Upgrade, 2k budget

[Mpsafranski]

Hey all. Going to be upgrading my fronts from my current Elac debut 6 bookshelf/center. I’m looking for towers at 2k give or take (setting aside another $7-900 for the center)

My AVR is the Marantz sr7011. Subs dual PB-2000, surrounds will continue to be the ELAC in walls.

Must have: really good off axis response, unfussy with placement. I’ll be doing some 2 channel music listening but mostly movies

Went to a store and listened to the MA Silver 300 and 500 and the SVS prime pinnacle. I fell in love immediately with the Silver 300s. The 500s were nice too. Was impressed moving around the room how the imaging of these stayed so consistent in different positions. The Prime Pinnacle sounded good too but the first thing I noticed was that they’re tuned for really forward mid bass which after listening to the balance of the MA turned me off immediately.

My question is since I really loved the monitors, should I stick with that? I saw a pair of used Focal Aria 926 on sale for 2k but can’t listen to them. H e seen good reviews for B&W 603 but not here on audioholics.

Has anyone here heard the MA silvers? And even though I love them an I doing myself a disservice not auditioning a million others, or what? I’m in Milwaukee so there are only a few places for hifi but of course Chicago is only an hour away...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mpsafranski]

Oh also, the speakers I listened to were through a 10k McIntosh amp. Nervous they might not sound as impressive through my receiver but I’m new and have no real knowledge regarding this

 

[zieglj01]

Most of the Sound Quality is the speakers and not the amp ..... A good Denon or Yamaha amp can drive a lot of speakers out there. Monitor Audio is a good option. In Chicago check out MusicDirect and Saturday Audio ... and find a way to listen to some KEF speakers

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

@ryanosaur spent some QT with the silvers. Iirc, he really enjoyed them a lot.

 

[Pogre]

By all accounts the MA Silvers are very nice speakers. I can't let a $2000 budget thread get away without plugging SVS Ultra towers as a great option too tho. I own and love them. If you can get a pair from their outlet at a lower cost, even better. They do like a little room to breathe tho, so bear that in mind.

SVS has a really good return policy that allows you to listen to them in your room with your equipment for 45 days. If you don't like them for any reason they'll refund your money and pay for return shipping so they're really risk free and you can move on to another speaker.

 

[Mpsafranski]

Yeah their return policy is why I went with them for my subs. Was wowed so never heard the Hsu, monolith or rhythmic. I thought the big selling point with the ultras was their bass output which makes me nervous given the way the pinnacles sounded too bass forward but perhaps I’ll take a listen!

 

[Pogre]

Yeah their return policy is why I went with them for my subs. Was wowed so never heard the Hsu, monolith or rhythmic. I thought the big selling point with the ultras was their bass output which makes me nervous given the way the pinnacles sounded too bass forward but perhaps I’ll take a listen!

I haven't heard the Pinnacles yet so I can't comment there. The Ultras do have very good bass, but I wouldn't describe them as forward in that area. They're a pretty neutral speaker and can handle a lot of power. One of the things that impresses most is their ability to stay very well behaved at high volumes. They keep their composure and only sound better as you turn 'em up.

 

[ryanosaur]

MA Silvers were bangin'!
Worthy of note right now is the discounts on Martin Logan Motion Speakers. Motion 60XTs were nice... I preferred the MA Silver 500s, still. But with the discount, it closes that gap! (IMO, still no contest: Silver 300 over Motion 40.)

Will continue to be intrigued by SVS towers for a while... Ultras do look good, and so do the Pinnacles.

 

[lovinthehd]

Maybe @highfigh who is in the biz in Milwaukee can offer you some listening experience/advice....

Did you see this article? https://www.audioholics.com/tower-speaker-reviews/tower-speaker-under-2k

 

[Mpsafranski]

I e looked at that, yes. The paradigms definitely have my interest as the list of pros reminds me of what I thought of the monitors. Would love it if this site would get a review of them up!

 

[highfigh]

Oh also, the speakers I listened to were through a 10k McIntosh amp. Nervous they might not sound as impressive through my receiver but I’m new and have no real knowledge regarding this

Go to Ultra Fidelis on North Ave, in 'Tosa.

 

[Mpsafranski]

Hey highfigh yes that is the one other place I wanted to check out since they carry KEF. My buddy bought his speakers there and recommended I check it out.

 

[Mpsafranski]

Alright so still on the hunt and it was brought to my attention that accessories 4 less has deep discounts on the focal aria line (926, 936). I do see their center for that line is only 2 way but with raised tweeter

anyone heard these? And know how they compare to the MA silver 300 and 500 especially ie off axis performance? It looks like I could have the aria 926 for same price as the MA but would be going in blind.

 

[NINaudio]

I just listened to Aria 936's, kef q750's and paradigm 800f's today. The focals had the best bass extension of the 3, but since you've already got decent subs that's not an issue. I actually preferred the sound of the kefs and paradigms. They were my top two of the day, followed by the focals. I haven't listened to any ma's but it's definitely worth checking out some kef and paradigm speakers in your budget.

