I currently have the Triton 5's Loudspeakers, Marantz SA14S, SACD player, Thor Audio tube Tp-150 monoblocks, Thor line stage with 2 SVS sealed subwoofers. Seeking better sound. My short list of loudspeakers are as follows:
1. Golden Ear Technology Reference 2. Revel F228 BE 3. Focal Kanta 2 Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Can you provide a link to the show reviews that express displeasure with the Carvers speakers? All I have been able to find is glowing reviews about them. I think you’re making that one up. However I did find one dude on I think "What Hi-fi" who thought the image was too high. Probably because when you stand up the image rises with you. I now own them and after about 200 hours of breakin they sound fantastic!
Bondmanp, Omni directional speakers are a love hate thing, honestly most people don't like them, if they did everyone would be making such designs at last count I think there are four such designs: MBL, Ohm, German Physics a Walsh clone, and the Candian Electrostatic product.
The issue with omni directional speakers is the image is very large and very unfocused, also the sound may be bouncing all over the place due to reflections, over the years have heard most of these designs, give us a direct radiating loudspeaker which is tunable anyday.
Soix so far heard the Carvers at several shows and they just didn't sound right to us at all, where did you hear a pair sound good, most of the show reports haven't been flatering.
Salk does make some very interesting designs with very good drivers, howerver, if detail is your thing, a pair of Paradigm Personas offer a pure Beryillium midrange driver and tweeter so the sound if very coherent and the Paraigms are quite dynamic and image extraoridinairly well.
The Salks use a ceramic midrange driver with a Raal ribbon two very good but different sounding drivers, have heard ceramic midrange drivers over the years they all sound slightly hard in the midrange, although they have great detail, hence Kharma moved away from ceramic for this very reason.
The other issue with a company like Salk is actually hearing a pair because they are factory direct means no dealers and hence difficult to audition.
Drive or fly to a big city and you most likely can hear Kef, Paradigm, B&W, Magico Rockport, Wilson. etc.
Kji if it is possible take an audio vaction to NYC and you can hear almost every conceivable reference speaker you would want.
I would recommend an in-home audition of the Ohm Walsh 5000. At $6600 a pair, they will save you some cabbage, and I would stack them against anything mentioned so far in this thread. The only one I hacve heard that I think might be a bit better is the Carver Amazing, but you need a high cieling for it.
Whenever I've listened to Golden Ear speakers I come away with the same impression: Impressive amount of very competent sound for the money. But nothing "special," no "it" factor at all that moves me very much when listening. Just...you know...good value for the money type of thing.
Have a listen to these they are listed here on Audiogon for $7,250.00
Salk Sound Soundscape 8 I have listened to these just last week and they are on my short list.
Most of what we are going to say is mirrored in other threads to which we have replied here is our take on this subject.
There are a lot of good speakers in this price range, you need to identify what are your priorities aside from just bettering your current speakers and these issues include things other than just sound.
1:Are looks important? 2:Is the loudspeakers size important? 3:Is the long term sustainability/servicability resale important as some of the smaller companies may or may not be around 10 years from now 4:Do you prefer to purchase new and gain dealer/manufacturer support or is used a viable option?
Then determine sonic issues, the Golden Ears and the Golden Ear Reference are not the last word in detail, like it or not Golden Ear uses good well made drivers and parts but these drivers are not state of the art in design compared to more exotic and expensive European drivers so a Heil AMT is not a Heil AMT.
We were going to be Golden Ear dealers and had the Aeon 2 left at our shop for a few weeks the speakers were good they were not amazing compared to the LS 50, we brought in the Quad Line the S2 which uses a real ribbon tweeter and those sounded amazing and could challenge the LS 50. So one Chinese sourced and built ribbon vs one Chinese sourced and built AMT are similar equations.
Considering you have 2 excellent subs, you may not need a speaker with very deep bass, so in terms of what you want to get superior dynamics are usually from bigger more robust designs however the dynamic ability of a speaker also comes from the electronics and your tube amplifiers are probably not the last word in kick.
So with this in mind you need to be a bit more specific in what you are looking for these are the questions we would ask you about the sound:
1: How loud do you like to play? 2: How important is imaging, do you want a big wash of sound or is the specificty of the image more or as important. 3: How much resolution do you crave? Sonic flavors run from the warmer camp: Vandy, Harbeth, Proac with soft domes, Golden Ear, Legacy, vs the more detailed camp, Paradigm Persona, KEF,Focal models like the Kanta, Rockport etc. 4: Are you prepared to buy without listening as some of the choices listed here may not be demoable unless you drive or fly to a larger city.
Hope this helps give you some guidance on to some of the things you may need to also consider.
In that price range, I love the PMC fact.8s I have in my bedroom system. They are fast, clean and articulate with excellent imaging for the type of music you like.
Boenicke W11’s. Check out the YouTube vids. Beautiful sound from a small Swiss artisan. Worth seeking out, Audioprana should be able to help in the USA. Or if in the U.K. and you want a listen, send me a PM.
Craigl59 , reading the review of Teajay of the Ulfberth mini? for 9k it’s worth to audition them, only if you have room for them, I do enjoy my impact monitor though....
Over the past year or so I have been trying to find speakers for my home in that price range as well. I have tried only a few as it’s hard to find dealers that have what I really want to listen to. But I have listened to the Vienna Acoustics Concert Grands a couple of times as well as the afore mentioned Aerial 7T’s. My last session with VA has ruled them out so I want to hear a few others before I decide. But so far the 7T’s have made the best impression on me. I did also hear the Kanta at AudioFest but conditions weren’t optimal for a purchasing judgment. I have heard the Olympica 3’s and the Focal Sophia 3’s but really not sure I want to spend that much. It seems the local dealers either have ultra high priced or low budget speakers on display, so 10K is a tough target, at least in Colorado . I want to hear the PSB, Monitor Gold, and the new Revel 228 BE, I currently own F32’s. But if possible listen to the Aerial, I think you will be quite impressed. As a side note I did listen to the GE New Reference model, and I feel the Aerial was far superior. ymmv
Kjl1065, your three speakers are exactly the ones I was considering. All good, but I chose Sonist Concerto 4 because the other three had a somewhat Technicolor quality that I felt gave more sound than the actual instruments, although I'd probably prefer that quality if I was still centered in rock/pop. I did like the GE Reference but a foot too tall for domestic bliss.
Am setup to reproduce large orchestral works with stunning accuracy/soundstage and use Tekton speakers. The Ulfberht is available a simple black version for 9k. If you can handle the size and utilitarian design, it will accomplish your goals in spades. Throw a great deal of clean power to it and you're in the concert hall. You'll get a lot of negative feedback here about Tekton speakers but listen to owners -- they tell the true story.
Wow, that is such a hotly contested price point! Your list so far is great.
I’d add: New Magico A3, Used Sonus Faber Olympical III(actually available around $7K, and great for your symphony sound stage requirement), Legacy Audio Focus SE, Used Rockport Technologies Atria(stretch budget to $12K), B&W 804D3, Used Revel Ultima Salon II(stretch budget to $11K)
The Triton 5 is a great value for the money and gives the listener wonderful performance, but I am looking for a speaker that give me a more lifelike and large presentation. When listening to a symphony orchestra would like to hear all players on the stage. In short, larger presentation with more realistic detail.
Can you be more specific obout what you're looking to improve upon over your Triton 5s and what aspects of sound reproduction are most important to you?
Paradigm Persona 3F, Aerial 7T, Magico A3 are in that price range. All are a little different. Just depends on what you subjectively enjoy. Go out and demo as many speakers as you can. Opinions on speakers are like noses everyone has one.
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