Advice on floorstanders around the $2k range

sven1olaf

sven1olaf

Audioholic
I am exploring whether a pair of floorstanders would be more effective in my media room. They would be replacing a pair of Focal 807v bookshelves, and will have a pair of sealed 12" subs supporting them.

I'm hoping to narrow the field a little so I can try to listen to a few different choices.

Thanks,
 
I

ichigo

Full Audioholic
Probably the Revel F36 would be a good start. The Ascend Sierra Tower is also pretty good. If you like the Focal sound there is the Chorus 726.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Depending on the size room, Monitor Audio Silver 300 was one of my favorites... But if you were to stretch a little bit, the MA Silver 500 was what I amost bought until I heard Philharmonic/Dennis Murphy's BMRs. For very large standmounts, these compete easily with Towers in $3K/pr range!
Depending on where you are, Salk Sound has the BMRs now in his catalog, as well as the Song Towers. Very worthwhile if you have the opportunity to hear them. Jim is great, and he and Dennis, I'm certain, would help connect you with an owner near you for a listening session if you wanted.
The Sierra Towers are supposed to be very good, I concur. It would be worthwhile to stretch for the Raal upgrade on these.
 
Phase 2

Phase 2

Audioholic Chief
Checkout Polk's LSiM's 1/2 off on the whole line.
 
S

snakeeyes

Audioholic Ninja
Sometimes Acessories4less will drop the price on the Canton Vento 890.2 that low. They usually are no tax and free shipping at least.

I love my bookshelves (model 820.2)

There are other models in the Vento line up too

Good luck! :)
 
sven1olaf

sven1olaf

Audioholic
Thanks guys!

My bad, I didn't include any real detail on the room.

This is our new basement. The built in is a huge problem. I'm working in getting a carpenter to look into deleting the built in, pushing the left wall out under the stairs, and doing a clean single shelf with the TV mounted on the wall.

Main room is 1920 ft^2
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Ah... saw that thread. Didn’t put it together. Too distracted, lately. ;)
KEF may not be bad to look at, but personally they caused some listening fatigue.
As I said before, mass market, my money would be on Monitor audio. Martin Logan motions sounded good, but not enough to justify the cost vs Monitor audio.
Salk is in Michigan. He builds to order. His gear is top notch and I can not recommend enough any speaker designed by Dennis Murphy. These speakers are neutral and accurate. Dennis is a violinist for a symphony in Washington DC area, recently retired from all that I think, but that should give you an idea of the ears employed in tuning those speakers. It’s trite to say that they sound like the artist is right there in your room... but with his speakers, it’s kinda like that! I am a musician, too, and i get it. I bought the gear I have from him after one listen! I knew it wouldn’t get better if I kept auditioning other gear. Or spending much, much more money. :)
 
sven1olaf

sven1olaf

Audioholic
Looking at the Salk Sound site now.

Aesthetically fantastic!


Song Towers: $2000/pair

Ellis 1801: $3000/pair

Song Tower RT: $3000/pair

Song3: $3200/pair

Veracity HT-1: $3500/pair

Supercharged Song Tower: $3600/pair


I can flex into either of these if there's value in the jump. Any advice on where to start?

Also, heres a rough sketch of the layout.

 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
I go with either Song Towers at $2000/pair or Song3 at $3200/pair. Because you already have two 12" subs, I'd go with SongTowers. The larger and more expensive 3-way Song3s go deeper. The ST was Jim's bread & butter speaker for over 10 years. More recently the newer Song3 series has probably sold better.

I had a pair of SongTowers for about 9 years. Read my impressions of them from 2007. I loved them then and still do now. (Three years ago I stepped up to Salk Veracity ST speakers.) SongTowers were also reviewed, highly favorably, by others including Audioholics, Enjoy The Music.com, and The Absolute Sound. See the review links on the SongTower web page.

Check out what size foot print each of those require. The plinths have a bit larger footprint than the speaker towers.
 
