Greetings Audioholics!!! I am a newbie to this forum but am someone that was into High End Audio 15 – 20 years ago until things like buying a house, making babies and the associated expenses that go along with both caused my HiFi budget to disappear faster than a room full of virgins at Tiger Woods house. But with the big Five O birthday looming my wife has graciously approved a speaker upgrade for my system. Most of my gear is fifteen plus years old but was considered pretty good back in the day and has been well cared for and is still in excellent working condition:
Amp: Forte 4a (50 wpc pure Class A)
Pre: Classe Audio Thirty
CD : NAD C 521BEE (replaced a Nakamichi CD changer about four years ago)
Spkrs: Mission 750LE on 26’ Target Stands filled with sand
My “Music Room”, which also serves as a guest bedroom, office, kids homework room, etc. is 14 x 11.5 feet with 8 foot coffered ceilings that are 9’ 2” in the center. There is a hide-a-bed sofa along one wall which limits how far away from the back wall I can place the left speaker. Unfortunately, the sofa, large desk at the other end of the room and other accouterments have to stay, and I can’t really rearrange the furniture.
The Mission speakers were a demo from a local audio shop that I got on a tip from a guy who worked there. When my stereo got moved from the living room to the upstairs office I had to ditch my B & W DM640 floor standers which are the best speakers I ever owned and went with the Missions as I needed something smaller and got a good deal on them. Their sonic character was similar to the B&Ws, but without the low end or mid-range excellence of the bigger speakers . Once I got adjusted to the smaller speakers I came to like them. But over time I have grown less fond of the Missions. They just sound a bit too thin to me in the mid-range and if I turn the volume up to even medium levels the bass gets very boomy. I realize part of the reason for this is they are placed in the corners of the room with the rear of the speaker about 18 inches from the back wall, and the side of the speakers about a foot from the side walls. Due to furniture and the layout of the room, that’s where the speakers have to be placed. There is not much I can do about this setup.
Although I have been out of the HiFi game for quite a while I still love music and most of my listening these days is done on my computer which sports an upgraded sound card and a pair of Audioengine 2 speakers. While this isn’t a bad setup, I really would like to get back to using my HiFi system. I own over 1,500 CDs and my taste in music is predominantly various flavors of rock with some alt-country, blues, 60’s soul and R&B, jazz ( the traditional but non squeaky horn variety) and bluegrass thrown in. I love “classic rock” like The Beatles, The Kinks, The Stones, Cream, Traffic, Hendrix and The Band along with “new wave” from the 70’s /80s , The Jam, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, XTC, Television, and English Beat. I will occasionally punk out with the NY Dolls, the Ramones or The Clash. I dig Indie bands like The Jayhawks, Robyn Hitchcock, The Feelies, or Crowded House. I also can’t get enough of Los Lobos, the Grateful Dead, Richard Thompson, Roxy Music, Yo La Tengo, Whiskeytown, Uncle Tupelo, and Steve Earle. I’m all over the map but I really don’t listen to classical ( I know, I know I’m missing out but really it just doesn’t do it for me).
I have about $1K to spend on speakers and there are a few I have in mind. I have read wonderful things about the B & W 685s and I was so happy with my old B&Ws that they will definitely get an audition. One feature of the 685s I like is the reflex port in the front of the speaker rather than the rear. I think this design would be preferable with my particular setup and cut down on the “boomy bass” effect I get from the Missions, which have a rear port. I am also interested in the CM1 but have concerns they may be similar to the Mission 750LEs and not have the huevos to crank Pearl Jam when I am the only one home. A friend of mine has a home theater setup with PSB Image B6s as his front speakers and I love the sound of those but they also feature the rear port for bass, and at $499 a pair I would and prefer spend more of my $1k budget and get more. I will give the PSB Imagine B at $1K a listen at a local audio shop, but I don’t know anything about them besides the review in Stereophile this past year.
In my research of speakers over the past few weeks I stumbled across reviews of the Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1. I am really intrigued by these speakers although I know nothing about the company other than they sell directly over the web and their President seems like a nice guy who is a speaker designer nerd. I use this term respectfully as I myself am a computer networking nerd. One obvious advantage to the Ascend Acoustics sales model is that I can audition these babies for 30 days in my room and return them with a full refund if they are not my cup of tea. This seems like a real benefit. My game plan at the moment is to visit a few audio shops to audition said B&Ws and PSB models. Then, before plunking down the cash ordering the Sierra 1s and see how they sound in my room and make a decision from there.
Finally, the reason I am here and writing my music listening life story for all to read is I do have a few questions for you who possess much knowledge. First, is my theory of finding a speaker with front reflex ports because of the speaker placement something that sounds logical? Or am I eliminating a perfectly good speaker like the PSB Image B6 for a problem that has more to do with speaker placement than the location or presence of the reflex port. I do realize that there are wall and room treatments that I could add but between the cost and the wife acceptance factor I probably can’t go that route. The Seirra1s do come with a damping kit that could solve the bass / placement issue but at the expense of something else.
Second. Given my budget, room constraints, and taste in music are there any other monitor style speakers that you could suggest that I consider or audition. I would hate to make this purchase and then find out two months later that there was an ideal speaker out there that I missed because I have been out of the game for a while.
Thank you for reading through my long winded post and for any wisdom you may impart on me.
Ken
Bop-bop-a-lu a-wop -bam-boo
