I think if you loved those GoldenEar, you would love the DefTech BP7000SC & the discontinued BP7001SC, which I think have the advantage since they are bipolar speakers (the GoldenEar is monopole). Of course, there are better speakers that cost a lot more money. But for the price vs performance, I think the BP7001SC are a great value. I would put them up against the B&W Diamond, Paradigm, & PSB (based on my auditions).
OK, all bets on the Table or forever hold your Breath.
Yesterday we drove about 1.5hrs. to the audio shop, and was happy he had those Golden Ear Triton Twos on the floor. After reading about 7 Reviews that ALL loved them we were excited to actually hear them. -- Wow, we said they would NOT win any fashion design award, put in some Pink Floyd, and stood back and listened... w/in 3 mins. wife said, NOT THOSE, and I said let's try some StarShip tunes... after another few mins... she and I agreed to shut them OFF. To our ears on a scale of 5 Stars they were about 3.5 Stars... that is it.
We could not pick up the finite transient highs, and they just seemed to be somewhat Cloudy like the weather was outside. NO GO, and certainly not at $2500/pr. since Sandy will not let the dealer deal on them, and the dealer cost = $1250/pr. or $625 / box, and they might be worth $500-600 per box if you can get them at that price, I don't think one can unless your a dealer. At any rate...
NO Golden Ears here... for sure. Minusthebear, your money on the table is gone, or were you just wondering and not betting [Laughing].
So then over to the Def. Tech lineup, and he fired up the BP7000SC SuperTowers -- H___l the whole world came alive, well it should of... the cost is almost twice what the Ear TT would of cost, a little less.
So then I said, VERY NICE -- that is the Signature of Sound we are looking for -- but WAY TO MUCH $ for this go around.
So then he said OK, let's fire these up -- the
Def. Tech. BP7001SC's, driving them w/ a couple Sony monoblock 200W amps, just like he drove the 7K's. Geez, these sound like the 7000's, and cost HOW MUCH? He said, can go around $2.5K per Pair -- played Pink Floyd/Starship/Fleetwood Mac, and listened and listened... that is the Sig. of SQ we want. Played w/ the gain on the subwoofer level as he had no EQ going on, just flat, and dialed in the level for low freq. gain... VERY NICE. Cranked them WAY up.. had no SPL meter with me, but still clear and detailed at very High SPL levels until our ears started bleeding. I think the knob for SW was right around 10 o'clock.
So, then onto the Klipsch Corner Horns at $17.5K in extreme corners of this big warehouse, and put in Susan Boyle -- lit up the whole warehouse, and these speakers must of been around 50 ft. apart from one another in the extreme corners of the building. Other half said she could hear Susan licking her lips w/ the Klipsch's... and as soon as he turned them on, I said "Yep, that is the Klipsch Signature Sound", same sig. of sound as the RF-82II's we have - but want to get away from that Sound Signature.
So, we LOVED the Def. Tech. BP7KSC Series... clean, detailed, 3D, full soundstage, high freq. transients were right on, midrange was very full and smooth. We loved the Sound Signature and Quality of the Def. Tech BP7KSC series, like they were Awesome and Frightening REAL, like we were there right w/ Starship playing.
As most all know, One Active SW (10" or 14") at 1500 or 1800W respectively and coupled to two low bass radiators, Two 1" Alum. dome tweeters, and Four 6.5" mineral filled polymer upper bass/mid-range drivers per box - w/ front and rear firing D'Appolito arrays for Mids/Tweets.
So Def. Tech. BP7000SC right at a shade over $4K. or better yet we could get by w/ the Def. Tech. BP7001SC's at around just under $2.5K per Pair.
That is where we are at right now... working pricing next to see if we can get the Dealer to come down lower in pricing. 5 yr. warranty, and 3 yrs. on amp.
We both just LOVED the signature of "Real Life" sound coming from the Def. Tech line, and that would get us our missing Mid-Range back moving away from the Klipsch lineup.
End of Audition --
did billy_p and ADTG win the bet and split all the $$ on the table?