Thank you. That amp sounds good with the autocalibration feature, so I'll look more into it. How would it be if I took out the sub and spent that money on a floorstanding speaker? I'm not a basshead and don't really need visceral bass. I just really like the open feeling and imaging speakers provide.
Just confused about where to start
Hello all,
I'm looking to add speakers to my audiophile setup which currently consists of (very high end) headphones. I want speakers for everything the headphones cannot do - simple enough. Problem is, I'm having difficulty deciding which gear I want to buy. I demoed a pair of B&W 705 S2's today and was very impressed. Unfortunately, my budget isn't that high. It's $1500 total, for the speakers and amp combined. Source is a computer. I listened to a cheaper pair of B&W bookshelf speakers (can't remember which, but were around $1200) and was not impressed. I am leaning toward bookshelf speakers but don't know if getting floorstanding at this price point would be a large increase in quality. The room they will be placed in is only 100 square feet. I am willing to buy used.
So, my questions, summed up are:
Is bookshelf a better option than floorstanding?
Is it worth looking at cheaper B&W models, or should I look at other companies altogether?
At least with headphones, I like a pretty neutral sound, if not a tad warm. Are there any companies that predominantly have this sound signature?
How should the room size inform my choice of speakers?
I'm looking to add speakers to my audiophile setup which currently consists of (very high end) headphones. I want speakers for everything the headphones cannot do - simple enough. Problem is, I'm having difficulty deciding which gear I want to buy. I demoed a pair of B&W 705 S2's today and was very impressed. Unfortunately, my budget isn't that high. It's $1500 total, for the speakers and amp combined. Source is a computer. I listened to a cheaper pair of B&W bookshelf speakers (can't remember which, but were around $1200) and was not impressed. I am leaning toward bookshelf speakers but don't know if getting floorstanding at this price point would be a large increase in quality. The room they will be placed in is only 100 square feet. I am willing to buy used.
So, my questions, summed up are:
Is bookshelf a better option than floorstanding?
Is it worth looking at cheaper B&W models, or should I look at other companies altogether?
At least with headphones, I like a pretty neutral sound, if not a tad warm. Are there any companies that predominantly have this sound signature?
How should the room size inform my choice of speakers?
Showing 22 responses by muffinhead123
@david_ten sorry if I didn’t make myself clear. I have $1500 to spend on the speakers and an amp. I don’t really care how that money is distributed between the two purchases as long as it gives me some of the best quality at this price point. @david_ten I have Stax SR007’s and Audeze LCD2’s. Maybe my expectations are completely out of proportion, considering I will probably only be able to afford decent dynamic driver speakers with my budget. |
@david_ten OK, thank you for that. SR007 is using a modded T1 amp and LCD2 is using a Schiit Lyr2. Source is a computer fed through a Modi Multibit (not impressed, looking for DAC recommends as well). As for the budget: I was thoroughly impressed with $2500 speakers. Granted they were hooked up to McIntosh components. but let’s ignore that for now. Say I up my budget to $2500. Will this better approximate the SQ of my headphones? I realize it will take $10,000+ speakers to match the level of detail that the Stax present, so I don’t expect to attain that aspect of quality. What I do expect, however, is getting some speakers that image very well and present soundstage in a realistic way. Clearly, I won’t be satisfied with muddier sound, but I’m willing to accept it as a tradeoff for the inherently more expensive nature of speakers. As for amplification, how much does it matter with speakers? With most headphones, it accounts for about 10-20% of the sound, in my experience. Is it the same with speakers? |
@timlub ok, sounds like I'll give the ELAC setup a go. I'm going to listen to some speakers today at some more HIFI stores, so maybe I'll find something else in the $1000 range. Otherwise, it sounds like that's the best option. One more question: Should I be averse to buying used speakers? Besides the obvious problems of dented drivers and tweeters, are there any issues I should look out for? |
I have $3000 in headphone gear, which is well beyond the point of diminishing marginal returns. There's really nowhere for me to go from where I am with those. One other reason I want speakers is because I like listening to music with friends. As for having to buy because I used the saleman's time: I am in no way obligated to buy something just because someone did their job and showed me the features of a product...just putting that out there. I neglected to mention that the visit to the best buy also led to a purchase of $1800 tower speakers for my mother, and that the $1500 total of the offer doesn't include sales tax nor the price of shipping the stuff up to college. I know I can do better with the price of this gear, and want some more opinions and more listens to additional speakers before I make a decision. |
OK, just got back from best buy... Listened to the Kef LS50’s and thought they sounded like hot garbage. Dark, muddy, poor articulation. No way they’re worth $1000. I listened to a pair of Martin Logan Motion 15’s...sounded great. Almost as good as the more expensive B&W’s to my ears. The salesman gave me a deal of $1500 which included the speakers, a subwoofer, and an amp. The pair of speakers is available for $600 shipped off the web. I told the salesman I would consider his offer and come back later. Any thoughts on these? |
@jond Thank you. Buying used is something I enjoy because of the recovery of costs in the event of resale, and the fun in hunting for deals. I just made an offer for the speakers, hope I get them. Would it be best if I match receivers to speakers based on wattage? My concern is not getting enough volume. |
@lowrider57 https://content.abt.com/documents/8800/M7_cut-sheet.pdf At 16"x13"x8", they're massive for bookshelf speakers |
@lowrider57 https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8gig3-snell-m-7-stand-mount-monitor-speakers-monitors At 28 lbs each and having a recommended power rating of 100-300w it looks like I'm gonna have a field day finding an amp for these. I didn't buy the Luxman mentioned earlier because it looks like it doesn't have enough juice for these. |
@tls49 the salesman used the same amp and simply swapped out the speakers for me. The amp was McIntosh’s brand new hybrid model https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/integrated-amplifiers/MA252 Very nice tubey sound with the amp, and quite synergistic with the 705 S2's. I took a listen to a track I knew well and decided the B&W 707 S2’s weren’t for me. The 705 S2’s however, were excellent. Imaged very well and had a very spacious sound. Detail was good too. Shame about the $2500 price tag... |
I got them! https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8gig3-snell-m-7-stand-mount-monitor-speakers-monitors?show_list... $500 in the hole, I can stretch my budget up to $1500, but I’d like to keep it under $1000 if possible. Thanks so much @jond for the recommendation! Haven’t auditioned them sadly, but it seems that this was too good of a deal to pass on. They supposed to be pretty neutral, owing to their inefficient power use. So now that is done, I ’d welcome any recommendations for the amp. The Luxman before has been suggested, so I can contact the seller for that. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis8f99a-luxman-l-530-stereo-integrated-amplifier-solid-state https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sansui-AU-D11-II-Stereo-Integrated-Amplifier-Japan-Serviced-Near-MI... The Sansui AU-D11 looks like a good option on paper. Looks like a quality amp, but the specs sheet didn’t tell me what class amp it is. I have this https://www.electromod.co.uk/schiit/amplifiers/lyr-2/ which can be used as a preamp for *powered desktop speakers* I’m not sure about its use with a power amp for passive speakers. I really appreciate everyone providing their input. It's exciting hearing everyone's different takes on gear. With headphones it pretty simple, but speakers have so much more variety in the setups. |
@willemj Sorry, guess I didn't tag you in my blurb about the headphone amp. https://www.schiit-europe.com/index.php/producten/lyr-2-high-power-tube-hybrid-or-solid-state-headam... This is the amp. It's stated that it can be used as a preamp with "powered desktop speakers" So does this mean it would work fine with a power amp as well? I'm creating a new thread as has been suggested and will tag you there as well. |