Speaker Suggestion?

[greyatlien]

Newbie be gentle.

I currently have a Marantz 6007 and 4 Martin Logan LX16s(basically Motion 15s) and a Martin Logan Grotto.

I am a Motion 30 away from a pretty nice Home Theater setup. However during this process I have grown concerned with Music. The LX16s with the Sub provide pretty good musical play but now I am considering Motion 40s for the fronts for music. I do enjoy the sound I am getting from the LX16s however a limited budget has me considering other options to building a complete system.

Accessories4less.com has Focal 814V, 727V, CC701 and 717V as well as KEF Q900, Q800, Q600, Q300 at pretty amazing prices.

MusicDirect.com has Focal 918, 908, 816V, 807V, 806V, 706V, 705V,CC700 various Warfdale products at good prices and so on.

I mention all this because as I am trying to build a nice over all set up that compliments music and home theater well without breaking the bank. To complete the Martin Logan Motion setup will cost me approximately 2500 MSRP. There seem to be other options that may provide me better sound for even less money.

I do not have a Focal, KEF or Warfdale dealer local to me so I am hoping there are a few of you that have heard these various set ups and would be willing to share your opinions.

I listen to a very eclectic variety of music from Classical, Opera, Soul, Blues, to Soft Rock, Hip Hop, Pop Classic Rock and R&B, so speakers that can accommodate my musical taste as well as respond well while watching a movie would be ideal.

Thank you in advance.

 

[ImcLoud]

Im not sure what you are looking to do, do you want to start over, what do you not like about your current setup? Do you not like how these sound with music?

How about just buying a nice 2.2 system for music, you can get a great system for around $2500 and keep you current set for HT, I enjoy having separate music and HT systems and would never go back.

You can get a pair of subs, a pair of really nice bookshelfs and a decent preamp and amp set up for $2500 and have a really nice critical music listening system.. If you are happy with your HT, I tend to take HT less serious than music, When Im watching movies and tv, the kids are running in and out my wife is answering the phone and cooking the dogs are snoring, ect so I couldn't critically listen to a movie if I wanted to, and I really wouldn't want to since its TV, not really much to it... But with music, I can shut the door behind me and disappear into a smokey hall with just me a glass of whiskey and Anita O'day singing Honeysuckle Rose 5 feet in front of me, you can hear her breaths between versus, the cello players hand slide the fingerboard, and her toe tapping off that old wood floor, the speakers are no where near the center of the room but she is, she's rite there the band not far behind her, depth so real you as long as your eyes are closed you can touch it..

BUT anyway, if you are passionate about music, build yourself a nice music only system, some may argue but there is nothing like a direct path simple music only stereo to take you away from where you are...

My uncle was always a musician and loved music, he's now 64 years old and finally retired, the first order of business was a music listening room in his house, the cleared out one of the kids rooms {they are long gone} and he bought some picture and posters for the walls, a used leather recliner from craigslist, a pair of Elan 30's {actually from music direct on demo sale}, an emotiva usp1 and upa200 amp with a record player and a cd player that he already owned, a small table to rest his drink and cigar on and he told me when I seen him on xmas eve that it was the best thing he ever did, and good thing he waited until he retired because he would have never went to work.... My entire family loves music, and I am like you I love it all, from Satchmo to Eminem I love it all {except this new Country / rap mix crap, can't stand that}

 

[greyatlien]

ImcLoud- Thank you for your response.

I am pretty satisfied with what I have from a home theater perspective, just need the center channel. The LX16s play music pretty well when the receiver is turned up to about 65 (98 is the highest) then they seem a bit strained. I assume its the woofers are having to do to much work at that volume and the sound gets more like your being yelled at (tweeter is amazing at every level). I prefer that the sound feel like its holding you, if that makes sense. If I were to purchase the Motion 40s they have a larger midbass and 2 woofers which would probably serve my purpose nicely, however with the additional investment I was originally asking if that money could spent on another line up from one of these discount retailers to achieve an even better sound.

For my living situation I dont have the space for a dedicated listening room, however we do want to buy something for the bedroom to provide for quality listening outside of the primary living area.

And I agree the Eminem country rap is hard to hear.

 

[Pyrrho]

ImcLoud- Thank you for your response.

I am pretty satisfied with what I have from a home theater perspective, just need the center channel. The LX16s play music pretty well when the receiver is turned up to about 65 (98 is the highest) then they seem a bit strained. I assume its the woofers are having to do to much work at that volume and the sound gets more like your being yelled at (tweeter is amazing at every level). I prefer that the sound feel like its holding you, if that makes sense. If I were to purchase the Motion 40s they have a larger midbass and 2 woofers which would probably serve my purpose nicely, however with the additional investment I was originally asking if that money could spent on another line up from one of these discount retailers to achieve an even better sound.

For my living situation I dont have the space for a dedicated listening room, however we do want to buy something for the bedroom to provide for quality listening outside of the primary living area.

And I agree the Eminem country rap is hard to hear.

If your problem is with the woofers in the main speakers at high volume, you might want to rethink your crossover setting. You should have your main speakers set to "small" and the crossover setting should probably be at 80 Hz or maybe higher. Those speakers have a rated frequency response of 60-25kHz +/-3dB, so you need to have the crossover setting above 60 Hz or you will likely have a dip in the frequency response as well as strain the woofers in the main speakers at high volume. Basically, the higher the crossover setting, the less strain on the woofers of the main speakers. However, if you set the crossover too high, you will be able to hear sound coming from the subwoofer that should be coming from one of the main speakers.

So, I would try 80 Hz first (again, every channel set to "small"), and if that does not work well at high volume, select 90 or 100 Hz and see if that works okay. You can also try higher frequencies, though you may start to hear things from the subwoofer that should be coming from the main speakers.

Many times, automatic setups get the crossover frequencies wrong, though they typically get the levels and delays right. So go in and manually select the crossover setting and keep trying it until you get something you like. If you don't like any of the settings, then it is time to consider new speakers. But first try the crossover settings, starting at 80 Hz and continuing up until you get something that works for you (or you find that nothing works well), as you may be able to get what you want without spending any money upgrading speakers.

 

[ImcLoud]

ImcLoud- Thank you for your response.

I am pretty satisfied with what I have from a home theater perspective, just need the center channel. The LX16s play music pretty well when the receiver is turned up to about 65 (98 is the highest) then they seem a bit strained. I assume its the woofers are having to do to much work at that volume and the sound gets more like your being yelled at (tweeter is amazing at every level). I prefer that the sound feel like its holding you, if that makes sense. If I were to purchase the Motion 40s they have a larger midbass and 2 woofers which would probably serve my purpose nicely, however with the additional investment I was originally asking if that money could spent on another line up from one of these discount retailers to achieve an even better sound.

For my living situation I dont have the space for a dedicated listening room, however we do want to buy something for the bedroom to provide for quality listening outside of the primary living area.

And I agree the Eminem country rap is hard to hear.

Well, I am not a ML fan, some of their stuff is nice, but to me costs a lot more than it performs... So I think for $2500 you can do much better, an ascend sierra 2 front end {people are already raving about them, and a friend of mine who I trust the ears of, said they were breathtaking, so to me coming from that source, is going to get me to buy a pair just to try}, the prices are around $2200 for the front 3... they are brand new...

 

[greyatlien]

Cool, Ive started looking into the Sierra 2, Ribbon Tweeter is nice (My ML have ribbon tweeters). At this price point a pair of Sierra 2s are at the same price per pair as the KEF LS-50, which are supposed to be amazing from the reviews.