My speakers are 20 yr old. Need new - HELP!

[wolven99]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum and reason I have joined in is that I need expert opinion on speakers.

I'm only interested in getting 2 tower speakers (3-way) for music not movies. Mostly rock but not exclusively. The price under 1000$ US for the pair, preferably 800$. I may decide to get a self amplified subwoofer later if needed.
My AMP is Technics SA-DA8 from the 90's, 6 channels at 100w per channel at 6 ohm's and is hooked up to my computer by a tosslink.

I have considered a few speakers such as Klipsch Synergy F3 but many people think they don't sound good. Apparently Reference series is better not sure how much better.

So, what is a good speaker out there???????????????
Vibrant middle not too crazy high's and a clear bass......

Please helpppppppppppppppppp
Thank you in advance!!!

 

[fredk]

but many people think they don't sound good.

What many people think dosn't matter, what you do, does. If those are speakers you are interested in, go out and listen to them then come back and tell us your impressions. With a reference point, you will get loads of good advice.

Don't forget to take material you are familiar with when you listen. Using your own material will make it easier to compare.

 

[Highbar]

After you listen to speakers let us know what you think. As far as Klipsch, most of the complaints are that they have a lot of highend, which comes from the horn tweeters so you might not like them if you don't want a lot of high's.

 

[highfigh]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum and reason I have joined in is that I need expert opinion on speakers.

I'm only interested in getting 2 tower speakers (3-way) for music not movies. Mostly rock but not exclusively. The price under 1000$ US for the pair, preferably 800$. I may decide to get a self amplified subwoofer later if needed.
My AMP is Technics SA-DA8 from the 90's, 6 channels at 100w per channel at 6 ohm's and is hooked up to my computer by a tosslink.

I have considered a few speakers such as Klipsch Synergy F3 but many people think they don't sound good. Apparently Reference series is better not sure how much better.

So, what is a good speaker out there???????????????
Vibrant middle not too crazy high's and a clear bass......

Please helpppppppppppppppppp
Thank you in advance!!!

Why do you need new speakers- just because yours are 20 years old? What do you have now? Are they having problems, like the surrounds disintegrating? That can be repaired.

 

[wolven99]

well,....

I cannot listen to high sounds, left ear problem. Actually that’s not entirely a joke.

As for my old speakers, the only way to get lively action at this point is to go high on the equalizer in the 2k-8kHz range and to get some bass going high around the 100 -250Hz. Anything below 60Hz the speakers don’t really respond.

The speakers I have now came with my first tower system, they are big 3-way speakers but not great.

So, I have decided that it is time to make a major upgrade. I’m going to listen to some of them tomorrow and will bring my music - thanks.

However, wanted to go with some recommendation from the forum as there are endless choices around. Just to narrow it down a bit.

Thanks for responses

 

[josephga]

My fronts are kenwood towers I have mine going on 18 years still in excellent condition. I just painted mine instead of replacing them

 

[Highbar]

Paradigm, B&W, Kef, PSB, Klipsch, JBL, Warfdale, Deftech. The list goes on. I know that I'm leaving out some that are popular, and I didn't want to include internet brands since you can't listen to them in a store. Just hit every brand you can, it'll probably take a couple of days.

 

[wolven99]

I'm gonna have to sharpen my hearing......

Yeah, I have a feeling it will take longer than couple of days. My problem is that everytime I start with a price in mind it escalates as the shopping progresses. ....
I’m hearing good things about BW 800’s series.
But this time I mean it, no more than a 1000$.

 

[xrodney]

Yeah, I have a feeling it will take longer than couple of days. My problem is that everytime I start with a price in mind it escalates as the shopping progresses. ....
I’m hearing good things about BW 800’s series.
But this time I mean it, no more than a 1000$.

BW 800's sounds realy great, best i heard so far, but price is 5-12k $ per piece(tower).
You should probably try listen to them anyway to get idea how nice can music realy sound (I was listening EAGLES - hotel california in SACD and it was unbelievable compared to cheaper speakers).
And probably you can try BW 683 next, they cost little over 1k $ (1600 or so for pair) or 684 which are cheaper towers in bw 600's line.
And of course check other brands to see which you like more.

 

[walter duque]

For rock music the Klipsch Heresy is one of the better speakers that I have owened.

http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/heresy-iii.aspx

 

[wolven99]

list of speakers......

I was kidding with the 800 series, but yeah the 683 could be a possibility. I’m going to wait until the weekend before shopping as my friend wants to join in.

The speakers on my list so far are:

KEF iQ9
Klispch RF82 ( saw them on sale for less than RF62)
PolkAudio TSI500
Energy RC-30
B&W 683

 

[scott911]

2.1 system?

