I’ve gotten the itch to look around at speakers again. I’m still really liking my KEF IQ7’s but I wanted something…more. I’ve been listening to omni/bi/di pole speakers from Definitive Technology, Martin Logan & Mirage. I like the extra ambience and sense of space they offer, but each has it’s detractions. The ML’s offer tons of detail & space, but they’re very picky about placement, and you do have to be in the “sweet spot” both vertically & horizontally. Move just a little, and the soundstage collapses. The Mirage are a bit too diffuse, and the fact that my listening room is the top level of a split level house means the left channel has no wall near it for the reflected sound. I was looking at the DT 10BP (used) but the imaging wasn’t as solid as my KEF’s.
While perusing craiglist I came across a used pair of Polk Monitor 50’s. Not a great speaker, but decent in it’s own right. I put them up on two cinder blocks, and placed them behind the KEF’s facing the rear wall. The tweeter is very bright, so I tucked a small fluff of holofill over the tweeter, between it & the grill. There was also too boomy, so I stuffed the port with some foam. I wired them in parallel with the KEF’s. True, this lowers the impedance to 4 ohms, but I figure the Emotiva XPA-5 can handle it. So far, I have been able to get the volume as high as I would ever want without any clipping or strain. This arrangement also allows me to position the Polk’s independently from the KEF’s . The blend of the two different tonalities is very nice, and the added dimension to the soundstage is wonderful. Yes, I could have gone for another pair of KEF’s, but at only $150 a pair, I had to give them a try, and so far so good.
There is a shelf just behind my display from which I hung a piece of egg crate foam to tame the early reflections from bouncing around behind the plasma. An experiment that paid off.
