Totem Acoustic Element Metal driven by tubes… to my ears sounds better than Wison’s, images a sound stage that fills a room.
Full range speakers, 40"-44" max height
I do not like tall speakers, especially when the tweeters sit high.
My height requirement fulfill speakers like Wilson Sophia, WP even Sasha or Meridian 7000 (but this is digital only).
Any other comparable ones in quality with the above?
And I need to stay under 10k used market.
57 responses Add your response
BMR Towers. 43" high, phenomenal performance at $4000. Or JBL Project Array 1400s, if you can find them. They’re gonna be 6-8 thousand bucks if you can. Not many people turn loose of them. They’re about 45" high. Best imaging I’ve experienced. Stereophile website has a great review of them from about ten years ago.
+1 for the Ascend Acoustics. I haven’t owned the towers, but the Sierra 2 EX is a very fine speaker. I suspect it’s similar to the BMR Tower, using the same family of drivers, top and bottom. |
Hi piramus, The Meridian DSPs are impressive. I had the Meridian DSP5500s as my mains for about 10 years- they are awesome speakers. I also spent some time with the DSP7000s which were definitely a step above the 5500s. Two things about the Meridian DSPs that stand out for me- 1) amazing and stunning bass response for the size of the cabinets. 2) Ability to resolve fine details at low volumes. |
Hi piramis: These are the ones I would want https://pbnaudio.com/hadley/ Good listening, Jeff |
I heard Joseph Audio speakers when Jeff first started, very impressive. Haven’t heard his speakers for a long time, but based on other people’s experiences, he is making both high quality cabinets that sound superb. AND, among other things a unique crossover, and dual magnet woofers. He worked at Harvey Electronics, when JSE Infinite Slope speakers were added to Harvey’s line. He became friendly with Richard Modafferi, designer of those speakers with 2 unique patents: 1. Infinte Slope Crossover 120db/octave 2. Bass Shift ..., (unique way to blend the 10" and 12" woofers, including the use of dual magnet 12" woofer. My friend at Harvey’s was Steve, who called me and said " You have got to hear these" Doctors, Lawyers, they were selling like hotcakes, until: JSE decided to make their own cabinets (decent but nowhere near Jeff’s quality), AND, they couldn’t deliver on time, many clients quite annoyed, so much so that Harvey’s dropped them from their line. Jeff bought the rights to the Infinite Slope Crossover in 1992. I checked today, every speaker he makes has a version of Infinite Slope Crossovers, no doubt modified by him as needed for each model. He also uses woofers with dual magnets. I had no money, but Phil, my friend at Leonard Radio knew I loved the Model 2’s, and Ray had taken a pair in trade with blown tweeters (the Dynaudio D21’s burnt out easily). I made a deal with Ray, replaced the tweeters, absolutely loved them. Point is, Jeff is the only maker that is using the unique Infinite Slope Crossover, and I suspect a key reason his speakers sound so darn good, as well as his work with his driver supplier and continued use of dual magnet woofers. two part interview with Jeff
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The Wolf Von Langa SON or STAGE II are great options although hard to find used. They both are just under 40" tall. I have the SON and it is an incredible speaker with field coil driver. It is over your price point new and probably used. The STAGE II is going to be less, but I'm not sure if it is under $10k. THe interesting about the STAGE II is that it can be upgraded to the SON if you would like in the future. Footprint is compact too at 16w x 12d. High-end loudspeakers in field-coil drive technology (wolfvonlanga.de) |
There is a panel head in every group!! Martin Logan ESL You pick your size based on your needs I have the X's
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I own a pair of Joseph Audio Perspectives (graphene), 36" and wonderful. I have a pair of Joseph RM25XLs for sale ($1500), ~42" tall https://positive-feedback.com/Issue39/joseph_RM25XL.htm and they are wonderful, better than anything else you can get ~$1500.
