Down sizing need advice on a A/V….

[Silverfoxvtx]

@Eppie
I have decided to just sell the Volti Lucera and find a more mellow speaker thats not a horn, those horn speakers are irritating when your ears ring all the time…keeping the XA-25 would makes things easier, any ideas?…
sorry I haven’t been on here just haven’t felt good…

 

[Eppie]

@Eppie
I have decided to just sell the Volti Lucera and find a more mellow speaker thats not a horn, those horn speakers are irritating when your ears ring all the time…keeping the XA-25 would makes things easier, any ideas?…
sorry I haven’t been on here just haven’t felt good…

No worries, this is just a hobby and health comes first.

The XA-25 is pretty highly rated and there are still many class-A purists that would pay you good money for that amp. I have not owned Pass Labs amps but have followed the company and their design philosophy for years. I am pretty much amp agnostic though. Class-A has its supporters but the design is very inefficient, hence the huge heat sinks on the XA-25. The design leads to most class-A amps having lower power ratings. Research shows the XA-25 being rated at 25W into 8 ohms (50W into 4) and it can handle 2 ohm loads. It pairs well with horn speakers as they tend to have a higher sensitivity and don't need as much power.

Your original goal was to go down to one system for both 2-channel and home theatre. I still think the Yamaha suits that goal fine. It's rated at 140W per channel and should be able to drive pretty much any speaker out there. It uses some of the best DAC chips available. You would be hard pressed to surpass it. Only something along the line of the Marantz AV30. (The AV10 is top tier but is a processor only. It requires separate amps, which defeats your goal of downsizing). The Yamaha has a Pure Direct mode which bypasses all digital processing. That would simulate running the streamer directly into the XA-25.

You can still use your Meitner streamer. While the Yamaha lacks XLR connections, they really are not a must have. XLR was designed to provide low noise at long distances. For shorter cable runs, unbalanced RCA will sound the same.

So my recommendation is to keep the Yamaha and replace the main speakers with something that is not ear fatiguing. How do you find the Klipsch RC-64 III centre speaker? If that can be fatiguing as well, you might want to consider replacing the front 3 speakers, which will also give some tonal balance across the front 3.

You didn't like the LS60 but are there other KEFs you can audition like the R series or Reference series? The Reference 1 Meta might be within your budget. You should seriously consider trying out Arendal as they have free returns in the U.S. You don't have to get towers. Judging by what the Volti speakers cost, you could afford the top of line 1528 Bookshelf or go with the 1528 Monitor 8 if you want a little more bass and dynamics. I have yet to read a bad review. They ship to your door and if you find them fatiguing you can return them. You would just need to find stands with the appropriate height.

Philharmonic Audio has the HT Tower back in stock but they tend to sell out quickly. Half the cost of the other speakers and remains one of the best bang for the buck speakers out there. If you need to hear them first, you can email the company and ask if there are any owners in your area that would let you hear them. You can also ask in the Philharmonic Audio section of AVS Forums.
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/philharmonic-audio-dennis-murphy.1348949/
They have a great community and many owners are more than willing to let someone listen to their setup.

 

[Silverfoxvtx]

@Eppie
I will dig hard into the Philharmonic, sounds like the best way to go…have you heard them you may have mentioned you have…non fatiguing compared too the horn speakers?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think if you find certain speakers "harsh or fatiguing", it's best if you actually audition all potential speakers for as many hours as necessary.

Keep the Yamaha AVR, sell everything else to keep it nice and simple. And audition speakers. When you find the potential speakers, listen to them for a long time to make sure they don't sound harsh to you over time.

 

[Eppie]

@Eppie
I will dig hard into the Philharmonic, sounds like the best way to go…have you heard them you may have mentioned you have…non fatiguing compared too the horn speakers?

I would not characterize all horn speakers as fatiguing. I listened to the JBL HDI-3600 for an hour in a show room and enjoyed them very much. It's really a character of specific drivers and cross-over designs. I restored an old pair of KEF speakers and they were the opposite of fatiguing. More on the "warm" side and thus easy on the ears. That was typical of early KEF speakers which tended to roll off a little on the highs. Speakers like that can sound less "detailed" compared to others but my personal preference is something that is less bright and leans towards the warm side of neutral.

