2. speakers
  3. 126001-68697

Mellow speakers

I'm on the hunt for a mellower sound.  I've traced my dissatisfaction to my speakers (I think).  I've got PMC TB2i monitors on good stands.  Occasionally they provide sonic bliss...letting me peer in to the music, great sound stage, etc.  But other times they are just too piercing (for lack of a better adjective).  I also find myself concentrating more on the gear rather than the music.  I'm blaming my speakers.

So, I'd like to put a mellow pair of floorstanders next to them.  I want full, warm, mellow speakers...something I can swim in and just enjoy the music.  My local shop has a super clean pair of KEF 104.2.  And, they're going to redo the woofers while they have them in the shop.  I understand the woofers can be a bit of a bear and that they have an odd proprietary KEF technology that makes them a little difficult to repair (what's with the rod between the woofers?).  With that said, I heard them, and I thought they sounded like anti-PMCs.  Perfect, no?  Why not bring home some old school, rolled off, mellow speakers as a foil to my PMCs.  So...my question...are there modern speakers that have a mellower sound, or other older speakers that I should consider?  Any consensus on the KEFs? 

My gear:
VPI Classic TT
Digital via Mac and Mytek DAC
Ayre pre
Prima Luna tube power amp or Primare solid state

Thanks.

educeus

Showing 1 response by audiotroy

audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,873 posts
 
You need to look more systematically at the little things in the system.

First cables can make a huge difference so can power conditioning.

The Ayre preamp isn't particularly warm, if the speakers are doing things yo like you need to address why there are things present in  the system that are not, PMC speakers are accurate, they are not bright or sibilant, however, if the speakers are being overdriven, not enough power, or you are using cables which are not good or good enough which might excerbate the problem. 

I would not change the speakers I would:

Change to a tube preamp, a Cary or CJ
Look at replacing or upgrading your cables
Adding a power conditioner. 

More to discover