Audiophile Speakers for Rock, HipHop and Techno

Hi rrrItmac1700, I suspect that a Mark Levinson 27.5 would fix your problem. Short of that a PS 200C or CX, but they are a bit colored compared to the neutral 27.5.

Lou

@rlovendale nothing yet brotha. things happened at home and my funds went towards a new house, lawyer etc. Ya know 🫣

But.. I still have eyes on this thread and plan on using all the good advise I was given .. 

@tmac1700, what did you end up doing here?

Sorry, just saw this. The Calibres can be ordered as a passive speaker or in the XD version with internal amplifiers. With the XD'S you can run them passive with an external amp, fully active with the internal amps powering everything or bi amped with the internal amps powering the bass drivers and an external amp powering the mid woofer and ribbon tweeter. I'm doing the latter but you can run them full range with just a pre amp if you want.

I promise you they will not run out of power but will sound great at any level. 

@bajaed 

Little confused with that speaker. So it's kind of a active speaker with an internal amplifier?

excellent video discussing the big legacy's...

I'll second the Legacy Calibre suggestion.

I have the Calibre XD's and they really get it done with rock, techno and hip hop. They do need a lot of power but with your 250w amp running the mids and highs plus the internal amps running the bass, I think you would be blown away with how good they are. The Calibre XD's also fit your budget perfectly. Beautiful sound and can blow the roof off without breaking a sweat.

Also, if price is a concern, the Signature SE tend to hit the market used at the $4-5K range. The Legacy Calibre is another option. It is a large monitor that plays like a small to medium floorstander and goes down to 38hz at +/-2db. 

@tmac1700 If you’re planning to keep the Coda amps, best to go with speakers that will pair well with them that are versatile enough to handle the music uou I quire about. I can think of no speaker better than one by Legacy Audio. Depending on room size, the Legacy Signature SE and Legacy Focus SE or XD are amongst the best you can get without dropping serious dime. They pair perfectly with Coda, as Legacy owner Bill Dudleston used to sell Coda amps with them. The early Legacy amps were actually from them, and today they still pair incredibly well. I’ve owned both the Focus SE and the Aeris in the past, and I have a lot of respect for them. 

Th question looks to exclude floorstanders, which probably cuts out of most of the obviously great choices, including several suggested above. 
 

That still leaves many good suggestions here, but I would add Neat speakers - fast, vivid, engaging, open and very able to get the foot tapping or the head banging.

How much space have you got between speakers and walls?

I saw Focal Kantas mentioned and I'll chime in since I have Kanta 3s. I listen to almost everything, but that also includes rock and techno/house/trance. These speakers are phenomenal because they're extremely dynamic and pack plenty of punch. Especially in treble and bass response.

They have a ton of flexibility and while they might not be the end all be all in any one category, they exceeded my expectations greatly with being able to handle electronic better than any others I auditioned yet still working very well with all genres. Which was a must and one reason I picked them. I still plan to add two REL subs at some point though.

cerwin vega is good for young people,who likes  feel vibrancy of beat and bass go through entire floor and walls and likes booming bass

dynaudio contour worked fine for techno and rap and rock music when listening louder than usual with krell,bryston and top of the range onkyo amp combo

@rolox please send me your speaker setup dear sir. 

There's a pair of RB75 for sale, at the moment.

I must add that even when playing "audiophile approved" music, having lived with ultra high sensitivity speakers for years (and the micro and macro dynamics that go with those), I find a lot (if not most) of audiophile speakers (at least those that are still affordable if you're not crazy rich) to be overly polite, voiced to be "safe", and rather bland and boring. It gets worse when they are brought home and associated with the wrong equipment. I tend to be more easily moved by speakers that are either more "alive" than average (single drivers with very light cones, horns) or more transparent (ESLs, ribbons...). Dynamic relationships between instruments, life, contrasts, that's where music lives for me, not in the flattest / smoothest treble ever measured. YMMV, of course, and we are all sensitive to different things.

For stand mounts, I'd try to find some Klipsch RB75 second hand: an 8inch woofer and a compression driver. I wouldn't go for the lesser models, with a horn loaded tweeter instead of a true compression driver.

My system is huge, fully horn loaded (except the subs), tri-amped, with an average sensitivity of 105dB. Completely DIY. It does double duty for me: during the week, it soothes with Jazz, classical, soul, opera... but the weekends, our DJ friends come over, and we play techno / tech-house / house. For me the ability to do both is mandatory; the hardest part was of course to make it audiophile enough for pleasurable classical reproduction, while at the same time pounding and screeching with the best techno tracks. It's been a challenge, but I think I succeeded. :-)

I hear posters say if a speaker if good then it’s good for all music over and over. IME that’s complete BS. Every damn speaker is voiced to an extent otherwise we would all listen to studio monitors.

