room in my library this weekend. I'm planning my first full range driver DIY this spring but wanted something reasonable but dynamic in the meantime. I went to this local pawnshop known to have some vintage gear and stumbled across a pair of 10/10 ADS L570's. Picked em up for $150 and brought em home. Initially I was very skeptical as not knowing the sensitivity of this model, and knowing they aren't Rogers LS5A's. Thus far I am very pleasantly pleased. IMO unsurpassed bass extension and impact in a "bookshelf" speaker. Speed is quite nice. Transients IMO are spot on. I've ran pretty …

Title pretty much says it all...aside from also wanting to be able to listen to the Frozen soundtrack for the billionth time. They will need to be bookshelf with a footprint no larger than 12" w x 14" d. I am open to suggestions... going back in time to prevent Frozen from ever happening would be most preferable. But, a decent alternative might be some Ascend Sierra 2's. Does Beats make speakers yet?

Well, my Harmon Kardon AVR 85 is giving up the ghost faster than I had hoped. Since I have the Smyth Research Realiser and plan to use that inline with pre outs from a surround processor to speaker amps (not for awhile, may end up with active monitors mainly in the future), I am focusing on separates now. No need for amp(s) yet, just the front end processing. HDMI switching is not a priority for me at all, since my TV has 4 HDMI inputs, and I'm only using one right now. So, I have plenty of room for expansion. I also plan on eventually giving in and getting an Oppo BDP-83, which from what I hear has excellent onboard decoding of lossless high res audio (DD True…

So what was the consensus for this -- the question being, what's the best cheapest "totable" speaker dock/pair of actives/whatevs for the iPod. AudioEngine A5's? Quad 12L? Martin-Logan CLX? Bose? I guess the single thing I would miss the most is not distorting at medium volumes in the mid-field. Any 2.1 systems worth looking at that have any decent bass? I'm considering something like this or even ugly like this, but I suspect the latter of a midrange suckout (tweeters and woofers, no mids), and the former of boombox sound (doesn't go loud* enough well). * And by loud, I don't mean party loud, I mean just normal for most other people loud.

so, if you had 3k to spend, which would you get? i've decided against going the hi-eff + set/jfet route... i'd like to stick with an AB amp >60w + tube pre. i know what i like when i hear it, but everything i like is too expensive ) fwiw, if money were no object, i'd get a pair of b&w 802d. if i go over budget and pickup a new pair of 804s's ($4500), my local dealer is willing to give me a generous trade-in (basically 99% of what i paid new) once i have enough for the 802d ($14000)... and i know that if i change my direction, i can get really good resale value on agon for any of the b&w line (speaking from experience, having sold 3 pairs of b&w's …

Looking to get a set of active studio monitors. Having a hard time deciding between a set of coaxial's such as Equator or PreSonus or ribbon's such as Emotiva or Adam. Both have their pros and cons, but there is no way for me to try all of them in my office. Budget is about $1,500.

Yay - new gear acquisitions to help ease the burdens of life... As to why I bought it... Well I must admit I like to listen fairly loud at night, as I'm all alone for blocks from 12am to 5am. I thought the 35 Watts of the restored Eico HF-87 (cathode biased, quad of EL34) was enough into the 93db/Watt Tannoys, as the sound it yielded was for the most part super-clean. Funny thing I only recently discovered about hard-clipping on these tube amps, though - it sounds a LOT like the light crackling you get from minor flaws on a record. So, when it did clip it was somewhat camouflaged, though I still should of made the connection WAY earlier...yep I still feel pretty stupi…

Want to play some classical stuff for the little one (get them started on hi-fi while they are young What's the range of dB (C-weighted) safe for babies < 6month?

