New to HiFi and need advice

[Edwinbugatti]

Hello everybody, I am new to hifi and am debating between a couple of speakers to get started with. I recently went to my local audio store to audition some speakers. I came across the Marting Logan's Motion 15s and loved the way they sound. Now I'm torn between spending a bit more cash and upgrading to their Motion 40s. Now, I have never auditioned the SVS Ultra towers or book shelfs but I heard great things about them for around the same price. I want to set up a 2.1 system. Not really into hometheater setup. What would you buy for about 2,000 a pair? Trying to see what more experience audiophiles would buy. Thank you

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

IMO, it largely depends on if you have a sub woofer or not. If you do, the smaller speakers are fine. If not, go for the towers.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[JerryLove]

What would you buy for about 2,000 a pair? Trying to see what more experience audiophiles would buy. Thank you

Unless I needed more SPL: http://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=SongTower

 

[ryanosaur]

Something about 10x more expensive and highly obscure is what an audiofool would buy.
...
...What sounds good to you for your budget, is what an Audioholic would buy.

So it sounds like you are mainly into music. There are some good things out there in your price point, especially for just your L/R mains.
My personal favorite was Monitor Audio Silver. Both the 500 and 300 towers were nice, and I preferred them over Martin Logan which costed a bit more.
KEF makes nice sounding speakers, though they are not right for me. The Q950 had a very expansive sound when I auditioned them. Quite beautiful. Just caused me some listening fatigue.
Wharfedales are supposed to be nice. I haven't heard them, but a ot of people like the Diamond series... good reviews.
PSB Imagine X2 is another that reviews very well and people like.
It's going to push he bounds a little, but the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower is a speaker very well liked and respected. Unless you live near LA, might not be able to hear it, though it would be worth reaching out to see if a local demo my be available... but I would recommend highly the Raal upgrade. it makes it a little more expensive, but well worth it!
Lastly, if you just want to go for broke, check out Salk Sound. Great work. Beautiful to behold and hear! A pair of Song Towers would be a magnificent way to end the day!

All of that said: How big is your room? Haw far is your LP? Do you already have a sub?

Cheers!

 

[Edwinbugatti]

IMO, it largely depends on if you have a sub woofer or not. If you do, the smaller speakers are fine. If not, go for the towers.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Thank you for the speedy reply, I do have a subwoofer. I am trying to get the best overall speaker. Which towers would you go with for the money? Martin Logans or SVS towers? Do you have in mind?

 

[ryanosaur]

We can't tell you what to buy, man. We don't have your ears, or your room!
There are a lot of great speakers out there, and it becomes of function of what you want.

SVS does make some nice speakers, and the Ultras usually review well, but they need more space than others for placement due to their design. the Primes aren't bad... the new Prime Pinnacles look more promising if you have tight quarters and are designed with that in mind.

Martin Logan reportedly doen't like compressed audio. I didn't have a problem in my audition with an old Ipod classic, but other speakers still sounded better for the money!

 

[ryanosaur]

And Wayne is spot on... if you have a small room, or don't need necessarily high output, standmounts with a sub can be better than towers!

 

[Edwinbugatti]

Something about 10x more expensive and highly obscure is what an audiofool would buy.
...
...What sounds good to you for your budget, is what an Audioholic would buy.

So it sounds like you are mainly into music. There are some good things out there in your price point, especially for just your L/R mains.
My personal favorite was Monitor Audio Silver. Both the 500 and 300 towers were nice, and I preferred them over Martin Logan which costed a bit more.
KEF makes nice sounding speakers, though they are not right for me. The Q950 had a very expansive sound when I auditioned them. Quite beautiful. Just caused me some listening fatigue.
Wharfedales are supposed to be nice. I haven't heard them, but a ot of people like the Diamond series... good reviews.
PSB Imagine X2 is another that reviews very well and people like.
It's going to push he bounds a little, but the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower is a speaker very well liked and respected. Unless you live near LA, might not be able to hear it, though it would be worth reaching out to see if a local demo my be available... but I would recommend highly the Raal upgrade. it makes it a little more expensive, but well worth it!
Lastly, if you just want to go for broke, check out Salk Sound. Great work. Beautiful to behold and hear! A pair of Song Towers would be a magnificent way to end the day!

All of that said: How big is your room? Haw far is your LP? Do you already have a sub?

Cheers!

Thank you for the speedy reply,
My room is about 20ft by 14ft. I do have a subwoofer so I'm not really worried about the speakers having deep bass. I want the best transparency, imaging, and detail for the money. I will also look into the speakers you mentioned above. What do you think about the Revel speakers?

