Hello All, I have been researching a lot about loudspeakers lately - their measurements including sensitivity, impedance, phase, etc to make sure that they match in my system. Also had a chance to listen to a couple, but yet undecided, since I am not able to listen to all of the ones I have shortlisted below. I have a very short list of criteria for the speakers:
Sensitivity more than 88db Nominal impedance 8 ohms and minimum not dipping below 3.5 ohms Go down to about 27-30Hz Price range is about $7k new/used
The loudspeakers that I have short listed are: Spendor D7 PSB Imagine T3 ProAc D30 PMC Twenty 24 Tannoy Definition DC10T Revel F208 Focal 1038 (used)
Could also consider the following, but not sure if they would match in my system because of their nominal 4 ohms impedance: Sonus Faber Olympica III (used) ProAc D40R (used) Audio Physic Scorpio 25 (used) PMC Twenty 26 (used, but has low sensitivity)
I love speakers that have the sound image starting about 2-3 feet behind the speaker front face, throw a wide image and disappear completely. That is what my current speakers do. My room is 15 X 18 X 8 and the speakers are placed very precisely (5feet from back wall and 3 feet from side walls) to achieve this imaging. I have a few panels to tame the sound in the room. My amp is Parasound A21 and I have an excellent Promitheus TVC. Current sources are able to effectively drive the amp and the speakers, without any issues. I have listened to PSB Imagine T3 and Audio Physic Classic 20, and found that they image per my liking. I know I have listed too many speakers. But would love to hear from owners of these brands on the "vocal characteristic" of the loudspeakers, now that I have provided a brief explanation of my preferences. There is no denying that the best way to seek a set of speakers is to audition in person. But sometimes this is not possible. Please provide your feedback, as much as you can. Thank You in advance!
mr_bill, Thanks for the info. I am planning to do a road trip to visit some dealers in the Chicago area where I can actually listen to the D7. In the same trip I plan to cover some ProAc and PMCs as well.
cholera, Thank You for the detailed feedback between T3 and O3. I did like the O3s, though they were a bit o the warm side - nothing wrong with that. But it is their nominal impedance that bothers me. Having a TVC, I have to be very careful of matching loudspeakers in my system. It is funny that on another forum there is a post where a poster liked the T3s better than the O3s. So I feel it is a matter of preference. Hence I have decided to make the road trip to listen to as much loudspeakers as I can. Ultimately I have found that unless a dealer room is not properly treated or speakers are not correctly placed, you will not find what a loudspeaker is truly capable of. Even after listening to quite a few loudspeakers, I come home and find that my current loudspeakers do a fine job. I am sure, if I get any pair of the speakers I mention above, then they would sound fabulous in my room when I carefully take time and place them. It is the "flavor" of sound that I want to nail and settle down. I have the Parasound A21 amplifier and have been much happy with them. I recently changed ALL my cables (except power cables) to Clear Day.
@milpai ....have you taken your journey to Chitown to do some auditioning? Curious as to what you discover. The Spendor D7 and Proac d30r seem like great speakers! Keep us posted. Regards......
For $7K, you may be able to get into a set of the new Legacy Audio Signature HD, which uses "the same Dual Air Motion Tweeter System and 7" midrange as the Focus SE".
If you are going to Illinois, you might want to visit them in Springfield.
I have a set of the old Signature IIs from the 1990's, and it is difficult for me to go into an audio store and listen to any current speakers in that price range from Dynaudio/Sonus Faber/Focal/PSB/Revel etc., and feel like I would be upgrading very much.
Last Friday, I was able to audition a set of Dynaudio 3.4 at an audio shop in Austin, and they had a better defined mid range, as they should because the Signatures have old poly woofers, but had nowhere near the bass extension of the Legacy Signature IIs. We then hooked up a set of the Sonus Faber Olympica 1, and they were ok, but I think I may prefer the Dynaudio "house sound".
@carmenc, I have not been to Chicago recently. But if I do, then I will update this thread to update my experience.
@mtrot , I did listen to some Legacy loudspeakers during the AXPONA 2015. I believe they sounded pretty nice. I will stop by again if I visit Chicago area and listen to them at a dealer. Thanks for the recommendation.
I’m sorry if I missed some of the details but the SF O3s cost almost twice as much as the PSB T3s. Did you really expect them to compare or come close sonically? Something like a B&W 802D or Revel Studio2 would have been a fairer comparison.
@kalali, Why do you think the price of a component would ALWAYS determine it's performance? It sometimes does but not always. My $1.6k preamp spanks a $4.5k preamp. And this was a personal experience in my own system. I also heard the B&W 804D3s, which is more expensive than the T3s. I would take the T3s any day over the B&Ws.
