Best floor standing speakers for music

[yepimonfire]

http://www.klipsch.com/products/reference-premiere-floorstanding-speakers?model=rp-280f

I'm not a horn tweeter guy for long periods of time, but I like the overall performance for the genre you like best...these play loud, clear and solid bass...check out the promo...they include a sub I think for a limited time.

The new series have solved the “horn problems” while maintaining the benefits. Accurate response, controlled, uniform dispersion, and high efficiency. I listen to quite a lot of metal on my rp-150m, and have no complaints. The transient response is great, and they’ll pull every bit of detail out of recordings. Even lower budget black metal sounds pretty good on them.

The Rti a9 is a monster of a speaker, but I’d pick the 280f over it. If you ever decide to use your system for movies, the 280f will offer enough bass to stand in until you get a sub.

Sadly, the rp-280f will best all but the 115sw. I believe the free sub is one of their lower end models.

I’d look into open box models on eBay, you can usually get them for 2/3rds of the regular price. https://m.ebay.com/itm/Klipsch-RP-280F-Reference-Premiere-Speakers-2-SPEAKERS-OPEN-BOX-EBONY-COLOR/311948809580?epid=217552523&hash=item48a199156c:g:UcwAAOSwlV9WRR~0&_trkparms=pageci%3A397ff51e-bdef-11e7-a147-74dbd1804784%7Cparentrq%3A709126b415f0a861cf8e4d29fffb2f61%7Ciid%3A1


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[yepimonfire]

Damn these look nice! Definitely considering this pair. I wonder if a sub would be necessary with the double 8" woofers.

Nope. Especially not for music.

I would agree with KEW, an avr is much better than a regular stereo receiver. You get bass management, an onboard, often high quality DAC, music streaming services, and the ability to add more channels down the road. Heavy metal sounds great in 5.1.2 via Dolby surround

If you decided to add something less capable in the bass department for surrounds (such as rp-150ms), the AVR can re route all of the bass to the RP-280fs, essentially treating them as the sub. With Klipsch speakers, up to a certain point, power becomes irrelevant. My buddy bought a pair of KB-15 bookshelves off me and paired them with one of those crappy mini amps (the amp in question has actually been bench tested to deliver a measly 3.5w continuous into 8ohms) and just for fun, we decided to see how much volume we could get out of the amp/speaker combo. We measured about 95dB at 6’ away before the amp started clipping.

I’d try to go for Denon, they’re cheaper than Marantz, and unlike onkyo, they offer Audyssey room correction, which is one of the best.

 

[Bigbrotherone13]

Thanks for the advice man! Never heard of that brand. I'll have to check them out!

I recently bought the bookshelf version of the Canton Chrono 500 series and it is competitive against other speakers at the original MSRP. With the 50% discount, they are very good speakers.
However, I am a fan of bookshelf speakers with subwoofers (but you really need to get an AVR...instead of stereo receiver... to properly manage bass and roomEQ is very nice to have for the subs).


https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/cantchrono5092dcblka/canton-chrono-509.2-dc-7-3-way-floorstanding-speaker-black-each/1.html

 

[Bigbrotherone13]

Nope. Especially not for music.

I would agree with KEW, an avr is much better than a regular stereo receiver. You get bass management, an onboard, often high quality DAC, music streaming services, and the ability to add more channels down the road. Heavy metal sounds great in 5.1.2 via Dolby surround

If you decided to add something less capable in the bass department for surrounds (such as rp-150ms), the AVR can re route all of the bass to the RP-280fs, essentially treating them as the sub. With Klipsch speakers, up to a certain point, power becomes irrelevant. My buddy bought a pair of KB-15 bookshelves off me and paired them with one of those crappy mini amps (the amp in question has actually been bench tested to deliver a measly 3.5w continuous into 8ohms) and just for fun, we decided to see how much volume we could get out of the amp/speaker combo. We measured about 95dB at 6’ away before the amp started clipping.

I’d try to go for Denon, they’re cheaper than Marantz, and unlike onkyo, they offer Audyssey room correction, which is one of the best.

Good to know! Sounds like an AVR is the way to go. Any take on how those 280f's would compare to a set of Cerwin Vega xls 15s? Just curious because they both are in the same price range and seem like they can handle bass without a sub. Just for reference, the types of artists I would be listening to are like Bassnectar, Rage Against the Machine, Tool...

 

[zieglj01]

Thanks for the advice man! Never heard of that brand. I'll have to check them out!