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ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
My value is on the Raal Tweeter SongRT or the Song 3. I have Raal tweeters, and the best way to describe them is that they are open and detailed, and many users claim they could never own a speaker without one. It has also been said that Dennis can coax every little bit out of a dome tweeter, to the extent where a listener couldn't tell the difference. ;) Beyond that, I am a big proponent of a 3-way design, but again here is he one case where I would not be afraid to buy a 2-way design. Moreover, the Transmission Line builds which the 2-way designs employ impart a very special bass quality that you really have to hear to believe. Lastly... my actual choice as a buy-in would be the Supercharged Song Tower: You can listen to most music on these without the subs... even though I use subs myself with the BMRs (also 34Hz extension). Regardless, the point is you don't have to go all in on the most expensive models. The SongRT, for example, will give you the best of it all for a great cost!
Consider your space, placement, and needs. Several of his speakers, he will build front ported or rear... and even for the TL designs, you can see one White Super Song that has the terminus in the front.
Don't lose sight of the "Standard Finishes," which cost a little more than the black or white base options.
Lastly, a nice little thing to know is that Salk is very active in helping his owners upgrade if they choose, and I've seen references to him helping sell the old speakers. The nice thing is, his speakers hold their value very well on the resell market. you might still take a hit, but not near what you would if you tried selling any mass market speakers a few years down the line. ;)
Don't hesitate reaching out to him. Email him with the details of your space and what your goals are. He will help you make the right decision and work with you on dialing it in.

(As I've mentioned, I ordered my gear from Dennis' own company, Philharmonic Audio. He and Jim have been long-time colleagues, and Jim was building the cabinets for my last pair of speakers, the Phil 3, when Dennis fell ill and ultimately retired. Jim and Dennis reached an agreement that Jim could take over the orders from Dennis if the individual customers agreed. I did, and Jim finished my speakers earlier this week. They shipped yesterday.
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/philharmonic-3-packing-and-shipping.114642/
This wasn't even Jim's speaker, and he built it as if it were, and did so in the face of some crazy issues. He could have easily doubled the price on me had he chosen... he could have just flat out refused to continue the project. Instead, in roughly 1 week, I'll have those bad boys anchoring my rig.
To me, I understand that if ever I choose to upgrade, it would be with Salk Sound, or I build my own! That is how much value I place in his and Dennis' work. So we will see... if I can build better in 10 years time or not! ;) )

Cheers!
 
sven1olaf

sven1olaf

Audioholic
I am reaching out to them now.

My first, and larger, problem still is being sorted out. There are no towers if the front sound stage isn't expanded.

I'm struggling with find contractors to take on my project. It's not worth enough for them to do the work. I've had x3 tell me today that they won't take the job. That and the guy that was supposed to be coming today cancelled this morning.

All dressed up, with no place to go.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Nobody said you have to use the existing cubby. ;) Perhaps you can craftily remove partitions, wall mount the tv in the little nook, employ some standmounts outside of the nook? :)
But then again, I’m a function first kinda guy. If it doesn’t function, re-form it! That “built in” does not function. Who ever built that doesn’t believe in life. :p
 
sven1olaf

sven1olaf

Audioholic
Nobody said you have to use the existing cubby. ;) Perhaps you can craftily remove partitions, wall mount the tv in the little nook, employ some standmounts outside of the nook? :)
But then again, I’m a function first kinda guy. If it doesn’t function, re-form it! That “built in” does not function. Who ever built that doesn’t believe in life. :p
The design of the built in, combined with the asinine in ceiling placement makes me wonder what I've gotten myself into. With poor choices like these apparent, the previous owner is more than capable of creating more land mines for me to discover.

As far as pulling everything out, believe me, I've thought of that. The problem is that they will stick out into the main entrance to seating area pretty far. This is something I'd be ok with as I work the redesign problem, but my favorite lady will not be so forgiving.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
The design of the built in, combined with the asinine in ceiling placement makes me wonder what I've gotten myself into. With poor choices like these apparent, the previous owner is more than capable of creating more land mines for me to discover.

As far as pulling everything out, believe me, I've thought of that. The problem is that they will stick out into the main entrance to seating area pretty far. This is something I'd be ok with as I work the redesign problem, but my favorite lady will not be so forgiving.
The art of compromise. ;) Let her pick the finish of the Salks. You’ll have four months to fix the cubby while they are being built.:D
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
I'm struggling with find contractors to take on my project. It's not worth enough for them to do the work. I've had x3 tell me today that they won't take the job. That and the guy that was supposed to be coming today cancelled this morning.
You could wait until the next recession, or if you're handy with a chainsaw there are many possibilities! You could even make a sofa like this guy :D

 
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