Cerwin’s, especially the older ones are absolutely voiced to rock and hop! 

@arcticdeth Hooray for Cerwin Vegas!

Ohm Walsh for lifelike presentation of all genres including those. 

U need these Vegas. 
krs-one, BDP productions, 80’s techno sounds chest shaking. 
I used to have CV AT-15 and SE380 stacked on top of my D9s’ on one wall, the SPL, was amazing! 

3 pair cerwin Vega D9s’ , need new foam, but all in good order.minus some mild beer damage to one speaker.

@acresverde - Jello is a friend of mine; I'll tell him about that - he'll get a laugh out of that! 

Well man you seem like enjoying the same music genres as I do. FYI I listened to most 90s/00s hiphop 70% of the time, 10% would be for rock & techno each, and 10% for other genres. 

Before I bought my speakers I tried many brands, from active Yamaha, Genelecs, D&B (my company is a resellers for these), to auditioning passive speakers at hi-fi store: Pro-Ac Respond, Dynaudio, Focal, Spendor, Kef LS50, Kef Reference 3, Revel, Sonus Faber, Monitor Audio Gold 300, let's say that hi-fi store here in Singapore are small and have a limited setting since it's in shopping malls, so my experience would not reach the speakers' capability, plus I have just been in this journey for less than 5 years, but here is my experience:

1. I found Monitor Audio with ribbon tweeter to be the fastest, most dynamic (which is very important to hiphop - I don't want my Public Enemy to be so laid back), however it sounds a bit too sharp & I get fatigue very quickly. 

2. Spendors A series are the most musical of them, bass is thick and punchy, mid si fully textured & high are clear and lively but not very sharp to the ears ,  the harmony of the music is lovely and I can really feel that I can enjoy them for a long time. I was looking at the D series, which the dealer said it is even better than the A but they don't have one for demo, plus it's over my budget so I gave up. 

3. My friend has a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica 1 can it sounds lovely and the bass reproduction is amazing too, punchy and right to the chest without any subwoofer. However his systems paring with Mcintosh amplification is also over my budget. 

HOWEVER, things get very interesting when I audition a pair of Joseph speakers RM7XL and without a doubt, I bought it on the spot because the sounds they reproduce is purely music, is the joy to listen to: from details, harmony, soundstage, speed, they have everything for just above a grand. If you have a dealer nearby, please go a try it, it perfect for me for all the music genres I listen to, and it is just amazingly well priced. Since then, 5 years passed and I have listened to many other speakers but I only upgrade my speakers through the Joseph Speakers line, now I owned 3 pairs of them, including their flagship Pearls. I listen to hiphop on them almost everyday and I feel that they are best for every buck, I don't need to spend so much on the speakers and more on other electronics along the chain.

P/S: My top 10 GOATs: Rakim, the Beastie Boys, Nas, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Outkast, Wu Tang Clan, Kendrick, Public Enemy, ATCQ. Hope that helps. 

@atmasphere    In a similar vein (and this has nothing to do with bass) I got the 12" EP of the DKs "Holiday in Cambodia" and inadvertently played it at 33 1/3 rpm. I never went back...killer.

@atmasphere 

Yes i certainly preferred that...we'd call that genre 'goa trance'.

If you like the 808 sound, try this?

All Ablaze, by Ian Brown

Meanwhile, getting back to bass extension, solidity, punch😁

We have a genre known as drum and bass. Here the melody is often in the sub-bass. This also happens to be my favourite tune by anyone.

The bass is astonishing 

@gavman Alternatively how about 'Sensory' by Symbiosis? On the original vinyl, the speed was specified at 33 1/3 which was incorrect. But that is how I always played it...

@atmasphere ​

Mystical Experiences' by The Infinity Project....had a listen.

Not bad, kinda ambient, bass, while extended, very loose and lacking punch, drive and definition.

Try the Jamie Jones 4z remix of 'Tainted Love' by Soft Cell ?​​​​​​

Well it is true that some speakers move more air than others and this is a valid consideration. But if the only thing that the speaker does well is bass it is a bad speaker. Same is true of SPLs. These issues have nothing to do with one speaker sounding better on a certain genre of music however. If the bass is done correctly and all other pieces are in place, this lower bass speaker will sound better on all types of music. 

