how might the paradigm 120h's fare?
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I love a big soundstage. Exagerrated in fact at times. I've owned a ton of speakers over the years from horns to bi-polar, to semi-omnipolar. (Various Klipsch, Energy, OHM's, Salk, NHT, Spatial, JBL and a few others over the years) Currently I have a set of Salk SS12's and some OHM Walsh 5 MKII's. The OHM's, set-up properly (live end of the room, which is the reverse of most speakers). Have a massive soundstage. I can set the SS12's up with an open back on the mids/tweeter also. They still don't have the massive soundstage of the OHM's. They have a big soundstage, but not like the OHM's. Biggest soundstage speakers I have owned are the OHM's (a few different models) and a pair of Energy Audyssey Bi-Polar speakers I had back in the late 90's. Smallest were probably the various NHT's, particularly the 3.3's. Just different flavors.
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This x 1,000. Friends don't let fronds buy boxes with cones. |
Having owned and been very frustrated with Maggie 3.5Rs, there are better options with tower type speakers, which are much easier to drive, tall with narrow faces, which don't cut off the room due to being similar in size to 2 doors= much better WAF. The following use ~ 12-18 @ 4-5" vertically stacked drivers, Nearfield Pipedreams, Scaena Loudspeakers, Laufer Teknik "The Note", but there are others. Mostly, you have to be patient to find a used pair in the 10K range |
For under $10,000 nothing can come close to the Magnepan 3.7i. Add to that a good subwoofer like a REL s510. For image size, well, everything else is just some variation of a vibrating cone or two in a box. And sounds like it. At just under 6ft tall and 2ft wide, and most of that moving membrane, the ear senses the size of the Maggie. A couple 6" cones just can't create the same sense of acoustic space. |
I agree with Danager. I have the GR-Research NX-Oticas, one step down from the NX-Tremes and the soundstage is 10 feet deep behind the speakers and at least 3’ beyond the outside edges of the speakers. These are open baffle speakers so somewhat like Maggie’s, only easy to drive. I have heard the NX-Tremes, and they have a somewhat larger soundstage, but they are very tall. Low wife acceptance factor.
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IME, soundstage reproduction is largely dependent on both the speakers’ power response uniformity and the room’s effect on it. Early reflections can muddle the best speakers’ and lack thereof can make lesser ones seem better. Some speakers will give better results in particular situations than others depending on the size shape and their placement in the room. You can get a near ideal objective performer like Revel F228 Be ($11K) but you still need to avoid early reflections, create the proper symmetrical triangle for the sweet seat, etc. A good preamp helps too. |
https://gr-research.com/product/nx-treme/ GR Research NX-Treme Kit with the subs and flat packs A little DIY but the sound stage should be HUGE |