I listened to the Philharmonic BMR Monitor and the BMR Tower in the designer's home. Dennis Murphy is a classically trained musician and a wizard with speaker crossovers. His goal is to achieve a very neutral response and his speakers measure very flat. That can still seem a little bright compared to a "warm" sounding speaker but I did not feel any ear fatigue listening to Dennis' speakers. He uses RAAL ribbon tweeters in the Monitor and Tower which produce nice highs. I have not yet heard the HT Tower which uses an Air Motion Transformer (AMT).

If you do not use a subwoofer, the BMR Tower is a transmission line design with deep bass extension. The HT Tower does not play quite as deep (still very good at flat down to 38Hz with extension to 32Hz) but has higher sensitivity and more dynamics for home theatre use. From a sensitivity aspect, the HT Tower would match your Klipsch RC64 better.

Ear fatigue is rather subjective, though. Can't guarantee that my experience matches yours. Some companies like Dali and the cheaper Klipsch line have an intentional lift in the highs which gives the impression of more detail but can be fatiguing to some. If you like a neutral sounding speaker, I can say that the Philharmonics fall very much into that category and they are worth investigating.

For something intentionally on the warm side, you might consider Harbeth or some of the classic Wharfedale designs like the Linton or Denton. If you can't demo those in your area, the Arendals measure quite neutral as well. More of an industrial design. If you like wood veneer, the finish on the Philharmonics is gorgeous.

 

[trochetier]

Since you have pretty efficient speakers and want to go for 2.1 set up and if you must update your receiver, I'd suggest Marantz Cinema 60 or a 70. Depending on your connectivity needs you could also look into Marantz stereo 70. I'd also suggest factory refurbished.

I have two factory refurbished Marantz AVRs that I bought in 2015 from https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html?brand_f[]=MARANTZ . They have been working just fine. Looked brand new out of the box not even a scratch..

BTW, my set up has always been 2.1. My receivers are AVRs because they provide more connectivity than stereo AVR.

 

[Nondemo01]

+1 on Eppie's advice. Demo the Arendal 1528 bookshelf with a nice integrated like a McIntosh MSA5500. Ditch the rest. (I've gotten all my Mac gear 25%-30% off from dealers. Pricey, somewhat but amazing quality.) That Klipsch center is probably the cause of some of that harshness. A good 2 channel beats a mediocre "x.x.x" channel. More just means more, not better.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd just substitute about any amp for the MacIntosh offerings unless the price was extremely attractive.

 

[Eppie]

Some clarity for those adding their opinions. The op had two separate systems in the same room. A 2 channel setup and a surround setup. He wants to downsize and was hoping to put together a surround setup that also does well with 2 channel music. He already sold his Volti speakers used in the 2 channel system. His Yamaha AVR is already top tier, so in my opinion a Marantz AVR would be a lateral move. The Cinema 60 and 70 are good but I think he would like the AV30 to maintain the level of equipment he has. He does not need an integrated amp. He still has a Pass Labs amp but that can be sold as well. To truly downsize, I think he should sell off all of the 2 channel system except maybe the streamer and replace the 2 or 3 front speakers in his theatre setup with some really good speakers that are known not to be fatiguing.

@Silverfoxvtx remember that the highs on speakers can be tamed a bit by towing the speakers out. You can start by aiming the speakers at your seating position but towing them out (or pointing them straight ahead) usually makes the highs roll off a little more. That can help make them less fatiguing.

 

[Nondemo01]

I'd just substitute about any amp for the MacIntosh offerings unless the price was extremely attractive.

Not sure why. McIntosh has proven to be an incredible bang for the buck. Expensive? Eh, compared to what? Their MC462, which I also own, is an absolute powerhouse and made in the USA. I also own ATI amps and would highly recommend them as well.

If the OP really wants to downsize, I’d seriously consider letting go of the immersive audio altogether. I’m still surprised they didn’t like the KEF LS60s.

With the $10K they’re willing to spend, they could build a killer two channel system that replaces most of that other gear. A quality integrated like the NAD M33 V2, McIntosh, or Hegel would be a substantial step up from that Yamaha AVR and mediocre surrounds, while dramatically simplifying the entire setup.

 

[Wardog555]

you can try the polk reserve speakers. I own the r200 and they are quite good for both movies and music.