So, I went on a road trip to listen to couple of loudspeakers. At the first dealer, it was PSB Imagine T3 Vs B&W 804D3 Vs Pioneer S-1EX. The front end was a Pioneer DVD player whose optical out was to a McIntosh integrated with a built-in DAC. Cabling was Nordost. Started with the BWs and found that they are not exciting, but portray recordings as-is. Seems pretty neutral. The first CD was Dire Straits BIA (xrcd). Somehow the bass was not strong. But the high frequencies were extended. Then switched to PSBs, whose bass was much better, but not as good as I remembered as on my own SACD at home. So we switched to Eva Cassidy - What A Wonderful World. I know this song so well, and it made comparisons much better. Also bass was good on this recording. I wanted to like the PSBs, but the bass seems to overwhelm the room and (probably because of this) the high frequencies were not as extended as the B&Ws. But the B&Ws seemed to do everything better than when I heard them last time at another dealer. The "presence" on the B&Ws was pretty good - could bring goose bumps, if they would be carefully placed in my room. Lastly switched to the Pioneers. These also loaded the room. I found the PSB and Pioneers sound like thick syrup, unlike the B&Ws which were agile, albeit slightly lesser bass. Next day headed to another dealer who stocks Focals. Unfortunately the 1038s were not around, but the Sopras 2 were and I was impressed by the demo. I did not find the Be tweeters bright. The front end was a Simaudio CD player and Hegel pre/power amp. I found out that this dealer also stocked Harbeth. So I decided to take a listen to the 3 of them that ranged from $5k-$7k. This demo changed my impression of Harbeth. My experience was bad from AXPONA 2015. But these were really musical speakers and compared so much more favorably to my Quads. The CDP was Line Magnetics and the integrated was the limited edition VPI. I liked the way they imaged, their sound stage and the bass they produced, for their size. I liked the $5k ones better than the $7k ones. The road trip was worth it, and I am looking forward to go to AXPONA again this year.
Folks, I visited about 5 dealers yesterday to audition different loudspeakers. One thing I realized that, loudspeakers are simply user preferences. No loudspeaker is great and no loudspeaker is bad. How can a brand X, which so may people love, be so bad as some people make it seems. With that said, I listened to Dynaudio Contiour 60, Spendor D7, ProAc D30RS, D48R, Sony, Sonus Fabre, PSB T3. My 2 narrowed down choices were theSpendor D7 and the ProAcs. I was amazed by the Spendor D7. These are diminutive speakers that throw a large soundstage. They all go deeper and sounded full. I have read various forums that put them as "bright" or "harsh" sounding. No way. But here's the deal. In front of them, they had an all MBL system with amps, preamp and the cdp that cost at least between $25-$30k. The cables were Stealth that cost probably more than my entire current system. Now the D30RS were in a humbler system which comprised of a Naim all-in-one player/amp. The cables were also some normal ones (which I did not check, since it did not call for attention). The D30RS sounded pretty good, but slightly darker than the Spndors. So I am confused at this point in time as to which loudspeaker would be better. With this information, please provide me your feedback on your experience with the 2 loudspeaker. I should also mention that the ProAcs produced the best vocals amongst all the loudspeakers.
Folks, Wanted to close this post by letting you know that the decision has been made. My ProAc D48R in Ebony are on order. Should get them by end of November or start of December.
Milpai, Been following your thread and I am very impressed with the effort you have made to find 'the' speaker for you. I wish your the best with your choice.
Congratulations in advance, Milpai! I'm sure you'll be very happy with the new speakers. And kudos for the thoroughness of your explorations which led to this choice.
@almarg, Thank You so much for your inputs and suggestions along along the way. You did help me arrive at the current choice. As many of the members on this forum know, your knowledge and guidance is very valuable to all the members!
@kosst_amojan, I found out that the Parasound A21 can easily drive the Focal loudspeakers like 1038, 1028 etc. But I am glad that I reached a decision after a long time. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
I had mentioned the Magnepan 3.7i and that is a great speaker, but I will add the Vandersteen Treo. Both are truly musical and wonderfully warm but laid back.
The ProAc D48R are in the house. I am pretty thrilled. They are pretty heavy. My wife helped me carry them to the listening room in the basement. She also helped me unpack and set them up. She supports my hobby and I simply cannot imagine following this hobby without her. Listened to the speakers for 15 minutes and I love what they are doing. Currently they are being "run-in" using Nordost's System setup CD, track 47 (System Burn-in). The quest now begins to find the best spot for the speakers and the listening chair.
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