It most certainly isn't a myth that many speakers, most even, don't provide sufficiently extended bass to do justice to electronica.

That is true and those same speakers don't do justice to classical music either! Classical music can have some serious bass drum whacks along with 16Hz organ pedal tones; 'if the room isn't shaking something's wrong' kinda thing.

Surprised no one's recommended Goldenear Triton References.  I've had a pair for 2 years.  Best thing I heard without spending at lease 2x the $$$.  My opinion of course.  I was in the audio business in the late 70's but moved on to another life.  Always kept up with home audio, and I just don't know that there's much competition in that $$$ range.  Before I blow up this thread, this is my opinion only. The bass response is awesome and plentiful and I have always loved Heil tweeters. I was an ESS dealer in the 70's early 80's.   Hope this helps!

It most certainly isn't a myth that many speakers, most even, don't provide sufficiently extended bass to do justice to electronica.

There is no specific voicing required, just additional low frequency extension.

Even in the pro sound field, the subwoofers deployed by big sound systems have moved away from the 'Big Bertha's to the Danley Labhorns, precisely because they go deeper, as required by modern dance music.

it is about which speakers (not design processes, not designs, but finished speakers) may make certain genres sound better or worse to listeners using them

Such a speaker might make a certain recording sound better but its impossible for it to do that for an entire genre! I think this myth persists on account of certain recordings rather than an entire genre.

not to belabour this discussion, but can we be precise on what we are talking about here? ... what the myth is or isn’t -- i am not arguing, just clarifying

no doubt any speaker design and its resultant sound profile will play the same way given an input signal (or musical type sent through it)... its sonic fingerprint applies to all genres - 100% agree

but that is not what i see this thread, and the op’s query, is about - it is about which speakers (not design processes, not designs, but finished speakers) may make certain genres sound better or worse to listeners using them

i do not believe it is a myth that certain speaker makes are better (or worse suited) to certain musical genres -- it is not an accident that sonus fabers, spendor classics, harbeths, are more favored and more often owned by listeners of classical, vocals, acoustic ensembles etc - and cerwin vegas, tektons, jbl’s are more favored by pop, rock, electronica listeners... the market speaks, people aren’t deaf, they have their preferences as to what makes music they like sound good to their ears

imo to call it a myth is a little strong ... lots of people with nice hifi’s don’t sit there for hours listening intently, some want the excitement of live music, listen for a while, get their thrill, turn it off

we need to be careful not to impose our own usage behaviors and patterns, think all folks do as we do - pleasure from a hifi comes in many forms, usage occasions, situations

not to mention people hear differently, some clearly more preferring or more sensitive to some forms of distortion/tonality than others

'Myth' isn't strong. It might not be strong enough! All I'm saying' all I've been saying is there is literally no way to design a speaker or anything electronic to favor a certain genre. If that were possible the market would look a lot different. Anytime there is a coloration present it will affect all genres equally for a simple reason: musicians all use the same bandwidth; all forms of music have the same use of lows, mids and highs.

I haven't owned a pair of speakers since my JBL's or Definitive Techs that sounded good for the majority of rock recordings but think that's partially to most rock isn't recorded that well to begin with.

The Dynaudio's I had were the worst.

@jjss49

If a speaker is ’brash’ at some point you’ll eventually tire of that even with electronia or rock. What’s being ignored is that there are some excellent recordings in these genres that easily reveal speaker problems. Once revealed you’ll always hear it and it won’t matter the genre!

The idea that a certain speaker can favor a certain genre is the biggest myth in audio. If its good at rock but sucks at classical, you’ll find that if you play enough rock recordings it actually sucks at rock too.

like i said earlier, i don’t entirely disagree, but it really depends on use case/frequency/duration - imo to call it a myth is a little strong ... lots of people with nice hifi’s don’t sit there for hours listening intently, some want the excitement of live music, listen for a while, get their thrill, turn it off

we need to be careful not to impose our own usage behaviors and patterns, think all folks do as we do - pleasure from a hifi comes in many forms, usage occasions, situations

not to mention people hear differently, some clearly more preferring or more sensitive to some forms of distortion/tonality than others

This really is an issue of common sense. Oh and any good speaker is "voiced" toward neutrality or it isnt a good speaker. Nothing makes me laugh more than the idea that you should use a wood for a speaker cabinet that is the same wood as is used in instruments. Sure issues of scale and SPLs come into play but only as a long list of characteristics for each speaker type.

some speakers do better with some musical genres than others because their strengths and weaknesses are more befitting and tolerated with certain kinds of music

example:

klipsches tektons zus - these are ’lively’ brash sounding speakers, excel with drum snaps, forward presentation, not the most refined, not the best at imaging - so they work well with electronic music, rock, ’party tunes’ - they are good with the beat, impact, energizing, in-your-face sound which is the essence and goodness of that kind of music

@jjss49 

If a speaker is 'brash' at some point you'll eventually tire of that even with electronia or rock. What's being ignored is that there are some excellent recordings in these genres that easily reveal speaker problems. Once revealed you'll always hear it and it won't matter the genre!

