Looking For Speaker Recommendation

[AudioBuffCO]

Hey All,

What speakers (or speaker brands) would you recommend I check out?
My budget is $2,000.00 max for the Mains and Center. I will replace my Surrounds at a future date.

I am wanting speakers that are great for movies, and especially great for music - natural sounding, with the tweeters leaning more toward warm, rather than bright/shrill, which is a characteristic I've often read associated with Klipsch.

I listen mostly to Classic Rock & Prog Rock, Acoustic Guitar/Folk along with some Blues & Classical.

Thank You In Advance,

Tom

 

[Doug01]

Following

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Beave]

Towers or stand mounts?

Will you be using a subwoofer or no?

Size of room and distance you'll typically be from speakers? (Pics of room if you have them)

Typical listening levels - soft, moderate, ear-bleeding?

 

[Russdawg1]

Ascend Sierra 2’s across the front should land you at $2000. They use a RAAL tweeter and are perfect for music. No bright or harshness from them and are almost perfectly neutral.

Philharmonic BMR’s should be even better across the front and they also use the same RAAL tweeter. Might be a little over $2000 but well worth it. Email Dennis and ask for cost of an LCR.

 

[AudioBuffCO]

Towers - Yes using Sub - 12' from main speakers
308 sq ft / 2500 cubic ft
Moderate to very loud listening levels.

 

[AudioBuffCO]

Ascend Sierra 2’s across the front should land you at $2000. They use a RAAL tweeter and are perfect for music. No bright or harshness from them and are almost perfectly neutral.

Philharmonic BMR’s should be even better across the front and they also use the same RAAL tweeter. Might be a little over $2000 but well worth it. Email Dennis and ask for cost of an LCR.

OK - Thanks

 

[shadyJ]

For wide dynamic range yet warm, I might look into the Fluance Signature tower or MTM speakers like the Outlaw Audio LCRv2. You might also look at something from Revel's Concerto2 line.

 

[ryanosaur]

Ascend Sierra 2’s across the front should land you at $2000. They use a RAAL tweeter and are perfect for music. No bright or harshness from them and are almost perfectly neutral.

Philharmonic BMR’s should be even better across the front and they also use the same RAAL tweeter. Might be a little over $2000 but well worth it. Email Dennis and ask for cost of an LCR.

Highly recommend the BMRs... should come in right at 2k for a pair plus a center. The Raal tweeters are amazing. As I understand, there are some slight differences in the tweeters that Dennis and David at Ascend use... I had to wait for Dennis to get his order cos David ordered first!
Regardless... I prefer a 3-way design, and I am absolutely loving the BMRs from Philharmonic. After testing out towers that were in the 1500 each category... these BMRs outperform them, imho.

Check out Shady's recommendations, too!

Happy Hunting

 

[Russdawg1]

The Raal tweeters are amazing. As I understand, there are some slight differences in the tweeters that Dennis and David at Ascend use... I had to wait for Dennis to get his order cos David ordered first!

I was pretty sure they were both RAAL 70-10D’s.

 

[ryanosaur]

I was pretty sure they were both RAAL 70-10D’s.

As I said, I can't guarantee, but I was told they are very similar... just slightly different, and not stock. *shrugs

 

[Russdawg1]

As I said, I can't guarantee, but I was told they are very similar... just slightly different, and not stock. *shrugs

Okay just checked.

Dennis uses 64-10’s but Dave is very ominous and labels it as a custom Raal tweeter. It’s more than likely the 64-10, but who knows

 

[lovinthehd]

I believe the Sierra-2s use the RAAL 70-20XR ...

 

[lovinthehd]

FWIW I don't know if the Sierra-2 would be particularly good for ear bleeding levels; I didn't think my Sierra-1s are best suited for such at least. The Sierra Tower maybe but no personal experience either. I like my JBL 590s for higher volume use in any case. Have been some great sales on them but seems right now they're back to list of $1k each. Pretty good pricing on the slightly smaller 580s at Amazon for $381 each I see.

 

[Russdawg1]

I believe the Sierra-2s use the RAAL 70-20XR ...

