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Post by fishheadsoup on Dec 22, 2020 15:50:51 GMT 12
i am looking to put together another system here.
its the third in the house and will be mostly my personal listening system. i will be buying it piecemeal and will start by keeping an eye out for some speakers.
my question is, what kind of speakers should i look for? personal listening wise i have done most of my listening by headphone. probably as i could never afford a 2 channel system i really would have liked to listen to! the headphones i tended to use most were shure 440's then my ATH M50's which i have stuck with. does this mean i am a "reference model" type listener in speakers? i have always preferred the sound of three way with large bass, even though i am not a bass-ee kind of music lover. i have a set of kef 103.2 currently which are lovely buy not my dream speaker.
what i'd like to do is try to narrow down to a small list of speakers to keep an eye out for. any suggestions?
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Pundit
Post by beeman on Dec 22, 2020 19:52:50 GMT 12
Vintage JBL or Altec studio monitors. 15" bass & horns - say no more ;-)
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Post by colinf on Dec 22, 2020 20:20:06 GMT 12
What size is your room, do you have an amp sorted for them?
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by cartridgeguyonline on Dec 23, 2020 6:03:21 GMT 12
As Colinf said: Size of your room and the volume you like to listen at will be the primary concerns. Have you heard anything you liked ?
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Member
Post by fishheadsoup on Dec 23, 2020 11:41:58 GMT 12
bee man, instinct tells me you are probably accurate! but can i get those in a budget of say $1500 or under?
colin, if all goes well they will suddenly appear in the master bedroom, and be overlooked by the missus, roughly 4.3m by 4m. or in the main lounge of my new dwellings.
cartidgeguyonline i have only done enough hours to get a feeling on maybe a half dozen speakers. this is what i can say
mordant short MS10-too tight and crowded. sounded like there was a lot of sound spectrum missing, like it was just not there?
kef 103.2 - really like them, easy to listen to for extended periods. effortless and spacious (i know nothing about aide terminology!!) but didn't make my heart soar.
bbl L100? was so long ago but remember rarely turning them off. can't say i ever even tried "critical listening" but remember loving their crispness.
thats all i can really say. should have spent more on audio gear then building muscle cars. its the hobby that seems to have persisted!
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Post by cartridgeguyonline on Dec 23, 2020 16:19:32 GMT 12
Cant argue with you spending your dosh on muscle cars, at least they are an appreciating asset unlike most audio equipment.. If thats the vibe you are looking for probably hard to go past some vintage JBL, Bose 701 or suchlike which would probably be inside that budget. Match with a vintage Pioneer receiver and youll have a classic 70's set up ! Happy hunting.
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Member
Post by fishheadsoup on Dec 23, 2020 18:11:25 GMT 12
cartridgeguyonline, lol sorry i have misrepresented myself with incorrect tense. i long ago gave up muscle cars and now have a sexy ol seven seater mazda!!
back in the day i was getting into audio AND muscle cars. cool cars are all long gone now. IF i had kept them all in a barn i'd be a very wealthy man now.
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Post by michaelw on Dec 23, 2020 18:23:37 GMT 12
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Post by colinf on Dec 23, 2020 20:02:02 GMT 12
Sounds like you enjoy a bit of dynamics. The Klipsch RP-600M has been getting rave reviews over here lately. It’s a bookshelf speaker so not the deepest bass. Perhaps explore the bigger versions of it. Otherwise some JBLs if you like that sort of sound. Generally the more efficient speakers have a little more in the way of dynamics.
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by Owen Y on Dec 24, 2020 15:30:14 GMT 12
Sounds like you enjoy a bit of dynamics. The Klipsch RP-600M has been getting rave reviews over here lately. It’s a bookshelf speaker so not the deepest bass. Perhaps explore the bigger versions of it. Otherwise some JBLs if you like that sort of sound. Generally the more efficient speakers have a little more in the way of dynamics. I was beginning to think along those lines myself....
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Post by michaelw on Dec 24, 2020 16:14:38 GMT 12
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Post by Owen Y on Dec 24, 2020 17:18:32 GMT 12
Why then, do even reviewers BUY this speaker? Probably because they trust their ears, unlike ASR guy. At the risk of igniting a boring subjective-objective debate... (I feel a new Forum Rule coming on  ) I thought we know by now that, when measurements tell us that something that we like can't be any good, then it means that we are not measuring the right things & that we should refine / examine our measuring techniques. Not the other way around, wag the dog
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Post by michaelw on Dec 24, 2020 17:30:01 GMT 12
Not heard the 600m but old and newish Klipschs have always sounded dynamic with strong presence but also with varying degrees of brightness and honk.
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Post by colinf on Dec 24, 2020 20:21:49 GMT 12
They sounded surprisingly refined at the Bristol show earlier in the year. Perhaps we can tweak the crossover to reduce the 2kHz dip? 
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by andrewp on Dec 24, 2020 22:46:57 GMT 12
I think the first thing to do is decide on a budget...for new or preloved. Advantages and disadvantages to both options obviously. No use finding something that you like if the war office puts a halt to it/them before delivery...
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Post by michaelw on Dec 25, 2020 10:19:50 GMT 12
op "can i get those in a budget of say $1500 or under?" 
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Member
Post by fishheadsoup on Dec 28, 2020 22:05:23 GMT 12
love the help i'm getting here lads. so far on the list are those spenders, a set of jbl 4312, and theres a set of key 104/2. now i know that have warm fuzzier about one model of a particular brand doesn't mean you will automatically love another model. but they are calling to me.
on the other hand, i had a good listen to my current NAD/KEF setup and realise i am really in poor shape for a source at the moment. think i need to consider that a bit.
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Pundit
Post by beeman on Jan 4, 2021 20:35:29 GMT 12
The JBL 4312 would work a treat. If you have owned JBL L100 this is a significant development of the design, A brilliant all round speaker. I know what you mean about the Kefs as I own 35 year old Kef Reverence 102 & love them. That said the warm sound can wear off pretty quickly & they will have none of the dynamics of the JBLs.
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Member
Post by fishheadsoup on Jan 10, 2021 10:28:39 GMT 12
bee man , damn spell check!
i am going to hold off on speaker choice for now and sort out my source. i'm looking into using this iMac as a music server and other hard for my little brain to understand methods of going to digital sources. it will mean a lot of reading. will have to start another thread i think on DAC choice.
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Pundit
Post by peter0c on Jan 10, 2021 11:24:01 GMT 12
I'd strongly advise choosing your speakers first. Your choice will be dictated by the type of music you prefer, the typical volume that you prefer, whether or not low bass (which inevitably requires a big speaker) is as important to you as other characteristics, whether your listening room can support low bass and the layout (e.g. seating position / the best place to site your speaker) of your room. Having chosen a speaker the next logical step is to choose an amplifier that will drive it; it is not just a matter of watts and current capacity is probably more important than watts with inefficient or low impedance speakers. I would keep clear of speakers that present a low impedance at the same time as a significant phase shift which can double the apparent current demands. Please be aware that the nominal ratings of speakers (typically 4 or 8 ohms) do not tell the whole story. Only then would I consider the source. If you do it the other way around you are likely to end up chasing your tail and be forever disappointed. You could of course upgrade your DAC now but you will not enjoy much of the improvements it would bring (DAC technology is improving quickly, amps and speakers much less so) until you upgrade your amp and speakers. By that time there will be cheaper and better DACs available. Matching components is something you should seek advice on from people who have one or the other. It saves a hell of lot of money in buying interconnects / speaker cables and the like to cure a problem of poor initial selection and matching.
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