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

[JJMP50]

There are some real good deals on JBL Studio L880s or L890s. They are a little bright, but overall the are a great value.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/407274-REG/JBL_L890CH_L890_Studio_L_Series.html

This is just one vendor. Audioholics sells them as well, it think.

 

[xrodney]

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

Yes B&W 600 series may be made in china, but B&W have its own fab using basically same quality components as for 700 and 800 and have their own trained stuff there so it should not make big difference.

 

[wolven99]

Day two of shopping:

Visited 3 chain stores:
The equipment running the speakers was several notches below the ones from yesterday. The surroundings were not exactly high end listening rooms either. So, it was a more realistic experience and more relevant to the environment that I’m going to place them in.

Store 3:
We listen to NHT 4 speakers. The salesman thought those were top notch. The sound was ok. My ears didn’t like all the high notes the bass could have been more defined. It is an interesting speaker with a $2300 or $1800US price tag.
They are going to get some Paradigms later in the week we will see.

Store 4:

Got to try Kef iq9 I was very interested in those speakers. From further away the speakers sounded fine closer up not as much. Still a good value and good rock speaker for the money. On sale for 1200$ or $950US and salesman wanting to make a deal. Still not much of a step up from what I have. Too bad as there is something likeable about them.

PolkAudio Lsi 15 were just too big and way too high pitched. Didn’t listen really.

Store 5:

After listening for a moment to low level Klipsch we moved on to something very interesting namely:

Energy RC70 some sounds were on high side but overall very dynamic perhaps a little too aggressive but seemed like a fun speaker. Canadian company but made in China. The salesman was willing to let them go for $2000cad. $1600US.


Conclusions:
1. I have to hear B&W 683 in more realistic setup, did I like them that much or was there something more to it.
2. Energy RC70 is in the running to be chosen and Focal 726 are worth a look as well.
3. Distinguishing sounds is hard work, not easy at all!

More tomorrow……….

 

[ppontiac]

Get yourself a pair of Klipsch Heresy II's and a 12" subwoofer. You"ll spend less than $1,000 and the sub will smooth out the perceived harshness of the horns.

 

[wolven99]

......

Didn’t have much time for speaker shopping this week:

Went to couple high end stores:

#6

The salesman explained a few things about speakers. Got the feeling Rock was not his thing, hehe and a budget about 2000$(yeah went up) wasn't his thing either.

Wanted to listen to Monitor RS8 but they had them sitting in boxes behind bunch of other speakers and I didn’t have time for the setup.

So, checked out Monitor RS6 instead. There was a noticeable boom sound on low end and not in a good way. It was like the mid range disappeared somewhere or better yet there was a felling of fog.

#7 Another B&W dealer:

Wow some of the speakers looked amazing.

Listened to CM9, sound didn’t seem any better than 683. There is a good chance I’m tone death or something. Perhaps there was more detail but something was missing. The woofer cons were paper, somewhat disappointing. People say B&W can be bright and tiresome, I have yet to notice that and I’m rather sensitive to harsh tweeters. Perhaps it is the speaker placing. Have not had them facing straight at me.

Still B&W 683 and Energy RC70 are in close race.

Must check Revel Concerta F12.

As for Klipsch thanks for the suggestion but for some reason I’m not into those speakers.