2022, Current top 5 most competent full range speakers in budget/mid/high-end ranges?

[MalVeauX]

Good thread. So many posts in a day and half. Makes it hard to add something new.

The JBL HDI however will get down to 30Hz with a little more authority than the 100F. I auditioned a pair of HDI-3600 (Shady reviewed the 3800) and really liked them. I would add the JBL HDI towers to the list.

On the higher end I would really like to hear a pair of Revel F228Be, still regarded by many as one of the better speakers in the $10,000 range, and the Focal Kanta No.2 would be on my list as well.

I agree that $2000+ seems to be the starting point. The only exception appears to be the JBL Studio which offers great value when on sale.

Thanks, so JBL HDI Towers, which ones do you think? Several model numbers there. A link with price would be great. And will add the Revel F228Be and Focal Kanta (both are considered full range real world in a room?).

There's still a ton of room for suggestions for gems that fit into the budget/entry sub-$1k and the mid-tier $2k or under options that can be considered full range or near full range 30hz (give or take a bit) in a room. There seems to be less rigorous reviews on these and chatter, well, at least on the lower end. But you never know until you ask. And while pure metrics are useful, they don't paint a picture as to whether something is enjoyable (for example all the "No" for recommended on ASR website list on what are considered excellent speakers pretty commonly). Need that human side in addition to good metrics. So again plenty of room for more additions to explore in all the brackets.

Very best,

 

[Pogre]

Thanks, so JBL HDI Towers, which ones do you think? Several model numbers there. A link with price would be great. And will add the Revel F228Be and Focal Kanta (both are considered full range real world in a room?).

Very best,

For sure the 3800 at $5.5k/pr

JBL HDI-3800 (High-Gloss Black)

Floor-standing speaker

www.crutchfield.com

All considered, not a terrible price for the looks and performance. I would consider them really close to that faux full-range mark we've been kinda zeroing in on. I do think they deserve consideration. This is another speaker I could be happy spending the rest of my life with.

 

[Eppie]

Thanks, so JBL HDI Towers, which ones do you think? Several model numbers there. A link with price would be great. And will add the Revel F228Be and Focal Kanta (both are considered full range real world in a room?).

Very best,

I listened to the HDI-3600 but Shady tested the HDI-3800 which likely has a little better bass extension. Here is Shady's review of the 3800, $5,000 retail.

The 3600 is $3,800. They retail for about C$5,000 in Canada but I found a mint used pair for C$3,000. I was tempted to buy them the same day. Really nice speaker.

The Revel F228Be has around a $11,000 retail price and is definitely full range. Focal Kanta 2 is also $11,000 but have to check the specs. Rated down to 35Hz +/- 3dB according to the web.

 

[Swerd]

Your case sounds significantly jaded. Quite absolute. A shame.

When I said "I have suffered from both large & small dealerships" I was being brief. Too brief?

I didn't suffer in the sense that I was robbed or injured. However, I did suffer from salesmen who felt the need to insult my intelligence, my previous purchases, as well as waste my time by trying hard to sell me speakers, gear, and even cables that I never wanted. By doing the hard sell act, they dared me to walk out on them. And I did.

Those experiences solidified my desire to learn about DIY speaker building, just so I could learn what mattered and what didn't matter when it comes to sound quality. One of the lessons I learned is that some ID speaker makers had themselves come from DIY speaker making. And that, instead of learning everything needed to design good speakers myself, I could be satisfied by buying ID.

That's my preference. If you would rather see & hear speakers at a dealership, that's fine. But, make that preference clear, as it makes a large difference. By making such a fruit salad out of a search, it allows unintended biases to creep in.

 

[ryanosaur]

Can we veblen up our fruit salad, somehow?

 

[Pogre]

And will add the Revel F228Be

Oof. We're pushing $11k/pr for these, but do hit top of the mark for performance and measurements as well as gorgeous aesthetics.

Revel PerformaBe F228Be (High-Gloss White)

Floor-standing speaker

www.crutchfield.com

Same can be said for the Focals at $10k/pr.

Focal Kanta No.2 loudspeaker

"Any color, so long as it's black." That was the choice famously offered by Henry Ford to buyers of his Model T. Some makers of loudspeakers, notably GoldenEar Technology, follow the same dictum.

www.stereophile.com

 

[MalVeauX]

Thanks, added them in. Lots of high end choices of course. Some of these high end choices are not I.D. and are sold in stores and can be auditioned which is nice. But lots of $10k+ options will creep into this, gonna be real hard to peg a $10k top 5 maybe?

Still curious about filling in some budget and mid-tier options in the sub-$1k and 2k or under range. If they exist, I don't have high expectations, but again, you never know until you know or ask for something that can get near 30hz full range in those price brackets.

