New floor standing speakers

[2channel lover]

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

MA Silver 500 is a good speaker, I love the MA Gold 300, and admittedly spent a lot more time with the G300. I wouldn't call them bright, but they lean more towards bright than warm I think...at least the G300 did imo.

F36 would be my 1st pick in the price range.

 

[2channel lover]

The Martin Logan Motion 40 I think is a good option in this pricepoint...ribbon tweeter, but fairly warm mids.

 

[John Parks]

The Martin Logan Motion 40 I think is a good option in this pricepoint...ribbon tweeter, but fairly warm mids.

I agree with this based on auditioning the KEF Q series and ML 40 side-by-side - the ML is indeed warmer, with the highs not quite as incisive and a bit more delicate.

 

[Russdawg1]

2000k is 2 million $US

Sounds like he can afford some Wilson Audio W.A.M.M.’s

 

[ryanosaur]

but is the motion 40 a real upgrade to the q900? I've only heard the Q950, and not a direct comparison between the two. But I also liked the MA Silver 300 over the Motion 40, and I preferred both over the Q950. (Well, MA over Martin Logan in general... nothing against ML, but for the price, I wanted more from ML than what MA delivered to my ears, and ML failed on that.)
Again. Subjective. YMMV.

Regardless, there may very well be a good step up from the Q900 for our OP Friend... but we do seem, as Shady put it, to be focusing on a Lateral trade.

@robertpalmer676: What is your usage? HT or Audio? Is there a characteristic to the KEF that you are unhappy with?
For $2K USD, if you want to go outside the box and can be patient, Salk Sound Song Tower would be great for a music-first system. You might want a sub to round out the bottom octave, but by most accounts, it fits with your currently stated parameters.

 

[2channel lover]

but is the motion 40 a real upgrade to the q900? I've only heard the Q950, and not a direct comparison between the two. But I also liked the MA Silver 300 over the Motion 40, and I preferred both over the Q950. (Well, MA over Martin Logan in general... nothing against ML, but for the price, I wanted more from ML than what MA delivered to my ears, and ML failed on that.)
Again. Subjective. YMMV.

Regardless, there may very well be a good step up from the Q900 for our OP Friend... but we do seem, as Shady put it, to be focusing on a Lateral trade.

@robertpalmer676: What is your usage? HT or Audio? Is there a characteristic to the KEF that you are unhappy with?
For $2K USD, if you want to go outside the box and can be patient, Salk Sound Song Tower would be great for a music-first system. You might want a sub to round out the bottom octave, but by most accounts, it fits with your currently stated parameters.

Circling back to the OP's initial post which I was not really responding to...should've read...duh...ML40...probably not, actually most likely not.

IMO, the leap in SQ with oem speakers are normally costing double to several 1000 more over a 2k speaker.

 

[little wing]

If 2k is your budget, and you can listen to the ascend acoustics towers I would recommend them. I have had them for about 4 years now and still enjoy them. I agree with what others have said about eq. I started listening to my Yamaha 3060 using the natural eq setting, but have since changed to listening in through mode, which is no eq. There are some recordings that still benefit from eq, but most don't. IMO.

 

[robertpalmer676]

but is the motion 40 a real upgrade to the q900? I've only heard the Q950, and not a direct comparison between the two. But I also liked the MA Silver 300 over the Motion 40, and I preferred both over the Q950. (Well, MA over Martin Logan in general... nothing against ML, but for the price, I wanted more from ML than what MA delivered to my ears, and ML failed on that.)
Again. Subjective. YMMV.

Regardless, there may very well be a good step up from the Q900 for our OP Friend... but we do seem, as Shady put it, to be focusing on a Lateral trade.

@robertpalmer676: What is your usage? HT or Audio? Is there a characteristic to the KEF that you are unhappy with?
For $2K USD, if you want to go outside the box and can be patient, Salk Sound Song Tower would be great for a music-first system. You might want a sub to round out the bottom octave, but by most accounts, it fits with your currently stated parameters.

Thank u for getting back with the suggestions . What is MA short for i am a noobie . My set up is desined for both ht and 2ch. My avr is a onkyo tx nr 5010. It has pure audio sound setting . I need to do some trouble shooting first before i buy anything. Need to update firm ware . Then run my calibration again. The issue or lack of is sq in pure audio. Gust does not seem of very good sq. I ran the calabration system with wrong mic. Hoping firm ware update will help. Not sure if that will make a difference. My receiver was one of the highest quality onkyo has ever made . Not worried about atmos or 4k. I have the speakers biamped running 7.2. If the receiver is biamped will that affect the pure audio function. Allso could be environment smaller man cave. At the moment i soead the front kef about 12' to 14^ apart . My fav setting for music now is all ch stero

 

[3db]

Here's another vote for PSB. You can use their locater tool to find the nearest dealer near you. Give them audition. They are that good.