 

[XTex]

Is there a reason you're looking at towers instead of another set of bookshelves?

As far as towers go I'm partial to Paradigm and Revel, with the 700/800F or F35/36 coming in at your price point. There are oftentimes deals to be found as well if you visit some brick and mortar stores, so they may be notably cheaper

 

[Mpsafranski]

As far as looking at towers vs bookshelves, I guess on account of I’ll be using more for movies than music, and my room is rather large and open—I sit about 14’ from where my speakers are. The added sensitivity and headroom of towers is appealing. I’ve listened to some bookshelves and what I’ve noticed is that the towers I’ve listened to—the MA silvers more so than others—sound very good even quite far off axis. I also noticed that when listening to music, the soundstage was usually wider and midrange seemed clearer on the towers.
Again I’m really new and may be erroneously attributing these characteristics to towers vs bookshelf but I was also told that, for instance, the silver 300 tower offers more dynamically than say the gold bookshelf, the gold tower more than the platinum bookshelf, etc.

It sounds like there is a large vote of confidence here for the 800fs and I like that the site also had glowing things to say about them. It’d be a road trip to Chicago to hear either them or the revels. Might be worth it since reviews of the prime pinnacle were also good but I didn’t care for how the mid bass was so pronounced, reviews can weed out the bad but personal preference is king.

 

[XTex]

As far as looking at towers vs bookshelves, I guess on account of I’ll be using more for movies than music, and my room is rather large and open—I sit about 14’ from where my speakers are. The added sensitivity and headroom of towers is appealing. I’ve listened to some bookshelves and what I’ve noticed is that the towers I’ve listened to—the MA silvers more so than others—sound very good even quite far off axis. I also noticed that when listening to music, the soundstage was usually wider and midrange seemed clearer on the towers.
Again I’m really new and may be erroneously attributing these characteristics to towers vs bookshelf but I was also told that, for instance, the silver 300 tower offers more dynamically than say the gold bookshelf, the gold tower more than the platinum bookshelf, etc.

It sounds like there is a large vote of confidence here for the 800fs and I like that the site also had glowing things to say about them. It’d be a road trip to Chicago to hear either them or the revels. Might be worth it since reviews of the prime pinnacle were also good but I didn’t care for how the mid bass was so pronounced, reviews can weed out the bad but personal preference is king.

Makes sense, and for those objectives it sounds like you're on the right track.

If you value soundstage and off-axis performance definitely check out the Revels if you can. I have a retailer near me that has both the Paradigms and Revels on the floor and they share a lot in common, and my in-home experience while owning M16s and F35s has been very satisfying.

 

[Pogre]

As far as looking at towers vs bookshelves, I guess on account of I’ll be using more for movies than music, and my room is rather large and open—I sit about 14’ from where my speakers are. The added sensitivity and headroom of towers is appealing. I’ve listened to some bookshelves and what I’ve noticed is that the towers I’ve listened to—the MA silvers more so than others—sound very good even quite far off axis. I also noticed that when listening to music, the soundstage was usually wider and midrange seemed clearer on the towers.
Again I’m really new and may be erroneously attributing these characteristics to towers vs bookshelf but I was also told that, for instance, the silver 300 tower offers more dynamically than say the gold bookshelf, the gold tower more than the platinum bookshelf, etc.

It sounds like there is a large vote of confidence here for the 800fs and I like that the site also had glowing things to say about them. It’d be a road trip to Chicago to hear either them or the revels. Might be worth it since reviews of the prime pinnacle were also good but I didn’t care for how the mid bass was so pronounced, reviews can weed out the bad but personal preference is king.

Make the drive, it's worth it. Well, it would be to me. If you're gonna spend that much, you wanna make sure (tho the SVS option is risk free). I've gone out of my way to check out high end speakers when I had no intention of buying.

 

[Mpsafranski]

MA Silvers were bangin'!
Worthy of note right now is the discounts on Martin Logan Motion Speakers. Motion 60XTs were nice... I preferred the MA Silver 500s, still. But with the discount, it closes that gap! (IMO, still no contest: Silver 300 over Motion 40.)

Will continue to be intrigued by SVS towers for a while... Ultras do look good, and so do the Pinnacles.

Hey ryanosaur,

I’ve seen you showing and others demonstrating high praise for Ascend. Since you spent some time with the MA silver 300’s, how would you say they compare? Anything either is substantially better or worse at (objectively speaking, if there is any such thing in this hobby!).

Trigger time in about 6-8 weeks and it’s down to the monitors, the Paradigms and now just considering the possibility of stretching the budget a bit looking at those Sierras. But wouldn’t want to unless they are markedly better performers especially considering I loved what I heard from monitor

in case you all can’t tell, my mind has been obsessing

 

[Mpsafranski]

**also keeping in mind everything will be driven with my marantz sr7011 avr