Green Mountain Audio Europa Max Vs. Tyler Taylo Re

Hmm... The muffled comment in particular really has me thrown... Is it possible that the sub crossover is too high (or the sub SPL level is too high)? Positioning could also have an effect on how "open" their sound is (I confess that they sounded plenty open when I was using them as my mains)... Not questioning what you are hearing at all, but just checking all the possibilities... I would hate for you to spend any more money if a little bit of free tweaking would work. :-)

As for the smoother comment, maybe you should look into the Vienna Acoustics or ProAc lines. I confess I did not like either, but they would definitely be characterized as "smoother" than the Tylers to my ears. Maybe they are closer to your preferences.

The dark horse candidate in your price range that I *did* like a lot (or at least I liked their big brothers) are the Merlin TSM MMs. I loved the sound of the VSM MX floorstanders, and the mini-monitors are supposed to deliver 90+% of the sound. They are smooth too, but unlike the VAs and ProAcs, I did not feel they lacked any emotion or detail. They may be a good candidate at 2.8K/pr. The floorstanders were incredible.

Regards,

---Dave

Call Tyler if you want to custom tune the sound of your Taylos, he can do simple adjustment to crossover to increase/decrease treble energy and make speaker sound sympathetic to your tastes/system. I had this done to mine and love the results, in my case increasing treble energy.

I own both Taylo Monitors and GMA Europas, would love to have some GMA Callistos also. No way would I part with my Taylos however, you won't find better drivers in a speaker even remotley close to its price.

I agree, if I can fix this problem with some tweaking, I would prefer that to shelling out some more cash, as I am a broke grad student. I think the settings on the sub are OK, however the speakers are rather close to the wall (they are both in corners, about 1ft from the back wall and 1ft from the side wall. I will move them out a bit and see if it offers any improvements. I will also check out the Merlins that you mentioned.
thanks

If you try tweaking first. I had a similar problem in a small room that was greatly helped by pulling the speakers out from the back wall and keeping the distance from the back and sidewalls different. I went to George Cardas' website and followed his formula. This should help with the muffled and closed sound, but I am not sure how the current setup contributes to the non-smooth sound.

After looking at pictures of your room and the current position of your speakers I think part of your problem is your speaker placement. Get them out from the corners and face them so they fire towards the back of your room with no toe in, listen for a week or so then work on dialing in the toe. In regards to your room treatments I would cover the TV with a blanket and place a few panels behind the tv and also place a few panels on each side of the room at your first reflection points. Any speaker placed in your current position will most likely yeild the same results and working on this cost no $$$. Just my 2 cents!