Why can't I decide?!

[3db]

Joe

Whats the point of this thread? All I see is you flip flopping around trying to decide, get lots of user input, select a speaker and repeat the exercise all over again. It appears that you're trolling for posts.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Joe

Whats the point of this thread? All I see is you flip flopping around trying to decide, get lots of user input, select a speaker and repeat the exercise all over again. It appears that you're trolling for posts.

What's the point of your post?
Yes, I am flip-flopping. That was the point of the thread, to ponder why I can't make a permanent decision.
If you are going to bother responding, at least address the specific question I asked: Would plugging the ports limit bass output, thus improving my in-room performance, or not?

 

[gus6464]

What's the point of your post?
Yes, I am flip-flopping. That was the point of the thread, to ponder why I can't make a permanent decision.
If you are going to bother responding, at least address the specific question I asked: Would plugging the ports limit bass output, thus improving my in-room performance, or not?

Or you could just sell all the speakers you got and save a bit in order to buy some better speakers. A speaker will either do what you want or not. Trying to convince yourself otherwise is not the way to go. Placebo effect anyone?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Or you could just sell all the speakers you got and save a bit in order to buy some better speakers.

At this point, I only have two pairs of speakers (not counting the ones in my HT, which I have been 100% satisfied with for many years.) The bigger ones can only be sold to a local buyer, because shipping would be prohibitive. I would be surprised if I could get more than $250 total for both pairs, which definitely would not buy anything better.

 

[bandphan]

What's the point of your post?
Yes, I am flip-flopping. That was the point of the thread, to ponder why I can't make a permanent decision.
If you are going to bother responding, at least address the specific question I asked: Would plugging the ports limit bass output, thus improving my in-room performance, or not?

If you would invest a little time and very little money in mapping out your rooms response, you could then make descisions based on a speakers abilities IIRC someone has mentioned to try REW in the past BTW am i invisible

note--edit-- the point off selling the speakers is to apply the money twords better ones that cost more than 250 not equal to.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

BTW am i invisible

You have been invisible for months. Today, I decided to try taking you off of ignore, in case you said something useful instead of the rudeness that landed you there. Fortunately, you did (in theory.) Not sure how useful it could be to me, though. I know nothing about mapping room response, plus I own neither a dB meter nor a PC.
I am also not sure how it would help. I have tried more than half a dozen different floorstanders (and three different subs), and none sound good in my room. Apparently, I have only two basic options: Either use bookshelves and accept the relative lack of bass and dynamics, or put up with boomy bass.
The only third possibility I can see is the one I mentioned earlier: use floorstanders but attenuate the bass response.

 

[gus6464]

At this point, I only have two pairs of speakers (not counting the ones in my HT, which I have been 100% satisfied with for many years.) The bigger ones can only be sold to a local buyer, because shipping would be prohibitive. I would be surprised if I could get more than $250 total for both pairs, which definitely would not buy anything better.

What I meant by selling everything was in order to save up and buy a lot better speakers than the ones you own. Not sell everything you got and still buy another pair of $250 speakers. Save around $1500-$2000 and you will be surprised at what you can get in the used market. Hell for $1500 you could easily land yourself a used pair of Usher Tiny Dancers. The gear you would need to measure your room response would be a Behringer DCM8000 mic and something along the lines of an e-mu 0404 external USB sound card with built-in mixer.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The gear you would need to measure your room response would be a Behringer DCM8000 mic and something along the lines of an e-mu 0404 external USB sound card with built-in mixer.

...and a PC.

(Note: at my current rate of spending, saving $2000 would take 10-12 months!)

 

[gus6464]

...and a PC.

(Note: at my current rate of spending, saving $2000 would take 10-12 months!)

Small price to pay for better sound. Trying to convince yourself which two mediocre speakers are better that will never achieve what you want anyway is like endless masturbation without a happy ending.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Small price to pay for better sound. Trying to convince yourself which two mediocre speakers are better that will never achieve what you want anyway is like endless masturbation without a happy ending.

Oh, I agree that the Primuses are mediocre. The Cambridge S30s, however, are merely small (with the physical limitations that that implies.) They are as good as any speakers their size on the market, at any price.

 

[bandphan]

Oh, I agree that the Primuses are mediocre. The Cambridge S30s, however, are merely small (with the physical limitations that that implies.) They are as good as any speakers their size on the market, at any price.

While they are good speakers, to make that statement is highly subjèctive and would be based on you hearing every speaker made in that class.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

While they are good speakers, to make that statement is highly subjèctive and would be based on you hearing every speaker made in that class.

I have heard many, including several that are drastically more expensive than the S30s. (Among them the highly reviewed B&W CM1s, which cost more than 4X as much and do not sound as good.)

 

[gus6464]

I have heard many, including several that are drastically more expensive than the S30s. (Among them the highly reviewed B&W CM1s, which cost more than 4X as much and do not sound as good.)

CM1's aren't all that. And also no speaker that small will give you decent bass. You are in the end comparing british speakers that tend to emphasize the mids and put out that sound of conceived bass when there actually isn't any. Run a 40Hz test tone through your S30's and measure the SPL. I used to have a pair of Epos ELS-3 which sounded like they were putting out good bass but after running test tones, 50Hz was barely audible.

Go out and listen to speakers which have less of a house sound and are voiced more towards accuracy. Go and listen to some Revel, Dynaudio, and higher end PSB (Platinum).

 

[bandphan]

http://www.pmc-speakers.com/product.php?mode=view&pid=171&&show=spec take a peak at this speaker

 

[maxlong]

I have heard many, including several that are drastically more expensive than the S30s. (Among them the highly reviewed B&W CM1s, which cost more than 4X as much and do not sound as good.)

I don't think the CM1's are nearly as good as the 685s and they cost less.

 

[mazersteven]

http://www.pmc-speakers.com/product.php?mode=view&pid=171&&show=spec take a peak at this speaker

Fantastic speaker.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Plugging the ports on the Primus 250s did not work, or rather it worked too well. Instead of attenuating the bass, it eliminated it.
I realized last night that they sound good with most material most of the time. It is only on unusually bass-heavy passages that they become boomy, and I can live with that as a tradeoff for their many positive qualities. (Besides, this boominess is clerly a property of the room, not the speakers, since it occurs with all floorstanders.)

If I do decide to get new speakers at some point (by no means a certainty), then I might look for the smallest high-quality floorstanders I can find. (Totems are no longer an option because they stopped shipping them, and there have never been local dealers.)

The PMCs look nice,by the way, but Oklahoma is not even on their distribution map!