 

[ryanosaur]

Thank u for getting back with the suggestions . What is MA short for i am a noobie . My set up is desined for both ht and 2ch. My avr is a onkyo tx nr 5010. It has pure audio sound setting . I need to do some trouble shooting first before i buy anything. Need to update firm ware . Then run my calibration again. The issue or lack of is sq in pure audio. Gust does not seem of very good sq. I ran the calabration system with wrong mic. Hoping firm ware update will help. Not sure if that will make a difference. My receiver was one of the highest quality onkyo has ever made . Not worried about atmos or 4k. I have the speakers biamped running 7.2. If the receiver is biamped will that affect the pure audio function. Allso could be environment smaller man cave. At the moment i soead the front kef about 12' to 14^ apart . My fav setting for music now is all ch stero

MA is monitor Audio, which I referenced earlier.
Bi-amping won't hurt anything, though most of us tend to agree it doesn''t help, either.
All-channel stereo can negatively affect sound quality if listening critically... always better just 2-channel if you want best sound. Unless, of course, its coded for mult-channel/surround like 5.1 audio.

Since you have the unused channels, no harm bi-amping, but if anything, you might experience better SQ in way of headroom by having a more powerful amp for your mains and center (assuming center is matched). The amp itself doesn't affect the sound really, but having headroom for those dynamic peaks is nice.

 

[ryanosaur]

One more thing I meant to add, use an online spl calculator if you want to gauge how much power you might need or want to achieve your desired listening levels. You can also buy an inexpensive spl meter online to help you dial in your system and see what dB level you are actually experiencing at your LP )listening position).

 

[robertpalmer676]

Wo

One more thing I meant to add, use an online spl calculator if you want to gauge how much power you might need or want to achieve your desired listening levels. You can also buy an inexpensive spl meter online to help you dial in your system and see what dB level you are actually experiencing at your LP )listening position).

Wow that makes sense . Could save me forking out more money

 

[shadyJ]

Thank u for getting back with the suggestions . What is MA short for i am a noobie . My set up is desined for both ht and 2ch. My avr is a onkyo tx nr 5010. It has pure audio sound setting . I need to do some trouble shooting first before i buy anything. Need to update firm ware . Then run my calibration again. The issue or lack of is sq in pure audio. Gust does not seem of very good sq. I ran the calabration system with wrong mic. Hoping firm ware update will help. Not sure if that will make a difference. My receiver was one of the highest quality onkyo has ever made . Not worried about atmos or 4k. I have the speakers biamped running 7.2. If the receiver is biamped will that affect the pure audio function. Allso could be environment smaller man cave. At the moment i soead the front kef about 12' to 14^ apart . My fav setting for music now is all ch stero

if you ran calibration with wrong mic, that will mess up everything. Absolutely do not run room correction of you don't have the correct mic. That is like ant--calibration. Kef plus high-end Onkyo should do very well. I wouldn't do calibration of any kind. Just set the speakers up correctly, and they should do well. Whatever problems you are having look like a setup issue. Don't bi-amp for now, at lest until you get your problems sorted out. Bi-amping is just a way to introduce new problems without bringing much advantage.

 

[robertpalmer676]

if you ran calibration with wrong mic, that will mess up everything. Absolutely do not run room correction of you don't have the correct mic. That is like ant--calibration. Kef plus high-end Onkyo should do very well. I wouldn't do calibration of any kind. Just set the speakers up correctly, and they should do well. Whatever problems you are having look like a setup issue. Don't bi-amp for now, at lest until you get your problems sorted out. Bi-amping is just a way to introduce new problems without bringing much advantage.

Thats what i was thinking . But u know us audioholics allways thinking of somthing biger and better . Have to realize my budget will not make leaps and bounds of a difference. That onkyo retalied for 3000usd and weighs in at 50lbs for a 9.2 avr

 

[lovinthehd]

Just ran across this and was thinking of your Canadian roots as perhaps with this speaker

 

[ryanosaur]

Just ran across this and was thinking of your Canadian roots as perhaps with this speaker

Cool, I was interested in those when I was shopping, but no reviews at the time. On paper they looked nice.

 

[lovinthehd]

Cool, I was interested in those when I was shopping, but no reviews at the time. On paper they looked nice.

In the post in AoaB where Mark linked the review he compared them favorably to the classic Energy C-70...thus the Canadian connection since Kelley was with Klipsch that bought out Energy....

 

[davidscott]

Small maggies with a sub?

 

[ryanosaur]

In the post in AoaB where Mark linked the review he compared them favorably to the classic Energy C-70...thus the Canadian connection since Kelley was with Klipsch that bought out Energy....

Positive review... would've loved to see some testing!

 

[lovinthehd]

Positive review... would've loved to see some testing!

Mark just doesn't do that in his reviews as far as a whole suite of measurements go....also he announced he's now been named editor at avsforum fwiw.