Before I begin, note that I haven't had the opportunity to audition quality speakers until now....so I may not be the best judge in what makes a great sounding speaker. I live a good hour away from any audio specialty shops but earlier today, I made the drive and was glad that I did. I enjoyed it and learned a little in the process. I mananged to find two stores that carried quality music and HT speakers. Both stores had great employees and were very patient with me and my wife. I must of ran that poor boy all over the place switching from speaker to speaker and song to song...haha.
The speakers I auditioned were all under $1500 (with the exception of a few others just for fun). I was only trying out L+R Floorstanding sets, mainly cd's from various artists. The speakers I tried were Klipsch RF 62, Def Tech B7006 and the Monitor Audio RS-6. The receiver was an upper end Denon that had some 100+ wpc. I don't remember the exact model number.
I went big and bassy right off the top with Metallica (..And Justice for All). I played the song "One" on the MA RS-6's. They sounded very good but a bit reserved...especially in the upper mids to high's. I have heard folks mention the brightness of these speakers but I personally didn't hear that. Of course, I have been listening to my Klipsch's in the bedroom alot lately, so that could explain that. I noticed they had great bass with a clean sound that seemed very realistic and responsive. I felt as if the kick pedal bass drum was in the room with me. The vocals were clean...for James Hetfield anyways..lol. I then played some "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zepplin. This speaker sounded very full and emotional even, leaving me wanting to try more. The instruments really came to life with these speakers. I then played some Pink Floyd songs from Dark Side of the Moon. I was equally impressed. Overall, I was impressed with these speakers. They were compact at a height just over 33" tall. They were very well made and had a beautiful wood finish. (The wife's emphasis...mainly
). I would say a good everyday speaker that you could listen to for hours at a time. They were very pleasant and soothing to my ears. A definate thumbs up for the Monitor RS-6's. If they only had the RS-8's I could compare them to, that would have been great (especially since a member of this forum has a set of RS-8's for sale as we speak).
Next up was the Klipsch RF 62's. They definately had the Klipsch brightness that you would expect but also very tight and responsive bass. I played the same song "One" and switched between those and the Monitor's. I also played some Zepplin stuff while switching from the MA's to the RF 62's. The Kilpsch had more detail in the upper mids to highs than the MA's. The bass was more powerful as well, maybe even too much at times but very clean nonetheless. They were much louder at the same volume levels, showing the efficiency of these speakers. They push out the power effortlessly. A very good speaker for heavy metal, but not sure if I would be able to listen to them for longer periods of time. They were loud and powerful and I could see them making a great speaker for parties in bigger areas, as they have so much power. I had the boy crank them up to the point where I thought I was going to be deaf and I never heard any distortion at all. I did like them, though. They are great speakers for those with the aquired taste for brightness.
Last of the group was the Definitive Technology B7006. I mention this one last because it was really nothing about this speaker I liked. The built in powered woofer just made things worse. It sounded very loose and sloppy with the bulit in woofer enabled. I couldn't see paying more for these than the other two which were cheaper in price. The midrange sounded like artificial and muddy. They remided me of Polks in that manner. Those fans of Def Tech, please take no offense as I am a newbie to the world of audio. They just sounded poor in my own ears. I even tried the upper end Def Tech with some Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd and some random Blues from the demo disc they had there. Nothing I played sounded good in those speakers. The boy that was helping us even agreed that the others sounded better in the music department. He mentioned that the Def Techs were better in Ht applications, but I wouldn't know as I didn't even bother with them for long.
I tried both the Klipsch and the MA's with a movie, "The Matrix Reloaded". Both speakers did an excellent job with sound effects. The bullet shells hitting the ground sounded very realistic with the Klipsch's but in certain action scenes, they were a bit overwhelming. Once again the MA's were my top choice as they had a more natural feel to them. They seemed to have a fullness even without the sub, but when the boy turned on the Def Tech cube sub...the movie really came to life. The Klipsch had great explosive action even without the sub but who watches movies without a sub these days? I think you could even go with a smaller sub with the RF 62 than with the RS-6's, IMO. The dialogue was a bit harsh with the Klipsch's and even using the reccomended center channel of Klipsch's...people's voices sounded a bit annoying...borderline shrilling even. I would personally use a smoother center speaker than the matched Klipsch center, but that's just me. The matching center for the MA RS-6 (whatever they call it) had a more earthy feel to it, sounding more like actual voices in the room. Again, thumbs up to the Monitor series in this aspect.
I wish I had more options around here for quality speakers but it was an interesting trip anyways. I had fun.
Oh, I did visit another store that mainly specialized in home theater setup, installs, etc. I was turned on to front projection on a 105" screen. He had "Ironman" playing on Blu-ray. Boy, was that an awesome experience!!! I would never go to a theater ever again if I had a setup like that!!! It was truly beautiful. It even gave me chill bumps! The speakers were Paradigm Signature S6's and they sound excellent. Unfortunately, I had nothing to compare them too but they were very clean and powerful in the 7.2 setup they had. They were way out of my price range anyways.
All in all I had a great experience and look forward to finding other places that carry different brands so I can try out some more speakers. Based on my limited experience so far, the Monitor Audio RS-6 were victorious.