They make some good stuff -- the Chrono series is nice

 

[yepimonfire]

Good to know! Sounds like an AVR is the way to go. Any take on how those 280f's would compare to a set of Cerwin Vega xls 15s? Just curious because they both are in the same price range and seem like they can handle bass without a sub. Just for reference, the types of artists I would be listening to are like Bassnectar, Rage Against the Machine, Tool...

Cerwin vega makes loud speakers with lots of bass but they’re not exactly accurate. The rp 280f is a MUCH better speaker.


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[2channel lover]

Good to know! Sounds like an AVR is the way to go. Any take on how those 280f's would compare to a set of Cerwin Vega xls 15s? Just curious because they both are in the same price range and seem like they can handle bass without a sub. Just for reference, the types of artists I would be listening to are like Bassnectar, Rage Against the Machine, Tool...

Admittedly, I haven't listened to any CVs in a long time. Great bass is an important part of any speaker performance, but the midrange typically gets more workout than the other drivers in music....the more detail and clarity from the mid and the tingle of the highs typically define the speaker...bass adds the feeling and emotion to it.

The Klipsch will give you better performance in the midrange/high than any CV I've heard and deliver on the low end....these are right up your alley imo.

This was maybe '82 maybe I was out of college, got my 1st career job managing a sports store in a mall in a small college town...Ole Miss...one of the rich frat boys came in and bought sneakers and we hit it off...he invites me to one of their frat parties. Young pretty coeds...I'm all in.

An old mansion served as the frat house and the party room was a large space on the main floor and music was blaring from a pair of Klipschorns. Loud, and clear...Those were my dream speakers for years. Then I grew up and realized they we never work in a 500 sf apartment.

 

[Bigbrotherone13]

Cerwin vega makes loud speakers with lots of bass but they’re not exactly accurate. The rp 280f is a MUCH better speaker.


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Thanks for the advice. I just ordered a pair of the 280f's and got the free 12" sub special with them!

 

[Bigbrotherone13]

Admittedly, I haven't listened to any CVs in a long time. Great bass is an important part of any speaker performance, but the midrange typically gets more workout than the other drivers in music....the more detail and clarity from the mid and the tingle of the highs typically define the speaker...bass adds the feeling and emotion to it.

The Klipsch will give you better performance in the midrange/high than any CV I've heard and deliver on the low end....these are right up your alley imo.

This was maybe '82 maybe I was out of college, got my 1st career job managing a sports store in a mall in a small college town...Ole Miss...one of the rich frat boys came in and bought sneakers and we hit it off...he invites me to one of their frat parties. Young pretty coeds...I'm all in.

An old mansion served as the frat house and the party room was a large space on the main floor and music was blaring from a pair of Klipschorns. Loud, and clear...Those were my dream speakers for years. Then I grew up and realized they we never work in a 500 sf apartment.

Awesome to hear man! I just ordered the Klipsch 280f's and got he free sub with their special

 

[yepimonfire]

Thanks for the advice. I just ordered a pair of the 280f's and got the free 12" sub special with them!

Awesome. Which sub did you get with them? The R-12sw or 112sw?


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[yepimonfire]

Admittedly, I haven't listened to any CVs in a long time. Great bass is an important part of any speaker performance, but the midrange typically gets more workout than the other drivers in music....the more detail and clarity from the mid and the tingle of the highs typically define the speaker...bass adds the feeling and emotion to it.

The Klipsch will give you better performance in the midrange/high than any CV I've heard and deliver on the low end....these are right up your alley imo.

This was maybe '82 maybe I was out of college, got my 1st career job managing a sports store in a mall in a small college town...Ole Miss...one of the rich frat boys came in and bought sneakers and we hit it off...he invites me to one of their frat parties. Young pretty coeds...I'm all in.

An old mansion served as the frat house and the party room was a large space on the main floor and music was blaring from a pair of Klipschorns. Loud, and clear...Those were my dream speakers for years. Then I grew up and realized they we never work in a 500 sf apartment.

If I had the funds and space, I’d totally use a pair of KPT Jubilee’s for my front L/R. I’ve never heard klipschorns, but I’ve always been put off by the required corner placement, and need for completely bare walls for proper imaging. I’d love to own the fortes if I could ever scrape together the cash. That or the RF 7 III. With the dual 10” woofers, and a compression driver versus dome tweeter mounted to the horn, I’d imagine the dynamic range is incredible.


