Speaker Recommendations.. Please advise.

S

stevef22

Audiophyte
My listening volume is usually 60-80 db. Room is 20X15 with carpet floors. Walls have paintings on them, nothing else treated in room.

Currently, I have KLH Model 5. and while they are great... The tweeters is a little "spicy"? Not sure. Tried several amps, preamps, dacs etc. Its just a signature of the speakers.

I listen to allot of SADE, Jazz, Techno, Dance, Electronic Music. Allot of ambient and deep bass music. I want to feel the energy of the music without getting listening fatigue sometimes a horn speaker will give me.

Here are 4 I have narrowed down.

Q Concept 50
Review:
Details: https://www.qacoustics.com/products/concept-50
MSRP $2999 pair

Polk R700
Review:
Details: https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/product/floor-standing-towers/reserve-r700
MSRP $2200 pair

Arendal 1723 Tower THX
Review:
Details: https://arendalsound.com/product/1723-tower-thx/
MSRP $3699 pair

SVS Prime
Review:
Details: https://www.svsound.com/
MSRP $2000 pair


Thank you very much
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
You are linking to all the wrong reviews. If you want to know what is going on with your KLH speakers, this is the review. I will bet that the problem of your 'spicy treble' is the upper midrange bump between 2kHz and 4kHz. You could fix that with equalization pretty easily. Buying a new speaker is a pretty expensive EQ. If you want a warmer speaker, the SVS Prime Pinnacle is certainly that. The Arendals would be good because you can EQ them just by angling them- the further you listen off-axis, the more it rolls off the treble, but it rolls it off smoothly. I have a feeling you would love its bass ability as well. The Polk R700 is a great speaker, very accurate. They deserve the priase they get.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Sorry to hear you tried to change sound with the electronics first....speakers is usually the correct first culprit to suspect (maybe your room/setup within the room). I wouldn't use youtube videos as a source of info outside of maybe those made here, or at Erin's Audio Corner or Audiosciencereview. I'd follow shadyJ's recos....
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
My listening volume is usually 60-80 db. Room is 20X15 with carpet floors. Walls have paintings on them, nothing else treated in room.

Currently, I have KLH Model 5. and while they are great... The tweeters is a little "spicy"? Not sure. Tried several amps, preamps, dacs etc. Its just a signature of the speakers.

I listen to allot of SADE, Jazz, Techno, Dance, Electronic Music. Allot of ambient and deep bass music. I want to feel the energy of the music without getting listening fatigue sometimes a horn speaker will give me.

Here are 4 I have narrowed down.

Q Concept 50
Review:
Details: https://www.qacoustics.com/products/concept-50
MSRP $2999 pair

Polk R700
Review:
Details: https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/product/floor-standing-towers/reserve-r700
MSRP $2200 pair

Arendal 1723 Tower THX
Review:
Details: https://arendalsound.com/product/1723-tower-thx/
MSRP $3699 pair

SVS Prime
Review:
Details: https://www.svsound.com/
MSRP $2000 pair


Thank you very much
If you are not going to use a sub, I would say the Arendal is your best bet.
 
S

stevef22

Audiophyte
My Current Configuration:

WiiM Puck Player connected to my Amazon music acct.
Geshelli J2 DAC with AK4493 chip
Adcom GFP656
Harmon Kardon Signature 2.1 Amplifier
KLH Model Five Speakers about 3 feet from wall.

Image 1
https://ibb.co/K73F3cm

Image 2
https://ibb.co/4145Mnm
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
I always found cloth grilles helped 'just enough' with those style speakers. Sometimes it seems they end up bumping the upper mids and highs to overcome such a large woofer, or when taming the woofer inflicts too many other compromises. I almost always had to EQ down the higher frequencies on that style/size of speaker. While the rest of the world was inflicting the smiley curve, Mine was more of a frown, or talking out the side of it's mouth EQ curve.

Was usually worth it to me for what the bass and mid drivers used to bring to the table otherwise.

IMO, JBL is about the only one for my personal preference that gets waveguides right with regard to music, and without sounding so. . . PA-ish.
 
H

head_unit

Audioholic Intern
I have KLH Model 5. and while they are great... The tweeters is a little "spicy"?
- They have this problem even with the grilles on?
How are they aimed? Are they close to side walls? Sounds like a pretty live room. We have a very live sidewall at one location, ended up with extreme toe-in (a line straight out from the speakers crosses well in front of the listener) to reduce direct treble but especially reduce "splash" off the sidewall.
Before spending more money, if this is with grilles, I'd be experimenting covering the tweeter with tissues and fabrics.
To really get *improvement* my vague rule of thumb is you need to spend like 3X as much money, otherwise it's more likely to just have tradeoffs in the various speaker inaccuracies.
 
Kingnoob

Kingnoob

Audioholic Samurai
- They have this problem even with the grilles on?
How are they aimed? Are they close to side walls? Sounds like a pretty live room. We have a very live sidewall at one location, ended up with extreme toe-in (a line straight out from the speakers crosses well in front of the listener) to reduce direct treble but especially reduce "splash" off the sidewall.
Before spending more money, if this is with grilles, I'd be experimenting covering the tweeter with tissues and fabrics.
To really get *improvement* my vague rule of thumb is you need to spend like 3X as much money, otherwise it's more likely to just have tradeoffs in the various speaker inaccuracies.
Most threads I seee are people dumping there speakers because they won’t take the time to make adjustments to placement, calibration etc they think just pouring money into the problems will fix it .
I’m still learning this stuff also and nearly switched center speakers once haha.. I feel there pain :D
I don’t have rew or a pc .. gotta do it manual + odyssey. Upgrade is if all else fails ..
To the op I suggest doing the above first and follow post 12.
 
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