70-20XR is a square faceplate though...

If you compare the BMR and S2 they are practically identical.

 

[lovinthehd]

70-20XR is a square faceplate though...

If you compare the BMR and S2 they are practically identical.

Just saw it mentioned at the Ascend site, particularly for the Sierra Tower but believe its the same in the Sierra-2 but been a while since I considered them. Maybe that's part of the custom aspect, dunno. I don't think the model particularly matters as much as the implementation by the speaker designers....

ps Just looked at pics of Sierra-2s and the Sierra Towers, both use round faceplates in any case. That may be partly due to the backwards compatibility for the Sierra-1 cabinet?

 

[Beave]

*The Sierra 2 RAAL is very similar to the RAAL used in the BMR, but it isn't quite identical. It has a small modification that allows it to be crossed over lower. I don't know exactly what that modification is, but both Dave and Dennis have confirmed this to be the case.

*The Sierra tower uses a larger, much pricier RAAL that can be crossed lower with higher power handling.

*I agree with lovinthehd about the speaker suggestions. The BMR and Sierra 2 speakers are both excellent, but for a moderate to large room and high listening levels, they're not ideal solutions. The JBLs suggested above will probably play louder with less power needed and with less strain at high volumes.

 

[sterling shoote]

OP,
The JBL 590's are high-end speakers, made miraculously affordable by low labor cost, low cost materials, and mass production techniques. I therefore like them in black wood grain vinyl finish instead of cherry wood grain vinyl finish. At any rate, if you can get over the chintzy look, these speakers will delight you with their effortless unstrained volume and jewel like detail. Their baby brother the 530's got an unbelievable best speaker ever at any price rating from Z Reviews. I think Lovinthehd here has a pair of these. Perhaps, he can tell you of his experience with them. Back in Dec. JBL was selling them for half price, now back to $2000 a pair yet still one of the best values out there. Interestingly enough, the 590's were, for a short time, part of the JBL Synthesis Loudspeaker line. I still have my JBL L100t3's, saving for the 4429's but I've gotta tell ya the 590's are just awesome.

 

[lovinthehd]

OP,
The JBL 590's are high-end speakers, made miraculously affordable by low labor cost, low cost materials, and mass production techniques. I therefore like them in black wood grain vinyl finish instead of cherry wood grain vinyl finish. At any rate, if you can get over the chintzy look, these speakers will delight you with their effortless unstrained volume and jewel like detail. Their baby brother the 530's got an unbelievable best speaker ever at any price rating from Z Reviews. I think Lovinthehd here has a pair of these. Perhaps, he can tell you of his experience with them. Back in Dec. JBL was selling them for half price, now back to $2000 a pair yet still one of the best values out there. Interestingly enough, the 590's were, for a short time, part of the JBL Synthesis Loudspeaker line. I still have my JBL L100t3's, saving for the 4429's but I've gotta tell ya the 590's are just awesome.

Never thought of them as high-end JBL, they are no Everests or M2s....but I like the set (590s, 580s, 530s and a 520). The 590s I think are still on their Synthesis site.

I did get good deals, 900/pr for 590s, 520/pr for 580s and I think 600 for the used set of 530s and 520 from Phil (speakerman39).

 

[JerryLove]

Never thought of them as high-end JBL, they are no Everests or M2s....but I like the set (590s, 580s, 530s and a 520). The 590s I think are still on their Synthesis site.

I've no idea what they sound like; but I do very much like the styling on the speaker.

 

[sterling shoote]

I've no idea what they sound like; but I do very much like the styling on the speaker.

I like the styling, just not the printed wood grain vinyl finish. I even thought about buying a pair and having a cabinet shop build walnut veneer boxes for the drivers and facia components. That would have set me back about another $3000, so. I thought maybe I could just buy some sheets of walnut veneer and apply it over the vinyl. Then I abandoned the idea, since I decided what I really wanted was a pair of JBL 4429's which I am now saving for. I found an authorized JBL Synthesis dealer that will take a $1000 off of those speakers. I'm already $300 towards getting them.