New floor standing speakers

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robertpalmer676

Enthusiast
Hello from canada this is my first post. I am looking to up grade my tower speakers. I currently have kef q900. My budget is 2000. Looking for best bang for buck . If it is less then my budget that is even better. Looking for warm sound good detail with good bass. Any suggestions will be appreciated . Thank u
 
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Russdawg1

Full Audioholic
I’d take a gander at Revel.

A pair of F36’s falls right in your budget.

Beautifully executed speakers.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Slightly above, but monitor audio silver 500s really impressed me.
No firsthand experience, but psb always intrigued me.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
$2000 CAD for the pair or each? Is your budget includes proceeds of the sale of existing Q900 or not?
2k cad for the pair you unlikely to gain much improvement, but if I were you and really hated Q900 sound, you may want to check local dealer for PSB Audio Imagine T towers as they are at 2k/pr budget.
Best bang for the buck would be a DIY.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/parts/140707-canadian-suppliers.html
 
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speakerman39

speakerman39

Audioholic Overlord
Looking for warm sound good detail with good bass. Any suggestions will be appreciated . Thank u
Since you are looking for warm sounding towers you might want to consider the Wharfedale Reva-4 towers. Right now they are $1498 a set. Not sure if musicdirect would ship to Canada. Here is a link:

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/wharfedale-reva-4-tower-speakers

Crutchfield has them as well. Here are the Reva 4's in Piano Rosewood:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_336REVA4RW/Wharfedale-Reva-4-Piano-Deep-Rosewood.html


What is it that you do not like about the Q 900's? There are some good options already mentioned. Just thought that I would mention the Reva 4's. Best wishes in making your decision. :)


Cheers,

Phil
 
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Russdawg1

Full Audioholic
Just realized that your budget is $2000 CAD putting F36’s out of budget. I do find it odd however that you are trying to replace ~$1500 a pair towers with $1500 a pair towers (USD) perhaps you could clarify on something I’ve missed?
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Agreed with the others. In your budget you are only going to have a lateral move, not an upgrade. If you think the speaker is missing something, use an equalizer to try and adjust the sound to taste. A lot of times people buy an entirely new speaker as a way of equalization. It can work I guess, but that is a hugely inefficient way of equalizing your system.
 
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robertpalmer676

Enthusiast
2k usd is my budget . I will definitely look into psb thank u
 
Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
Agreed with the others. In your budget you are only going to have a lateral move, not an upgrade. If you think the speaker is missing something, use an equalizer to try and adjust the sound to taste. A lot of times people buy an entirely new speaker as a way of equalization. It can work I guess, but that is a hugely inefficient way of equalizing your system.
Shady, I didn’t know people still used equalizers. I remember back in 1980 I was in Japan and purchased a Sansui 20 band eq. Loved it. It died after 20 years.
With ht receivers ability to eq each speaker separately, and multiple Disp modes, is the music overly processed?
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Shady, I didn’t know people still used equalizers. I remember back in 1980 I was in Japan and purchased a Sansui 20 band eq. Loved it. It died after 20 years.
With ht receivers ability to eq each speaker separately, and multiple Disp modes, is the music overly processed?
People don't really use old-fashioned graphic equalizers anymore, they use digital parametric equalizers. Some AVRs have such EQ systems built-in, but you can also get an outboard EQ like this in the MiniDSP among other processors.

as for over-processing, yes absolutely people over-process their sound. I would argue that room-correction equalizers such as Audyssey, MCACC, YPAO, etc, are badly overused. The more that I learn about it, the more it looks like an audio plague. I would bet they are causing a lot more damage than any help they are providing.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
People don't really use old-fashioned graphic equalizers anymore, they use digital parametric equalizers. Some AVRs have such EQ systems built-in, but you can also get an outboard EQ like this in the MiniDSP among other processors.

as for over-processing, yes absolutely people over-process their sound. I would argue that room-correction equalizers such as Audyssey, MCACC, YPAO, etc, are badly overused. The more that I learn about it, the more it looks like an audio plague. I would bet they are causing a lot more damage than any help they are providing.
I experimented using the graphic EQ on the marantz to mimic the audyssey mid-range correction, but to a much lesser extent... only taking about 1, 1.5dB off at 2K instead of the ~3dB Aud. does, and only .5 at 1k and 4k just to keep the dip more as a gentle swale instead of the crater that the Aud. correction creates. In my room, which does need a little help, I've noticed less 'ringing' in that area where fatigue can set in without a pronounced effect on SQ. Great example is Tori Amos' Northern Lad where her voice can push my ears back in some places. When I alternate between GEQ on or off, the difference is subtle but noticeable.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Yeah, if you truly hate the KEF Q900 towers, then you better purchase from a place that allows free returns so you can audition in your home.

Everyone is different, so you may get 100 different opinions.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
If you like the sound of UK speakers, Monitor Audio and Wharfedale could be good options. I don't know the Wharfedales but by reputation. KEF sounds good, but can be strong in the upper-mids. My experience with MA is they are a little smoother there. I've seen strong comparisons between MA and Wharfedale in terms of SQ. I think MA Silver 500 outperforms the KEF Q series... and based on reviews, likely the Wharfedale Diamond Series. The Revas are supposed to be a good step up from the Diamonds. YMMV
 
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robertpalmer676

Enthusiast
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