speaker selection help

[JOHN FICKEL]

Everybody has their own opinion.. As long as you're happy with it, you're the one listening to it the end.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

I personally love huge tower speaker.. I wish the RF-7 was bigger lol. Looks way nicer.. I even have a pair of Cerwin-VEGA XLS-215. They kick ass !

 

[Vandy]

So now I've stumbled upon the defenitive technology 9000 series. Magnolia actually carries these so I can test drive them. Does anybody have experience with these? Are they worth looking into?

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Yes. Iv sold them. They have built in subs. Unless your looking at the millennium series . Listen to them. I think you will like them

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Try the BP-9080x. When I sold them they all had subs built in. Now they have a lot of towers with no built in subs.

 

[Vandy]

I was looking at either the bp9020 or the bp9040. That's where my budget is currently at and if I'm honest the bp9040 is pushing it. Is going up from the bp9020 to the bp9040 worth the extra $250 a speaker?

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Hard to say. I would think probably not.

 

[ski2xblack]

Keep in mind the bipolar speakers hog a lot more space in your room (they require considerable distance to the rear wall).

Re towers vs. bookshelves, nobody has explicitly mentioned the area where towers have a decided advantage, and that's headroom in the 80 hz and up range. That's where the meat of the music is, and having speakers that exhibit comparably wider dynamic range at those frequencies is desirable.

 

[Vandy]

How much distance from the rear and side wall would you say is optimal? How far from each other should they be?

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

I would say to experiment, but he is right you want to pull away from the wall a little bit. I would doublecheck with the manufacture those are new. When I would set those up in the store, I kept them out about a foot from the wall. But I do have to say, definitive technology sounded very good to me. Quite a bit of depth to their sound.

 

[Vandy]

Unfortunately I don't have somewhere that can put them next to the polks and Kef's I mentioned earlier. Have you listened to all three?

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Yes. I would prefer definitive technology

 

[shadyJ]

I would bet Kef has a more linear sound and superior soundstage, but Deftech might have more elevated highs and so more detailed treble.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Yeah that stinks that you can just go A B all the speakers.. I wish there was a lot more shops opening up for high-end audio.

 

[KenM10759]

The luxury of being able to visit a local shop and listen to a variety of speakers is dwindling because so many people do that and NEVER buy locally. They figure they can hear it there and go hit the internet for a better deal without consideration of the value added by the local dealer or even attempting a negotiation of price.

I'm lucky. I have at least 6 audio shops within a 1 hour drive of me. Some have true high end audio (high end being part of the name of two of them) that I can't afford. Others have that PLUS the stuff I can afford to buy. And I do buy locally! I have $9685 worth of current model products (2 x 5.1 speakers, 2 x sub, 2 AVR, 1 streaming, & 1 TT) at current list prices for which I have paid a total of $6372. Some new in box, some floor demo units, 2 factory refurbished, and 3 used. All in the last 8 months. My point is that the deals are here locally of you look and stop thinking the internet is the only place to buy.

 

[Vandy]

Yeah, I wish I had that luxury of getting to listen to it all. You guys are familiar with places near Kansas City that do that are you?

 

[Vandy]

I've seen a few places but they appear to be ultra high end. I'd probably just embarrass myself if I walked into a place like that

 

[lovinthehd]

I've seen a few places but they appear to be ultra high end. I'd probably just embarrass myself if I walked into a place like that

LOL my thoughts are more along the lines that in such a "high end" shop I'd embarass them for their lack of actual knowledge should I go in and start asking questions of my own design....

 

[KenM10759]

You never know. One high end shop I entered was clearly gauging me for my financial prowess. Another ignored me. Yet another treated me well and demoed speakers I told them I couldn't afford to buy. Then there's the one who treated me as though they really didn't care how much I had available to spend, rather they asked me what my "audio goals" are for near term and long term. That's the shop that now has a near-lock on my business.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Sorry to hear that man.. The shop that I worked at treated everybody equal. I'm still a sales person, and I always treat my customers with respect and how I'd want to be treated. At the end of the day were all customers..