2. speakers
  3. 1247608259

Looking for speaker recommendations under $5K



Greetings. After 51 years on Earth, I'm new to the world of high end home audio. Always knew you guys were out there, but was never did anything about it. Suffice it to say I thought my Pioneer L80t3's sounded great paired with a Denon AVR 1803 receiver. I had no idea what I was missing.

Well, I bumped into an old friend (who I later determined is a fellow Audiogoner) at the Phil Lesh concerts at the Nokia Theater in NYC last Fall, and next thing you know I've got a pair of Energy 2.2i's (purchased new on what I now know was a closeout from Audio Advisor) connected to a Pioneer VSX 59TXi receiver and a Pioneer DV 79AVi DVD player (both Pioneer units purchased here on Audiogon). Also have a Hsu VTF3 MK3 sub (also purchased on Audiogon). Not the greatest setup, but night and day compared to what I had. I'm using some hand twisted/sanded magnet wire (ala Anti-Cables) for speaker cables. I have the speakers bi-amped - although I'm not quite sure why. DVD player is connected via Firewire and via MIT Terminator2 interconnects. Sub is connected via Blue Jeans LC-1 subwoofer cable.

My listening room is 20x25. Thin carpet over concrete floor. Plywood walls all around. Believe it or not, room acoustics are good. (Or so I think LOL) I listen to lots of Grateful Dead, but more importantly to any high quality recording I can get my hands on. Everything from Dire Straights to Eric Clapton to 10,000 Maniacs to Alice in Chains to Frank Sinatra to Miles Davis. Definitely into acoustic music. I buy all the remasters of the 70's music I can get my hands on, as well SACD or DVD Audio discs within reason (which rules out Neil Young's Harvest - which is going for $100, as is Frank Sinatra's Live at the Sands).

So, now that I have a taste of your world, I'm wondering what I might be missing. I would be willing to spend $5,000 on a new (or used) pair of speakers - if doing so will make a noticeable improvement. And I'll buy a new preamp and/or amplifier if it will make a noticeable difference.

One of the reasons for the timing of this inquiry is the fact it seems Energy will be unable to provide warranty support for my speakers. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I noticed what I can only describe as "distortion" when I was playing the Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged DVD the other day. Don't know if its the speakers or some other problem. I have noticed some very minor "anomalies" in the past, but never could put my finger on any specific problem. I have been writing it off as "diginoise" (I don't know if there even is such a thing) or to my ever-declining sense of hearing. Or perhaps to the auditory hallucinations brought on by having attended over 300 Grateful Dead concerts. Fortunately, 99.8% of the time the speakers sound fantastic.

However, well prior to hearing this "distortion," I have been scouring this site and every other site I can find to try to get some idea of what "upgrades" I should be considering. For some inexplicable reason, I have a desire to acquire a pair of floor standing speakers. (That desire has nothing to do with the size - or lack thereof - of any part of my anatomy. LOL) I gave the Anthony Gallo 3.1 a listen recently. Sounded real nice, but didn't have a reference disc with me to make a meaningful comparison. Plus, the exposed nature of the drivers in those speakers probably wouldn't be the best idea considering I have a 12 year old and a 13 year old who, along with their friends, like to play on their Xbox in my listening room.

So, I would really like to hear some suggestions/comments/criticisms.

Thanks for listening.
deringer
daverz
487 posts
 
By the way, the Gallos can be used with a grill:

http://www.roundsound.com/reference-3-speakers.htm

Some questions related to the noise you are hearing:

Are you using the receiver's bass management?

What kind of volume level are listening at? Perhaps you are just driving these speakers too hard. (I think every 'phile should have an SPL meter, like one of the Radio Shack analog meters.)

Have you tried listening with headphones to make sure it's not just noise in the recording?

Also, you could try some poster putty (e.g. Blu-Tack) between the speakers and the stands.

As for new speakers, for acoustic music, my taste would lean toward Vandersteen (the 3A Signature is under $4000), but they only have a cloth sock over the drivers. However other people's taste is of limited usefulness.
gb24
17 posts
 
Please consider the Salk Sound HT2-TL ( http://salksound.com/speakers_veracity_ht2-tl.shtml) for a bit more than $4k very nicely finished. This is an internet direct brand with passionate customers. I have the Salk SongTowers and believe they are the best in their class (under $2k). Their speakers are designed and built in Michigan and are also beautiful to look at.

See also the AudioCircle Salk user forum at http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=82.0. Several users on the forum will demo their speakers in different areas of the country.
deringer OP
3 posts
 
Daverz - thanks for your input.

I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what bass management is. I've heard of it, but I assumed my receiver would handle that, and the speakers sound great so I never looked into it.

I listen at moderate volume levels. Loud enough to get the imaging/soundstage really going - if that makes any sense. I don't know how to correctly describe it in technical terms.

Unfortunately, I don't own headphones.

You definitely lost me with the poster putty suggestion. Sorry.
daverz
487 posts
 
Re: the poster putty. It's this stuff. You can usually find a generic version in the arts/crafts section of any drug store. You pull off a marble-sized pinch, kneed it a bit, and stick it between the speakers and the stands at the corners to prevent any movement and provide some damping between the speakers and stands. The idea is that there might be some speaker cabinet resonance that is causing the noise.

The idea of bass management is to send only the low frequencies to the subwoofer and not the satellites, which takes a lot of stress off small speakers. Check your HSU and Pioneer manuals.
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