 

[Edwinbugatti]

We can't tell you what to buy, man. We don't have your ears, or your room!
There are a lot of great speakers out there, and it becomes of function of what you want.

SVS does make some nice speakers, and the Ultras usually review well, but they need more space than others for placement due to their design. the Primes aren't bad... the new Prime Pinnacles look more promising if you have tight quarters and are designed with that in mind.

Martin Logan reportedly doen't like compressed audio. I didn't have a problem in my audition with an old Ipod classic, but other speakers still sounded better for the money!

Thank you for the advice. It is very hard to choose when there is so many great speakers out there lol.
Also do you have any input on the Marantz HD-Amp1? I bought it and will be shipped to my local Audio store. Now I'm regretting it because there is mixed reviews on it. It has a built in DAC but apperantly it's not as good as they say. Any recommendations on a integrated amp for under $1,200?

 

[ryanosaur]

Ha! I researched speakers for 4-5 months before auditioning and purchasing.

I didn't go that path, integrated amps. That advice will have to come from elsewhere.

Revel has some good gear, Paradigm, RBH too.

You want to shoot the moon, email Jim Salk at Salk Sound and tell him you want the best standmounts at 2k for use with a sub. Include your listening levels and distance from speaker... His gear is solid! Check out the Supercharged SongSurround as an example. I would personally prefer extension a little lower if I were using that as a main, but the drivers are top notch. I think Jim might be building the BMRs (previously Dennis Murphy/Philharmonic Audio) but I don't know how much he's charging for them. They might be some of the best speakers in that price range. They outperformed almost everything else I've listened to at twice the cost and size!

 

[KEW]

Thank you for the advice. It is very hard to choose when there is so many great speakers out there lol.
Also do you have any input on the Marantz HD-Amp1? I bought it and will be shipped to my local Audio store. Now I'm regretting it because there is mixed reviews on it. It has a built in DAC but apperantly it's not as good as they say. Any recommendations on a integrated amp for under $1,200?

That Marantz integrated will do just fine as long as 35W into 8 ohms or 70W into 4 ohms is enough power to properly drive your speakers (which is a concern - your room is large enough that with inefficient speakers, I could see you needing more power than that if you like to listen loud)!
In the grand scheme of things, the difference in sound quality between two different amps which are not driven beyond their designed capability) is minuscule (despite the "night and day" differences often described by reviewers - a professional reviewer does not bite the hand that feeds, if they want to keep their job). There may be differences in how any tone controls works, but amplification (and DAC's) are a very mature science and any mainstream company (such as Marantz) will be a fine product. The objective of an amp is to increase the magnitude of the signal from line level to speaker level without coloring the sound as produced by the musicians and recording engineers. IOW, if an amp were to add/remove anything to/from the signal, that is distorting the signal!
That said, if you are free to return the Marantz (or if you had asked beforehand),I would have recommended a refurbished (with 2 year warranty) Integra DTM-7 for $420 and add $700 (or whatever it saves over the Marantz) to your speaker budget where the difference will be obvious!

Key advantages of Integra over the Marantz are:
More power
Very good bass management to integrate your subwoofer(s),
HDMI output - even if you don't want to use a TV in the system, it would be good to hook one up when you are setting up the system so you can use OSD (on-screen display) while navigating the menu system.

Key disadvantage of Integra:
No cool wooden side panels!

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/intdtm7/integra-dtm-7-2-ch-x-100-watts-networking-stereo-receiver/1.html

Honestly, you can get even a better deal (save about $100) if you buy a full 7 channel AVR for your 2 channel stereo; the economic advantages of large volume production are that great! However, I am guessing you would rather not deal with the encumbrance of having to navigate around options you have no use/desire for, and the Integra is a pretty fine option at $420.

 

[Grandzoltar]

A 2000 dollar budget really opens up your options. The SvS towers have a lot of positive buzz around the internet but they would be hard to audition. Even though svs has an excellent return policy it’s a pain to have to hand deliver a box to ups and reship back and wait for the refund. I would scour the internet for reviews but my vote would be for you to check out Monitor Audio silver 300. If it was my money those would be the ones I pull the trigger on let us know which ones you get.

 

[JerryLove]

And Wayne is spot on... if you have a small room, or don't need necessarily high output, standmounts with a sub can be better than towers!

Even if you do have a large room and need high output. My home theater is using Klipsch KL-650-THX's, which are not towers. It doesn't take a lot of space for a well-designed speaker to get volume at a 80Hz crossover.