Matching Speakers to Components

Mesch. Agree completely. I've done far better with matching speakers after buying them after assembling the amps, tuners, tape decks and CD players.

I don’t believe there is a single “way around” when assembling an audio system. As long as the chosen components are compatible both electrically and sonically toward ones sonic preferences, one can assemble a system ’source to sink’ or 'sink to source’. I have upgraded speakers to an existing amp, and electronics to existing speakers. No problem, always enjoyed the quest.

Good luck in yours.

Stringreen. Believe it or not I have had far better luck buying speakers after acquiring other components prior to the speaker purchase. The first two systems I purchased in the 1980's I did purchase speakers and then shop for the other gear afterward. Ended up first with the Yamaha NS4 speakers and later the Klipsch Heresy's. Didn't like either speaker. Got rid of all my gear both times and started fresh.

I purchased a cheap Yamaha receiver and Technics CD player in the mid 1990's along with a pair of cheap JBL 2500 speakers to tide me over while I shopped for new speakers. In late 1999 I ended up buying a pair of new Mirage OM 10 speakers. Sounded great. Two years later I bought a new Cambridge Audio integrated amp and Cambridge Audio CD player. Worked out great. Added a pair of Castle Conway 3 speakers shortly afterward. Again, a fine purchase that matched well with the system.

Had to box up the OM 10's after I sold my house a couple of years ago because I was going into a smaller apartment. Kept the Cambridge gear but went out and bought some new Jamo C 601's to tide me over until I could get some better speakers. A year ago I gave the Castle speakers to my brother along with some vintage Yamaha gear that belonged to my mother .

It turns out the Jamo's are a great match for the current system that I own. I would still use them except they need to be two feet off the rear wall in the home that I bought to sound right. Room size is the problem. In the apartment that I live in presently I can get by with having them 15 inches off the back wall and it presents less issues.

I do not have the luxury of being able to throw away all of my gear and start over from square one. That being the case I have to find a pair of speakers that will work well with my present gear. Fortunately since my previous track record in that respect is good, I am confident that I will find a suitable pair of speakers that will match well with the current gear. Won't do it the other way around again because both times I ended up with a system I didn't like.

Wrong way around...you match components to speakers

I should add that I really like the Jamo speakers that I have. They sound even better with the new Yamaha CD player. But right now I live in an apartment and have a small room and they only need to be about 15 inches off the rear wall to sound fine. If I move into my house, the room is 12 by 14 with a 9 foot ceiling and having tried them in that place, I noted they need to be at least 2 feet off the rear wall to sound right. Will try them again the next time I go there with the new CD player and on a different wall to see if I can reduce the distance to the back wall to 12 inches. If not, I will definitely have to purchase another pair of speakers that will have a good soundstage without needing to be more than 12 inches off the rear wall.

Music Direct has a 60 day return policy. Best Buy is only 15 days now. Not good. Will have to search for other retailers online that offer more time to try out the speakers.

In the past I was always able to demo in store. But over the last 15 years it has become nearly impossible to find the gear I like in a local store other than a big box retailer which does carry some products I would purchase. Buying online and demoing in home is the only way to really gauge how something is going to sound in the home environment if you can't go to a local retailer and walk out with something.

"I'd hardly say reviews are worthless as long as you see the majority describing a certain product uniformly. That is a good indicator that certain attributes of the product are indeed present. But I agree that it can be used only as a gauge and ultimately having something at home in the right atmosphere is the best way to choose."

Please don't take this the wrong way, but once you get some more experience, you'll most likely agree with me. Look at this again.

"03-27-15: Will62
Based upon reviews I've read I have narrowed down my field of speaker choices to the Wharfedale Diamond 220 which is a neutral speaker. Wharfedale Denton's which are warm. NHT Absolute One 2.1 which is neutral to a bit warm. Magnapan MMG which was recommended. Probably neutral."

