Help me pick my speakers.....

swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
Greetings guys and girls.
I'll get right to the point cause times a wasting. I'm going to be looking at upgrading my speakers within the next 30 days. This may be my last speaker purchase due to a) I live on a fixed income of $800 per month and b) my living many more years is iffy (heart disease blah blah blah.)

I've been doing my best to research various speakers on the web, reading many reviews and perusing many forums.

My budget for this upgrade is about 1500 max!
Speaker usage is 95% music.
I've narrowed my choices down to the following shortlist.

Revel concerta 2 f35 or f36
I've heard its possible to negotiate some savings on Revel models from dealers. If I could find a dealer who'd give me the f36's for 1500 the search would be over.....these have pretty much aced all the subjective listening reviews and the objective (measurements) tests I've run across.

Wharfdale Evo 4.3
Just out of reach but could catch them on sale or find open box models if they were worth it.

Dali Opticon 5 ?

Dali Oberon 7 ?

KEF Q750, Q950

Seem to be a lot of sales going on with these at the moment.

Wharfdale Diamond 11.5

Focal Chora 826
*Out of my price range and rarely see significant price reductions BUT I'd be interested if I could find a sale.
Unlikely.

Also considered the BMR kit from meniscus/Dennis Miller but I'm not sure about wanting to do the labor.

* Doe's anybody think the JBL Studio 580 or 590 compare with the speakers above. I think they look like poop but they often get deeply discounted.

FYI - My system is still being put together but for now this is how things look,
Digital flac files locally served from my computer (amd 3950x 16 core/32 threads w/64 gb of 3200 ram) using musicbee or aimp (asio exclusive) fed to a Topping D70bt DAC into a Hypex NC502mp based 2 channel amp (2x500w @4ohm, 2x350w @8ohm). My current main speakers are Athena AS-F2's I bought about 20 years ago.

My main listening area/room is approx 10 ft wide my 20 ft deep. I've done no room treatment as of yet but plan to seek out some members to help me with suggestions for that when the time comes.
It's also worth noting that I don't have the ability to audition speakers before I buy since there are zero hifi stores within several hundred miles.

My musical tastes are eclectic......Steve Earle, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Pretenders, James Brown, Bob Marley, Al Green, Marvin Gaye etc etc..- they need to be able to play all genres equally well.

What I'm looking for in a speaker upgrade is a speaker thats balanced, transparent, accurate. Something that's neutral and revealing (yes, I want to listen to old songs and hear new things). Detail retrieval, imaging, and the ability to play fairly loudly without distortion.....all important.

I'd appreciate anyone's experience with or opinion on any of these speakers.
If there are other speaker brands/models that you feel warrant serious consideration when compared to the list above feel free to mention them.

Thanks in advance and stay safe.
 
G

Gmoney

Audioholic Ninja
Greetings guys and girls.
I'll get right to the point cause times a wasting. I'm going to be looking at upgrading my speakers within the next 30 days. This may be my last speaker purchase due to a) I live on a fixed income of $800 per month and b) my living many more years is iffy (heart disease blah blah blah.)

I've been doing my best to research various speakers on the web, reading many reviews and perusing many forums.

My budget for this upgrade is about 1500 max!
Speaker usage is 95% music.
I've narrowed my choices down to the following shortlist.

Revel concerta 2 f35 or f36
I've heard its possible to negotiate some savings on Revel models from dealers. If I could find a dealer who'd give me the f36's for 1500 the search would be over.....these have pretty much aced all the subjective listening reviews and the objective (measurements) tests I've run across.

Wharfdale Evo 4.3
Just out of reach but could catch them on sale or find open box models if they were worth it.

Dali Opticon 5 ?

Dali Oberon 7 ?

KEF Q750, Q950

Seem to be a lot of sales going on with these at the moment.

Wharfdale Diamond 11.5

Focal Chora 826
*Out of my price range and rarely see significant price reductions BUT I'd be interested if I could find a sale.
Unlikely.

Also considered the BMR kit from meniscus/Dennis Miller but I'm not sure about wanting to do the labor.

* Doe's anybody think the JBL Studio 580 or 590 compare with the speakers above. I think they look like poop but they often get deeply discounted.

FYI - My system is still being put together but for now this is how things look,
Digital flac files locally served from my computer (amd 3950x 16 core/32 threads w/64 gb of 3200 ram) using musicbee or aimp (asio exclusive) fed to a Topping D70bt DAC into a Hypex NC502mp based 2 channel amp (2x500w @4ohm, 2x350w @8ohm). My current main speakers are Athena AS-F2's I bought about 20 years ago.

My main listening area/room is approx 10 ft wide my 20 ft deep. I've done no room treatment as of yet but plan to seek out some members to help me with suggestions for that when the time comes.
It's also worth noting that I don't have the ability to audition speakers before I buy since there are zero hifi stores within several hundred miles.

My musical tastes are eclectic......Steve Earle, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Pretenders, James Brown, Bob Marley, Al Green, Marvin Gaye etc etc..- they need to be able to play all genres equally well.

What I'm looking for in a speaker upgrade is a speaker thats balanced, transparent, accurate. Something that's neutral and revealing (yes, I want to listen to old songs and hear new things). Detail retrieval, imaging, and the ability to play fairly loudly without distortion.....all important.

I'd appreciate anyone's experience with or opinion on any of these speakers.
If there are other speaker brands/models that you feel warrant serious consideration when compared to the list above feel free to mention them.