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[Bigbrotherone13]

Awesome. Which sub did you get with them? The R-12sw or 112sw?


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This is the one it came with: http://www.klipsch.com/products/reference-subwoofers?model=r-112sw

 

[2channel lover]

If I had the funds and space, I’d totally use a pair of KPT Jubilee’s for my front L/R. I’ve never heard klipschorns, but I’ve always been put off by the required corner placement, and need for completely bare walls for proper imaging. I’d love to own the fortes if I could ever scrape together the cash. That or the RF 7 III. With the dual 10” woofers, and a compression driver versus dome tweeter mounted to the horn, I’d imagine the dynamic range is incredible.


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What's funny...I get transferred to a larger store in Tampa a couple of yrs later and finally have the funds to buy the Klipschorns...go to the dealer in town and after a demo of the Klipsch and hearing some British made Linn bookshelf speakers...the owner was really making an effort for me to get the Linns...With a 1 bedroom apartment with roughly 500 sf...I bought the Linns and loved them...it was the right move. My only mistake was not getting the Linn turntable...the way those thing were built, I'd probably still have it today. I had sold my LP collection prior to moving to FL and never thought I would go back (I haven't).

Those were with my mains for about 10-12 years...Married now, we'd recently moved from NJ to ATL and bought our 1st home and I decided I could handle a floorstander again. I'm not sure why, but I never circled back to Klipsch....the B&W 804s was my next purchase and 20 yrs later I'm finally upgrading those.

 

[2channel lover]

Awesome to hear man! I just ordered the Klipsch 280f's and got he free sub with their special

Congrats!

 

[MrBoat]

Cerwin vega makes loud speakers with lots of bass but they’re not exactly accurate. The rp 280f is a MUCH better speaker.


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A coworker recently bought the CV's that Lvnthhd linked to in his earlier post. They actually sound quite nice. Half of what is posted about CV speakers by the majority of what amounts to armchair audiophiles these days, is less accurate than CV speakers, internet snobbery being what it is.

I was actually quite surprised by them, having been exposed to more 'accurate' speakers lately for comparison sake. I thought I was going to finally get what critics were on about with all of this hoity-toity measurement stuff.

So now I'm back on the fence with computer age audio, figuring it better just to trust my ears from now on. . . . again. If CV is making speakers that are "less accurate," I'm going to have to believe someone there has a reason for making them that way, outside of the economics of this whole deal.

 

[2channel lover]

A coworker recently bought the CV's that Lvnthhd linked to in his earlier post. They actually sound quite nice. Half of what is posted about CV speakers by the majority of what amounts to armchair audiophiles these days, is less accurate than CV speakers, internet snobbery being what it is.

I was actually quite surprised by them, having been exposed to more 'accurate' speakers lately for comparison sake. I thought I was going to finally get what critics were on about with all of this hoity-toity measurement stuff.

So now I'm back on the fence with computer age audio, figuring it better just to trust my ears from now on. . . . again. If CV is making speakers that are "less accurate," I'm going to have to believe someone there has a reason for making them that way, outside of the economics of this whole deal.

Many of us have not heard truly flat transparent speakers. What does "flat" really sound like? I think the answer to that should be nothing...it should simply sound like the recording...nothing added, nothing taken away.

This has little to do with CV, but my point is since the vast majority of speakers are not flat and many of us don't really know what flat sounds like or really care to know. (an audiophile quest I suppose is a flat audio system). I can see how we can "like" a speaker that may be coloring the sound in some way.

My B&W804s have been referred to as "warm" by some people...to me "warm" sounds normal, warm sounds great...my Salks are reported to be ruler flat...In about a week or so I'll be able to do some A/B work to see what "flat" sounds like..

 

[yepimonfire]

Many of us have not heard truly flat transparent speakers. What does "flat" really sound like? I think the answer to that should be nothing...it should simply sound like the recording...nothing added, nothing taken away.

This has little to do with CV, but my point is since the vast majority of speakers are not flat and many of us don't really know what flat sounds like or really care to know. (an audiophile quest I suppose is a flat audio system). I can see how we can "like" a speaker that may be coloring the sound in some way.

My B&W804s have been referred to as "warm" by some people...to me "warm" sounds normal, warm sounds great...my Salks are reported to be ruler flat...In about a week or so I'll be able to do some A/B work to see what "flat" sounds like..

If you take the room out of the equation, I get +2dB, -1dB with my speakers.