Very best,

 

[ryanosaur]

Admittedly am very intrigued by these higher end Revels. If I had the cash, I don't know that I would pursue them, though, other than to audition.
Along with Focal, they just don't drive my interest. I'd rather buy a kit from Troels Graveson, I think, or just support our Jim Salk.

 

[MalVeauX]

or just support our Jim Salk.

I did this with headphones for a long time where I crept around and then finally got into one that I felt was sufficient in quality but not into the nonsense cost range potential. The great feeling is not having cared to even look at or for a new good headphone in 10 years basically, because I was very happy and still enjoy what I had.

I think I could get something big from Salk and/or Dennis and have that same feeling. Just done, but super happy and not even care what a Revel or Focal sounds like. I have some Philharmonics and I'm super happy with them. But, I still think its fun to still look at options and explore setups.

Salk's finishes are just out of this world good.

Very best,

 

[Pogre]

Can we veblen up our fruit salad, somehow?

I had to look it up! Lol!

 

[ryanosaur]

Still curious about filling in some budget and mid-tier options in the sub-$1k and 2k or under range. If they exist, I don't have high expectations, but again, you never know until you know or ask for something that can get near 30hz full range in those price brackets.

I don't think they exist. Fluance is an outlier in the field having a tower that inexpensive with that extension to 35Hz. Hard to say what you will find, but I suspect you won't.

 

[MalVeauX]

I don't think they exist. Fluance is an outlier in the field having a tower that inexpensive with that extension to 35Hz. Hard to say what you will find, but I suspect you won't.

I've measured some junk Polk M70 II's in a living room and they got down to 29~30hz before the rapid slope, so surely there's better options in the $600~999 range, especially now that there are 8 inch woofer large cabinets in this range? I ask because I've not tried them and some have been talked about here on AH, but not extensively measured (such as the new Polk XT70 with 8 inch woofers at $700 a pair, the Klipsch options, Fluance Signature as mentioned with 8 inch woofers, BIC America with 8 inch woofers, etc). Considered junk by a lot of people here, for sure. But that is someone's budget so it's just as important at least to me to explore and know more about as options.

Very best,

 

[ryanosaur]

Just double checked... price on Fluance Signature Towers is $800 per pair. I know Shady reviewed them back in 2016, but no measurements...

 

[MalVeauX]

Just double checked... price on Fluance Signature Towers is $800 per pair. I know Shady reviewed them back in 2016, but no measurements...

Yea I linked that review in this thread prior; along with the X70 review (the whole line). No measurements, but mostly an overview/summary I think.

Very best,

 

[ryanosaur]

But when measuring in room vs anechoic or quasi anechoic, you create a moving goal post.
A decision has to be that you play the F3 game, or F6, or F10 usable bass...
What might satisfy your requirement in one room will leave you wanting if you move them to a different room if considering cabin gain.

I think this is a fun exercise and am happily playing. I think just short of sitting down and systematically looking through listings, you will be hard pressed to flush that out.
Everything stacks against the less expensive product. You need a larger cabinet, or specialized drivers to get that kind of extension. either, or both, will drive up cost to produce and ship, thus taking them out of the realm of your pricing brackets pretty easily.

 

[Pogre]

But when measuring in room vs anechoic or quasi anechoic, you create a moving goal post.
A decision has to be that you play the F3 game, or F6, or F10 usable bass...
What might satisfy your requirement in one room will leave you wanting if you move them to a different room if considering cabin gain.

I think this is a fun exercise and am happily playing. I think just short of sitting down and systematically looking through listings, you will be hard pressed to flush that out.
Everything stacks against the less expensive product. You need a larger cabinet, or specialized drivers to get that kind of extension. either, or both, will drive up cost to produce and ship, thus taking them out of the realm of your pricing brackets pretty easily.

I agree and I agree. I'm having fun playing along, but we are shifting the goalposts around, myself included with a couple of suggestions. I'm gonna guess Mal is aiming for a minimum anechoic 30 hz, which should have useful in-room bass well into the 20s, tho I would argue for maybe 35-36 hz anechoic (so I can keep sneaking the LX's into the conversation ) absolute max. It's @MalVeauX's thread and his game tho and I'm happy to play along.

 

[MalVeauX]

But when measuring in room vs anechoic or quasi anechoic, you create a moving goal post.
A decision has to be that you play the F3 game, or F6, or F10 usable bass...
What might satisfy your requirement in one room will leave you wanting if you move them to a different room if considering cabin gain.

I think this is a fun exercise and am happily playing. I think just short of sitting down and systematically looking through listings, you will be hard pressed to flush that out.
Everything stacks against the less expensive product. You need a larger cabinet, or specialized drivers to get that kind of extension. either, or both, will drive up cost to produce and ship, thus taking them out of the realm of your pricing brackets pretty easily.