I have a rather cramped situation that requires somewhat creative furniture placement, by using a single room as a bedroom, electronic workshop, and listening room. As it is now, things are fairly good and the speakers (Maggie 1.6) sound wonderful. However I want to build a new workbench that is significantly larger, and it would require getting rid of a set of shelves and making the room too cramped, or rearranging furniture to make better use of the middle of the room rather than everything against the wall. Moving the listening position near the middle (by setting the desk in the middle so I could listen from there) is a no go, because there is a massive bass null a…

http://www.naim-audio.com/products/supernait.html Integrated Amp (80wpc) with built in DAC. A multitude of digital and analog inputs. Price tag ~$5000. Out of my league but looks like fun. Anybody here heard one?

Listened to these speakers last week at a local dealer. Impressions below written from saved notes. Source Component: Rotel RCD-1072 Amplifiers: Rotel RC-1070 pre-amp & RMB-1075 power amp Impressions: I started off by going straight into the 684, as it's the cheaper model. However, I immediately realized that my listening would be futile without a comparison of some kind, and there were a bunch of other B&W speakers in the room that could be switched between at will, so I ABX'd the 684 against the next-higher-up model, the 683, for all of my listening. Reference CD tracks included: - Alison Krauss & Union Station - New Favorite - "Let Me Touch Yo…

Look what I found on craigslist recently. A few days ago, this system was up for sale and the asking price was $200. And then, yesterday night, I search for "turntable" and find that the listing was changed from $200 to FREE. I immediately sent email saying I'd take it, and a couple of minutes later, I receive a reply asking me to call that night. I talked to a lady for about half an hour. Apparently, the system was bought for her partner's mother around the mid-80s who has since passed away. The system has sat virtually unused for years, and she wants it out of the house. She said that someone else had responded and was willing to rip some vinyl as a trade f…

I noticed that Acoustic Energy finally released a floorstander model in their Reference Series. My pair of 12-year-old Aegis Two speakers (made in Malaysia) sound pretty good for super-cheap $200 speakers – it makes me wonder what they've done since then. Online reviews of the Reference 1 and the rarer Reference 2 seem pretty positive... has anybody heard them?

As part of the renovation of my house, I moved some the cabinets in my kitchen, and there's no longer room for the hutch on my computer desk. Said hutch has held my ancient-but-beloved EV Sentry studio monitors for years. I can't set the EVs on the desk because they're not magnetically shielded in the slightest. I'm in the market for some replacements, cost $500-1,500. That's a big range I realize, but house repairs have uh, complicated my financial situation, and I'm unsure how much I'll be able to spend. I'm leaning toward unpowered, unless there's a great deal on powered monitors in that price range. I used a Hafler P125 (60WPC) to drive the EVs, but I also hav…

I have a bit of a dilemma with the audio rig at my desk. I had been using a pair of Acoustic Research AR4x's that I pulled out of a dumpster, but with my new monitor there isn't enough room for them to fit properly. I need to get some new bookshelf speakers that are 7" wide or smaller, and don't require a subwoofer crossed over way high to avoid sounding thin. I have no idea what's good on the market right now, which is made even harder to figure out due to the size constraint. So if anybody happens to know some nice speakers that are that small, I'd be very grateful for the advice.

Anyone have any opinions on this vintage receiver as both a headphone amp and a speaker amp? Seems extremely popular even today and people say it mates well with some ESLs like Quads. Problem is it needs an assload of tubes and the p2p rat's nest wiring scares me.

I'm looking for speaker amps for a pair of 92 dB, 8-12 ohm speakers, AudioKinesis Jazz Modules. So far what I've been looking at has been anywhere from 8 to ~50 watts, although I guess I'm shooting for the 16-30 watt range. I'd like to get your guys' recommendations on brands/amps to look into. Right now, any price range is fine- I'll narrow it down later. This is for a home system for next year, but I'm antsy and like planning ahead. In particular, I'm interested in any cool-running amps in this range. All I've come up with so far are the Red Wine stuff and Resolution S30 (part of the Opus system). I don't know what livable heat output levels would be, and want a back…

(large pic) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1168044/headphone%20rig%202014/Stands-10-30-14-2.png This morning I noticed a loose section of the gasket on my speaker. Where the jigsaw parts meet. I very lightly pressed it back on to the sticky backing, but am not sure if the back is something fragile or not. Anyone know how big a deal this is?