Thanks in advance and stay safe.
Get with ADTG he may be able to help he is a Audio/Video dealer, @AcuDefTechGuy Check out Monitor Silver 500"s for the kind of music you like 8" drivers.
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
Get with ADTG he may be able to help he is a Audio/Video dealer, @AcuDefTechGuy Check out Monitor Silver 500"s for the kind of music you like 8" drivers.
Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear my budget is 1550 max per pair.
Those look to be out of my budget so I'd never even looked at them before. I have seen a few recommendations to look at Monitor Audio tho.
 
G

Gmoney

Audioholic Ninja
Andrew can beat that price, shoot him a inbox message
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Also considered the BMR kit from meniscus/Dennis Miller but I'm not sure about wanting to do the labor.
I'm glad to see Dennis Miller has exited the entertainment business and is now involved with loudspeaker production. To be honest, I haven't found his material funny ever since he became heavily political. I also hear that Dennis Murphy is involved with those speakers, so they should be pretty good.

As for speakers in a $1500 budget, anything from Revel is sure to be good. I have always enjoyed Dali and think they would be reliably good. I have liked many of the speakers I have heard from Monitor Audio, and you could get a pair of Bronze 500s. I am not normally a fan of Klipsch, but I like the RP-8000Fs that fit in your price range- it's probably their best speaker at the moment. I might tell you to also look at getting into a powered monitor/subwoofer setup like I did here, and I think there are combinations that could rival or surpass anything on your list for sound quality, however, my guess is that you are itching to use your Hypex amp.

I like KEF and think they are normally pretty good. PSB is a pretty solid brand, look at what they have in your price range. In my experience, Wharefedale can be hit or miss.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
If you can get the JBL 590 on the sale price that's periodic ($1k/pr) then I say they're contenders, work well for me and a few others around here for that price range. You can even return them easily enough IIRC. I'm also out in the boonies and took a chance on these when they went on sale long ago, have been happy with them. I also have 580s, 530s and a 520c for the full set in 7ch. The looks aren't something I dwell on but they have their plusses and minuses :) Then again no experience with the others on your list....for that matter SVS Ultra towers might be worth an in home trial, too.

LOL reminds me of when I talked with Dennis Miller outside of a comedy show in San Francisco that Robin Williams later simply took over from the audience....the look on Miller's face was priceless as he scowled in the wings....
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
Lol..... ok, Dennis Murphy. I won't correct it in the original post so others can have some fun too.

Thanks for the replies. I'll be taking a look at the Monitors and check out the Cantons too.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
How you set up for diy projects? Might look at diysoundgroup.com for some ideas....
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
How you set up for diy projects? Might look at diysoundgroup.com for some ideas....
I've looked around there, parts express (galleries have some awesome creations), meniscus etc..
But I don't currently have the tools or time to tackle building my own. If I live long enough I'd like to do a build at some point. I wonder how expanding Dennis's BMR by adding another woofer and another mid would work as a small tower? Hmmm.
 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
I've looked around there, parts express (galleries have some awesome creations), meniscus etc..
But I don't currently have the tools or time to tackle building my own. If I live long enough I'd like to do a build at some point. I wonder how expanding Dennis's BMR by adding another woofer and another mid would work as a small tower? Hmmm.
I wouldn't attempt to expand a BMR on my own.

Dennis does have a tower version of the BMR coming.
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
I wouldn't attempt to expand a BMR on my own.

Dennis does have a tower version of the BMR coming.
Nope, wouldn't attempt that on my own. Hope Dennis does a DIY kit for the tower.
Pretty sure it'll be too late for me anyway this time unless he releases it this month.
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
Ummm. Kinda, maybe, Not sure - lol.
Still consider the Concerta 2 f36 the front runner but I have been researching the Monitor Audio's too.
At this point I've sort of narrowed it down to those 2 but haven't closed the door on other possibilities.

I see KEF Q750 (and Q950) on sell at several dealers and I'm also wondering about them. Focal is another brand I'd be interested in but I'd have to catch a really good deal on the Chora 826's.

My funds won't be straight until after the 1st of Feb so I don't have to make a final decision yet and/or start the process of contacting dealers to see if we can negotiate a price that I can afford on a speaker that I truly want.
 
R

rdkusher

Audioholic Intern
i will go ahead and give you my personal opinion.if you can manage the bmr's then get the bmr's.dennis was kind enough to include me on the latest bmr roadshow.i will tell you what i told him.overall i think these are the best speakers i have ever heard and i have owned a lot of speakers.i noticed you are looking at floorstanders but i seriously doubt that any of the speakers you have listed will have anything over them except for higher efficiency but in a room your size you won't need that anyway.my room is 11 1/5 by 19 and they would play as loud and clean as i wanted them too even with material that had a lot of deep bass with just a mid level denon receiver powering them. .if you want a pair of speakers that are to be your last speakers i honestly don't think you can do better for anywhere near what these cost kit or not.
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
Ok, I'm going to have to spend a little more I think.
$2000 is my new top.

These are my 3 top contenders :

Focal chora 826
Revel concerta f36
Monitor Audio silver 300

Doubtful but still considering:

Wharfdale evo 4.4
?????

Going to save my DIY project for after this upgrade. Would love to see a BMR tower kit with a WWMTM setup or design something along those lines on my own at some point.
 
swampbrain

swampbrain

Audiophyte
And the winner is................ Revel Concerta 2 F36
Hope to order within the next week or so.
Wish me luck and thanks for the suggestions and feedback!
 
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