B&W 804, JM Lab 918, Thiel 2.4, or Helicon 400?


Thanks for your suggestions on my previous thread. i've done some homework and here's my short list:

- B&W 804 signature
- JM Lab Profile 918
- Thiel CS2.4
- Dali Helicon 400
- Aerial Acoustics Model 6
- Spendor S8e

I know, I need to go and listen for myself. Will do.
However, I have to travel somewhat far to audition some of these, so would apreciate your thoughts: Is any of these speakers in a different (ie; higher or lower) league? They are all in the same price range.

This will be an upgrade from B&W CM4, and initially will be driven by Rotel RB-1080 (200 Wpc) and Rotel pre-amp (RC-1070). Later will upgrade these as well. Room: 13 x 17 ft.

My music preferences: Blues, jazz, rock, tango, classic.

Thank you!
Horacio
lewinskih01

Showing 1 response by aball

With those Rotels, I would suggest the Dali would be a great match. The Dalis are sensual and rich. The Thiels may well sound dry with Rotel IMO. The JM Lab are also very phase coherent and have already gotten very good press in Europe. I auditined the S8e a couple times and it is excellent but not a speaker for rocking out - it's more acoustic-music oriented but for you that may be perfect.

Glad to see you pick appropriately sized speakers for your room. That is an important detail that many people overlook and then they mess around with room treatments and amplifiers to try to achieve good tonal balance, without ever really getting there. All the speakers you have on your list will be excellent - they'll just have different flavors of sound. Experimentation is what you need now. Good luck! Arthur