Sure, agreed, listening distance and room can matter a lot for this. This is why it's also open, 30hz~40hz, not strictly one thing, allowing for budget items to at least get a chance and it no strictly be a price wall that only gets crossed at $2k. There's wiggle room to at least try to see what can be close to this in the lower budget brackets. Maybe they don't exist. Maybe they do. It's worth nothing if it can be done and is in that range for someone. And I would be mostly interested in room performance because no one listens in an anechoic chamber.

Very best,

 

[MalVeauX]

I agree and I agree. I'm having fun playing along, but we are shifting the goalposts around, myself included with a couple of suggestions. I'm gonna guess Mal is aiming for a minimum anechoic 30 hz, which should have useful in-room bass well into the 20s, tho I would argue for maybe 35-36 hz anechoic, absolute max. It's @MalVeauX's thread and his game tho and I'm happy to play along.

I'm happy to adjust things as needed to keep more potential players in the game. The stricter it gets, the more categories there are, the less options there are and some of the fun leaves the playing field. As mentioned, it's not a strict target other than being near full range or full range with no sub. Other than that, I'd rather keep things open enough to include options, instead of the response being "there is nothing at bracket X." It would be nice to have a fun list of potential things and then see what people think about their top 5 in each loose bracket within the context of this.

If everyone would rather call it a "near F3" goal to describe the full range expectation with no sub, I'm all for it. But I wouldn't expect many budget ones to do that, so "near" being emphasized at least for that range.

And again, it's in the spirit of good fun to poll user experience, especially fun to learn about a speaker you may not have known about.

Very best,

 

[shadyJ]

When you compare speakers by dividing them into different price ranges, you must keep in mind that the two different methods for selling speakers, Distributors & Dealers (D&D) vs. Internet Direct (ID), result in quite different list prices and profit margins.

With D&D, there are price mark ups going from manufacturer-to-distributor, and again from distributor-to-dealer. Those mark ups can vary widely. I've learned over the years to expect at least a 50% mark up just at the dealer level. That means a dealer sells speakers for roughly double his cost from the distributor. A dealer has to lease or own a store and pay employees, all while making enough to stay in business. Of course, all these transfers include shipping costs – something that never goes down. If I can generalize, the D&D method tends to favor large manufacturers with large distribution networks, and large big box stores. There can be price advantages due to large scale manufacturing.

With ID, there is one transaction, from the manufacturer to the individual buyer. The D&D mark-ups are eliminated. The buyer has to pay shipping costs for the finished product only once. The result is that the individual buyer pays less as overall profit, and gets more speaker for his money. There can be disadvantages to this method, such as difficulty in hearing speakers before buying, longer delays from ordering to delivery, and the lack of price advantages from large scale manufacturing. But the overall lower prices you get with ID cannot be ignored. To generalize again, the ID method tends to favor smaller manufacturers over large ones. With D&D you never deal with a speaker manufacturer or designer. With many, if not all, ID companies, you can easily speak directly to the owner or designer.

If you compare speakers by price levels, without distinguishing between D&D or ID sales methods, you're comparing Apples to Oranges.

Keep in mind that the manufacture direct models now have to fill in the services formerly provided by dealers, so the savings isn't at all the 50-point dealer margin that you might guess. Pre and post-purchase support, promotion and advertising, shipping costs (which are greater for manufacture direct models), and maybe some more I can't think of right off the top of my head.

 

[Kleinst]

He's been working on it for the last year. I think this is partly in response to getting beat up at ASR for what turned out to be port noise. He took it to heart and dug in on what a Klippel can do and was very impressed so he invested in one. He has one of the most advanced R&D labs for speaker manufacturing in the world right now and leveraged it to develop the LX and it looks like he might have knocked it out of the park.

One of the members at ASR put together a list of top recommendations based on the Harman speaker score and they're first in class for the price, and many levels above. They're number 2 at twice their retail.

Passive Speaker Recommendations for USA (by @sweetchaos)

I'm constantly asked which speakers to purchase...so, here you go! :D This guide is for PASSIVE speakers. For ACTIVE speakers go here. Click on the "Spoiler" buttons below to expand each section. Readme: Legend: Never Buy This Brand: Passive Bookshelf Speakers: Passive...

www.audiosciencereview.com

It's one of the most accurate, best measuring speakers in the world right now.

You mentioned looking for more budget level speakers. Based on the link that Pogre posted above, I'm always blown away at how the Infinity Reference 263 (and 253) ranks down the tower lines. (at some pretty high $ thresholds) They do not have the bass however. They benefit from subs which we all have. But I'm surprised how they measure at least in this link. I have a setup of these of course and I paid under $200 for all the speakers. Performance wise, they seem to rank up there with other Harmon speakers including some Revels. Seems too good to be true. I like the ones I have and don't have $2000 speakers to compare them to.