. That’s about as flat as you’re gonna get. Even with room reflections, above the Schroeder transition I get +-3dB.

Simply measuring flat on axis does not mean that the sound will arrive at the listening position flat. A flat off axis response is necessary as well, since we hear both the direct sound and the reflected sound from early reflections.

Those were taken in the far field, as you can see the 0 degree measurement drops off at 14khz, since the waveguide drops off at 14khz, there’s little reflected sound above 14khz.

Many speakers have an off axis response that rapidly declines with frequency, meaning a majority of reflected sound has the most energy below ~8khz, needless to say, the combined sound power response that is heard at the MLP won’t be accurate anymore with speakers like that.

Speakers that have well controlled directivity off axis have an advantage, because the timbre doesn’t change from room to room or with placement differences. I have a feeling this is one of the reasons two speakers with a +-3dB anechoic response can be placed in a room side by side and sound totally different.

The other issue is that a +-3dB response really isn’t perfect, most humans can resolve differences of .5dB to 1dB.

I have no desire to hear colored speakers, and I can usually pick out when one is and what part of the response is mucked up. Colored speakers might sound good with one thing, but bad with another. Flat speakers sound good with everything.

If you want to hear what flat sounds like, listen to some high end studio monitors, then compare those with your speakers.


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[MrBoat]

I have no desire to hear colored speakers, and I can usually pick out when one is and what part of the response is mucked up. Colored speakers might sound good with one thing, but bad with another. Flat speakers sound good with everything.

What if the recording has been colored? You have never heard the difference between a band's studio version vs. live?

I used to think I cared about such things. I woke up back in audio to find speaker designers were designing speakers from simulations. A great place to start, I'm sure, but I'd buy a beer for the first one who admitted their preferences for the voicing may not suit all genres that they have no real passionate experience listening to. Or, that would dare go beyond the safe bet of audiophile grade recordings.

'My' best floor standing for 'all' music are 3 ways. JBL S312. Note the little waveguided tweeters.

I've been curious as of late the real difference between 2-way and 3-way speakers with regard to which is more forgiving to a broader variety of recordings or music.

 

[yepimonfire]

What if the recording has been colored? You have never heard the difference between a band's studio version vs. live?

I used to think I cared about such things. I woke up back in audio to find speaker designers were designing speakers from simulations. A great place to start, I'm sure, but I'd buy a beer for the first one who admitted their preferences for the voicing may not suit all genres that they have no real passionate experience listening to. Or, that would dare go beyond the safe bet of audiophile grade recordings.

'My' best floor standing for 'all' music are 3 ways. JBL S312. Note the little waveguided tweeters.

I've been curious as of late the real difference between 2-way and 3-way speakers with regard to which is more forgiving to a broader variety of recordings or music.

Coloring music is an artistic choice, but an accurate speaker will play back that coloration as it was recorded. The point isn’t to get “live” sound from speakers, since most recorded music (outside of acoustic or classical) is intentionally processed anyways.

I want speakers to play back exactly what was recorded, not add its own flavor to it. If you want certain coloration added to music, use an eq or tubes, but pick the accurate speaker. I sometimes bump the sub volume up 3dB and add 3dB of boost to 40 & 25hz when listening to bass heavy electronic music, but a speaker that naturally had those colorations would sound horrible with something like an acoustic guitar.

Harman has done tons of research regarding this, and almost always, people prefer neutral, flat speakers with uniform directivity.


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[William Lemmerhirt]

What if the recording has been colored? You have never heard the difference between a band's studio version vs. live?

I used to think I cared about such things. I woke up back in audio to find speaker designers were designing speakers from simulations. A great place to start, I'm sure, but I'd buy a beer for the first one who admitted their preferences for the voicing may not suit all genres that they have no real passionate experience listening to. Or, that would dare go beyond the safe bet of audiophile grade recordings.

'My' best floor standing for 'all' music are 3 ways. JBL S312. Note the little waveguided tweeters.

I've been curious as of late the real difference between 2-way and 3-way speakers with regard to which is more forgiving to a broader variety of recordings or music.

I have always enjoyed mine too mr Boat. Not the be all end all but the French sourced tweeter and Greg Timbers design are really damn good IMO. In fact, my former surrounds are from the same line. S-38 mirrored pair monitors. 8” 3 ways. They image like crazy and sound great too. I may be putting them up for sale very soon to finance my Atmos installation. I’m going to miss them.
Edit: mine are actually the “II” series with silver drivers.