Whether you realize it or not, you've almost certainly failed and just don't realize it. When you talk about a speaker using terms like neutral, warm or any other vague characteristic, without backing it up by listening to it, you can only have problems. Warm compared to what? Neutral compared to what? These are subjective terms, and there's nothing wrong with using them. Where you mess up is when you use other peoples subjective terms in place of your own. Just to give you an example of what I mean, I've heard 2 of the speakers on your list. The Magnepan and the NHT. The last thing I would call either of those 2 speakers is warm. Maybe if you unplugged the tweeters, but otherwise, no. And that's my honest opinion. I'm not making this up. So what do you do now? I know what you should do, and I know what you probably will do. You should never buy a piece of audio equipment without listening to it first. An in home trial with a no questions asked return policy is about as far as I'm willing to go on this. That's what you should so. What you will probably end up doing is rationalize this in some way until you feel comfortable in making a purchase without a demo. And don't think that I'm trying to single you out or make you feel foolish, or anything else. I've made all these mistakes myself several times over.

"Unfortunately I do not have any dealers of the products I want nearby. Maybe Best Buy but they don't carry any of the speakers that interest me in stock. A two hour drive to the nearest mom and pop shop is required."

A 2 hour trip is definitely worth the trip. Just think about how many hours you'll waste if you make a bad choice. That said, Best Buy may work for you. The downside is, forget doing any kind of demo. The upside is that they have a good return policy and some speakers in your price range that may work for you. I don't know what type of sound you like, but they carry, Martin Logan, Pioneer, Def Tech, Mirage, B&W and I think Wharfdale (I'm really not too sure about that last one. I thought I saw them there.) There should be something there that will work for you.

I'd hardly say reviews are worthless as long as you see the majority describing a certain product uniformly. That is a good indicator that certain attributes of the product are indeed present. But I agree that it can be used only as a gauge and ultimately having something at home in the right atmosphere is the best way to choose.

Unfortunately I do not have any dealers of the products I want nearby. Maybe Best Buy but they don't carry any of the speakers that interest me in stock. A two hour drive to the nearest mom and pop shop is required.

Will look into the link you posted.

"Based upon reviews I've read I have narrowed down my field of speaker choices to the Wharfedale Diamond 220 which is a neutral speaker. Wharfedale Denton's which are warm. NHT Absolute One 2.1 which is neutral to a bit warm. Magnapan MMG which was recommended. Probably neutral."

For the most part, reviews are worthless. You need to work with a good dealer. Try The Cable Company (fatwyre.com). They have a program where they'll send you demo components to try in your system first.

Contacted a Tech at Dayton about the amp. He said the sensitivity is more important than the ohm rating. After doing some research online of other owners of this amp it seems as though an 8 ohm speaker with a sensitivity of at least 88 db will be fine. 6 ohm speakers with at least 86 db sensitivity seems to be adequate. Not sure about 4 ohm speakers since I can't find anyone using them with this amp.

Someone with the MMG's said he tried them with the Dayton 100 amp but it won't drive them well. Rules out the MMG speakers.

Based upon reviews I've read I have narrowed down my field of speaker choices to the Wharfedale Diamond 220 which is a neutral speaker. Wharfedale Denton's which are warm. NHT Absolute One 2.1 which is neutral to a bit warm. Magnapan MMG which was recommended. Probably neutral.

Have to use mail order since no local dealers carry what I am looking at. That being the case can only listen to one pair at a time.

Amp is a Dayton T amp. DTA 120. Cleanest sounding amp I've ever owned with great detail.

Need a speaker that can work near a rear wall. My current Jamo C 601's need to be 2 feet from the back wall to sound right. Don't have the luxury of space in my new house. Need a speaker that can be within a foot of the rear wall. All the afformentioned speakers fit the bill in that respect and can be placed near the rear wall and sound fine except for the MMG which I could move back and forth as needed.

I

The easiest way to do it is to listen to a bunch of speakers and pick the ones that sound the best.

wow it's certainly unclear and hard to 'connect' and make sense.
please clarify first what speakers, amp you're currently using regardless of your previous thread and certainly what is your budget if any?