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Speed of Sound I moved from Virginia to Burlington Vermont. No proper winter clothes, 30 below zero often, and I was not going to ask the evil step father for gloves, hat, scarf, anything.. Freezing miserably, I would hear the school bus coming, and coming, and where was the damn thing? Finally, it appeared. Someone told me later, when all the moisture is frozen out of the air, sound travels faster, so I heard the bus when it was farther away.. Sure as hell made sense to me. Because it was the crackling of the ice on the road, it seemed to me that the high frequencies were traveling faster. So, see sloped fronts, remember that experience, I made a poor connection of the words time-alignment. Glad I learned about the acoustic centers of various drivers |
Listen to the Vivid Giya G3 (45.7”H) or Kaya 90s (47”H) a little over your H-requirement. I currently use the G3. It’s a 4 driver 5 way system. Lower mid, mid, and HF drivers are grouped close like in a monitor. Drivers are time/phase aligned. I compared them to both Wilson models (Sasha and Sophia) but not the Meridian 7000. I heard differences with the drivers in the Wilson’s and while Wilson lovers will disagree, I thought dynamics exaggerated to the ffff range while the Vivid’s more integrated with the ability to resolve dynamics from the p’s to f’s better. Both have open, resolved, articulate, and clear sound with precise three dimensional images and excellent timbre. Both have excellent bass. I thought both articulation and image density a smidgen better with the Vivid’s. The G3 is known to be as insensitive to room placement as a speaker can be. I am not saying placement is not important but rather comparing them to other designs. The Vivid’s design is eclectic and aesthetics not mainstream. I think the design and sound state of the art and aesthetics beautifulI. To each our own ears and eyes. I have not directly compared the G3 to the Vandersteen Sevens but I have read they are more similar than different. The 7s may be another choice at 45.5” with base. Trust your ears. Give the Vivid’s and Vandersteen 7’s a listen. |
Oooops, thanks yogi and sorry. @piramis , my post above was intended for you! |
Hi @yogiboy, since you liked the Wilsons, here are some excellent sounding suggestions (and unusual ones, too). By excellent I mean better than the standard, good quality, hi-end speaker offerings. All of these are within your budget -- either new or used (Wilson) Wilson Sabrina II or newer. Fink Team Kim are also excellent sounding speakers -- Lastly, Apertura Edena. All of these are dynamic, fast, and tonally correct (AFAIK) -- like the best Wilsons, and their tweeter placement ties in with your needs. BTW, real full-range is not an option at this price point (IMO), but you won’t feel you’re missing out in the bass region with any of the above
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Wharfedale and Mission (both IAG companies now with British roots) are both now marketing very nice Mid-Fi heritage bookshelf speakers with come with stands that place them near your target height. These are really clever, well designed big battle boxes. |
Fyne Audio makes some fine (no pun intended, but it does fit) speakers. Their F501 is under your height limit and within your price limit when new. The F502s may be just over your limits but very close, when new as regards price. The F702 might be in your price range used, although I suspect there are not many coming up for sale—I have a pair and think they are superb, and they are 43.7” tall. The F500 series is made in China with MDF cabinets, and the F500SP and F700 series are made in Scotland with laminated hardwood cabinets, if I remember correctly. There also are a number of other upgrades to those made in Scotland. I am driving the F702s with a 100 wpc tube amp (Rogue Audio Stereo 100 “Dark”), and the sound is superb, with excellent imaging, tonal qualities, and three-dimensional sound stage. My only criticism is a bit of weakness on the bass, but a sub would fix that. |
In this constrained category I only heard Wilsons and Meridian. And they sounded fantastic. I do not want to go into deep theory, absolutely no time for that, I leave it to the manufacturers. To me as an end user, the only thing that matters is the sound, I like it or not. I guess I will need a new topic opened regarding analog players / recorders connectivity to Meridian DSP speakers. |
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speaker polar patterns are an issue, particularly tweeters. tweeters disbursement is narrower than mids and lows horns can control/enhance directivity, I have T350's in my speakers
dome tweeters radiate equally narrow POLAR PATTERNS https://www.audiofrog.com/dispersion-and-reflection/ scroll down, see the diagram, gradual narrowing of dispersion pattern as frequencies rise. he’s talking about cars, but it’s the same at home excerpt: "But the real deal here is not to be hoodwinked by someone’s BS suggestion that you should aim the speaker differently to fix a reflection problem. That’s only useful at the highest frequencies a speaker will play. Below that, it makes no difference." "So, in a 3-way system, which speaker should be aimed? Just the tweeter." |
closenplay thanks, you made me learn more about time alignment here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudspeaker_time_alignment#:~:text=Loudspeaker%20time%2Dalignment%20usually%20simply,cover%20a%20wide%20audio%20range. so time alignment is about voice coil positioning, not speed of sound excerpts " it is of utmost importance that, at the crossover frequency the outputs of both drivers should acoustically sum so as to be seamless, without any peaks or dips, otherwise the loudspeaker is said to colour the sound." "the radiating surfaces (at the voice-coil or the dome/dust-cap depending on design, also known as the "acoustic centre") of the drivers are not in the same plane - the tweeter’s radiating surface is usually much forward of the woofer when both are mounted to the same flat panel." therefore: stepped front or sloped front or tilted back: moving the tweeter voice coil somewhat back (from other drivers acoustic centers) seems to be advantageous. Factory designs (stepped or sloped) presumably based on exact math of known drivers; amateur tilt as I describe is a simple approximation.
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+1 @gdnrbob I have Vandersteen Quatro woods and at 43 inches with room tunable powered subs, I've not heard anything better. You can find a used pair for 6-8kish. I think audio connection in Verona NJ has a used pair. If you dont want the powered sub you can get Treos instead but I'll tell you, my experience is that the built in subs added a tremendous amount. I went to listen to Treos and after hearing the Quatros left with those. |
@elliottbnewcombjr . Speed of sound is the same for all frequencies. Sloped baffle is for time aligning drivers. |