Note that you may also want to consider spliting your money between two stereo speakers and subwoofer.

I'm not an ear doctor, but if your hearing is starting to go, perhaps letting your fronts concentrate mainly on mids and highs might be benificial to you?

 

[popotoys]

IMO, I wouldn't limit myself to just towers. Is there a reason for only towers? Technolgy has come a long way and there are quite a few really good 2.1 sytems out there that will rock. I would go in with an open mind and listen to a lot of different choices.

To be honest, I still kick myselft in the *** for being stuck on towers!

 

[Shock]

http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php/loudspeakers/swan-diva/p/swan-diva-5-2/cPath/21_22/products_id/30

You probably won't find anything better for $950.

 

[wolven99]

.....

Swan's look very nice! I will try to locate them.

Popotoys why are you kicking yourself?
We got to hear the story!!!

Yeah, you are right I don’t embrace technology. I probably will get a sub later. Just want to concentrate on one thing at a time.

My hearing has trouble with high notes so anything supper high pitch high tweeter impact is not good the vibration is the problem but only on one ear.

 

[poutanen]

My fronts are kenwood towers I have mine going on 18 years still in excellent condition. I just painted mine instead of replacing them

My dad has a pair of Kenwoods from the 70's that he put new woofers in around the late 90's. With all the money and power I've had in systems, I'm still jealous of those speakers.

 

[scott911]

talk about old speakers...

My dad (in his 60's) inherited a pair of speakers from HIS dad. The brand is Human. He loves them so much that I tracked down the origioanl designer (before internet was main stream, so that was a challenge) and paid him to craft or source several new compoents that had worn out.

Now that re-build is probably 15 years old! speakers are maybe 30 to 45 years old.

They are interesting affairs with mids or tweeters firing to the back at 45 degrees from the front plane. And early approach to surround sound perhaps.

 

[popotoys]

Swan's look very nice! I will try to locate them.

Popotoys why are you kicking yourself?
We got to hear the story!!!

Yeah, you are right I don’t embrace technology. I probably will get a sub later. Just want to concentrate on one thing at a time.

I probably would have purchased a little smaller speaker and 2 subs if I was to do it over. With the towers I could only afford one sub.

You have mentioned that you might buy a sub anyways, why not consider doing it now and saving a few bucks? You may have to go a little over a grand though.

Something like this with a sub would be pretty awesome.

 

[john72953]

Yeah, I have a feeling it will take longer than couple of days. My problem is that everytime I start with a price in mind it escalates as the shopping progresses. ....
I’m hearing good things about BW 800’s series.
But this time I mean it, no more than a 1000$.

Good luck with that!

John

 

[wolven99]

Day one of speaker shopping!

Went to two high end audio stores and got a chance to listen to a few speakers.

Store one: Nice treatment from the stuff. They would let me take the speakers home to try them out.

They didn’t have Paradigm Studio 100 yet.
Got to try Paradigm Studio 60 v4 and the new v5.
V4 - were larger than v5 and didn’t look that great. They only had a demo at 30% off. Starting price wasn’t great. Now the important thing the sound:
You could feel the space but detail was poor, all in all I got bored quickly.
V5 – looks amazing. The speakers were new so haven’t burned in yet. There was no feel of space but good detail, very sharp, sort of in your face. Could get tiresome after a while. Metalica’s -‘Fight fire with fire’ blasting at high volume completely chocked the speakers.

We moved on to Focal 726 in which the store specializes.
Nice sound had no problem with Metalica and anything else. Perhaps a little on the bright side. Nice feeling of space. Cheaper than Paradigm Studio 60v5. Price around $2200 or $1750US.

Store two: Nice treatment from the salesman. He deals with some expensive electronics and home theaters and by that I mean they will build you a theater in the house. It was a very nice experience, much better than going to Future Shop. We spent a lot of time there.

Concentrated on B&W 683, although did listen to some other cool stuff.
So, 683: Great sound best of the bunch so far. The bass was amazing very detailed. I heard some sounds that weren’t there before, really cool. The detail was there at all ranges and the high notes were soft and pleasant to the ear.

However, the speakers were bi-wired, huge cables and truly monster super high quality amp.
On the minus side the cabinets are not wood.

I told the owner I liked the speakers but wanted to hear some other manufactures. When I mentioned KEF he did point out that they were made in China. And that Polk Audio was not in the same category.

After getting home I discovered that B&W 600 series is also made in China unlike the higher level series from B&W. So, that is a second minus. Which, the salesman failed to mention.
The price at $1800 Canadian that’s about $1450US was also more attractive than the others.

Tomorrow time to go back into the jungle of chain stores and tryout: KEF, PolkAudio, Energy. Monday should be another nice day with a couple of high end stores on the agenda.

Cheers