(here are some examples:

'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath; get the white label Vertigo pressing to really hear what that recording is about

'Mystical Experiences' by The Infinity Project big bass, lots of fun details hidden in the mix; get the Blue Room Released LP pressing if you can find it)

The idea that a certain speaker can favor a certain genre is the biggest myth in audio. If its good at rock but sucks at classical, you'll find that if you play enough rock recordings it actually sucks at rock too.

@tmac1700, are you just looking for new speakers or do you want your rock, hiphop and techno tracks to sound better?

You mention boomy bass, that is normally a room acoustics issue, usually handled quite well with multiple subs, room treatments and possibly some parametric e.q. Most times when using subs it is works best to plug any ports in your main speakers.

Are there other issues that are bothering you, or is it just the boominess?

Apologies for my earlier bombasticity

To be sure we're even talking about the same thing, and more importantly 

If you'd care to enjoy a quasi religious experience this weekend, and perhaps be reminded why you love this hobby?

Find some time when everyone's out.

Pour yourself a stiff one, wrap yourself a fat one. Whatevs floats your boat.  Once you've consumed and warmed your system up, play the second track above, 'Freak' at the maximum volume you consider enjoyable.

( Its incredibly well produced so you can safely crank it. Transients are well controlled)

I promise you a thrilling ride

Then come back and say whether electronica requires a system to throw a soundstage?😁

If you're driven to buy the album, would recommend cd over vinyl, in this instance. 

Two examples of what you are missing ☺

klipsches tektons zus - these are ’lively’ brash sounding speakers, excel with drum snaps, forward presentation, not the most refined, not the best at imaging - so they work well with electronic music, rock, ’party tunes’ - they are good with the beat, impact, energizing, in-your-face sound which is the essence and goodness of that kind of music

100% wrong

In-yer-face sounding speakers are dreadful for electronica. A presentation that fatigues is the opposite of what's required.

You need musicality, scale and control.

I have enormous respect for Atmasphere, but he's also wrong on this.

I've lost count of the number of speakers ($ power amps) I've heard that might excel with jazz or classical- and utterly fail to capture the scale, bass slam and extension, and overall dynamism required for electronica. Bookshelf speakers are equally irrelevant to the successful presentation of the genre.

You need big floorstanders and big, solid state power amps. 

Don't take the word of otherwise knowledgeable people who don't know the genre. 

audition__audio

1,155 posts

05-28-2022 at 08:32am 

Did you guys read what Ralph said earlier? Simple logic dictates that there exist no speakers better suited to particular genres of music. Bad and good tendencies apply across the spectrum.

Sorry but don't care what "ralph" says, not even sure what he said but what you just said is a false statement.  Even now that I notice he said he can only do bookshelf speakers, there is still a difference in how a speaker is "voiced" that lends itself to sounding better with certain types of music.

Simple logic dictates that there exist no speakers better suited to particular genres of music. Bad and good tendencies apply across the spectrum.

yes and no, in my opinion

some speakers do better with some musical genres than others because their strengths and weaknesses are more befitting and tolerated with certain kinds of music

example:

klipsches tektons zus - these are ’lively’ brash sounding speakers, excel with drum snaps, forward presentation, not the most refined, not the best at imaging - so they work well with electronic music, rock, ’party tunes’ - they are good with the beat, impact, energizing, in-your-face sound which is the essence and goodness of that kind of music

conversely, speakers of that ilk can be found to be too unrefined, sloppy, inexact for properly re-creating small ensemble jazz, acoustic music/piano/guitar/woodwinds, sparely accompanied vocals, classical/orchestral music ... they don’t image well enough, everything is up front in an even plane no depth, distortion can be heard around leading edges (a plus in rock music) and thus, listeners like me find them rather intolerable and unable to deliver the purity of sound i seek in serious and long listening sessions

Did you guys read what Ralph said earlier? Simple logic dictates that there exist no speakers better suited to particular genres of music. Bad and good tendencies apply across the spectrum.