The Vandersteen 3A Signatures are an outrageous speaker. They do LOTS of stuff right - mostly they draw you into the performance/music. They are a MUST hear before you make a decision. Good listening!! |
The Vandersteen 3A Signatures are an outrageous speaker. They do LOTS of stuff right - mostly they draw you into the performance/music. They are a MUST hear before you make a decision. Good listening!! |
The vandersteen 3aSig (3400retail) is a great sounding speaker that has more bass than most. Vandersteens do very well with rock because of their extended bass. |
Korn, The Steradian Environmental Processor you are talking about does not add bass. It electronically removes the boominess that is inherent in certain sized rooms at some of the lower frequencies. To put it simply, which is the only way I know how, when a bass note is struck you can sometimes here it reverberating (kind of like a low frequency echo). The Steradian will allow the note to be heard without the echo. Does that make sense? It really doesn't add any bass, Legacy says that the Steradian tightens up the bass. Don't know know that to be true. I don't have the Steradian on my system. The bass my Focus puts out are incredible. You can feel it. If I'm missing something, I'm not aware of it. Maybe that's good, or not so good... Hmmm, not sure. Not trying to convince you either way, just inform. Hope this helps, Skip. |
Legacy constantly changes their drivers this is well established. It is almost like a game try this and try that so it makes it hard to system match with something that changes so often. In addition, if you have been around awhile you will notice they had a terrible time trying to maintain dealerships because some were selling them for 20-30 % off. This created a quick depreciation of the product. In fact, while it was kind of cozy many of dealers were peoples houses were the primary guy did something else for a living. I heard my first Legacy's at the factory in Springfield. Then tried to tie up with a dealer in Chicago (something like Dr. Joes and ....?). He was a physician that you could never reach. So I listened to mine at the house of psychiatrist in Milwaukee. As goofy as all this may seem this was only 6 years ago. With a support team like this imagine what you would be getting even if they had beautiful water plots of their sonic spectrum. If you really like to Rock and Roll the Legacy's are the equivalent of gift from the heavens. Very dynamic to be sure. Legacy people are nice on the phone and really care about the furniture quality of their cabinets. I wish them well but they could be better managed. Many are a high end company that bit off more than it could chew (do well) and are not around any more. But if you familar with how music played at ear preserving levels by real instruments you would do your self a service and listen to some of the new B&W Nautilus Line, Dunlevy offerings, Status Gold i are a very good value and well rounded speaker, Theil 3.6 or 2.3 are accuracy freaks that require a near arc welder to run but are beautiful sounding. Listen in a good sized (your room looks like a good starting dimension) room that is appropriately sonicly treated. Bring some Stereophile room and speaker testing CDs so you can begin to get a common reference point and also bring the type of music you like to listen to and keep it the same from audition to audition. If possible, bring your own equipment including cables (power cables on upstream equipment, cd players etc, can make a significant difference. Try out Synergistic AC Master Coupler, any of the Power Snake line, and MIT and Harmonic Tech on the lower cost end (even you just want to see what you are missing). Cables are in effect tone controls that definitely add their own sonic signature. Also, call up the customer support of any company you plan to buy something from and tell them you have 15-20 year old models of theirs and wonder if they supply exact parts. Not only check if this is true but how quick and nice they are in doing it. Call up Audio Research in Minnesota sometime. Anytime, any day. You will find out one additional reason why they can make it on their own and Madrigal and McIntosh needed the help of Japanese car radio or mass market manufacturers to stay afloat. Cyperworld is not the real world and lets support companies that produce world class products followed up by even better service, advice, and service. If not, we will all eventually be listening to whatever the monopolies decide we need and not what is possible with freedom of a quick,advanced small group of thinkers like at Audio Research. As you can tell this hobby is a passion for many of us and we all of our ideas but we should help it survive past the home threatre cycle (where small companies can not afford to invest in never ending cycles of new formats: Check out the percent of original sale value of a 5-15 year old Audio Research Tube Amp or Preamp vs Pioneer, Levinson, Harman Karmon, Theta home threatre or other digital processor that is 2-5 years old. Happy listening! |
Thanks to all those who responded, i went and read some reviews of all the speakers mentioned/ I think i am still between the legacy focus and gershman avant gardes. One of the main reasons being i can listen to them locally. My 2 worries are, 1-Legacy-Some say u have to buy that stredian thingy to get any bass out of them, i don't like the thought of adding that thing to the musical chain. 2-AVANT GARDE rx 20-s, Can these little speakers really be full range? they look like mini monitors on steroids. Oh well, i can't say it's all that fun to be in the market for new speakers, to many damn choices and what not. Thanks for all your help guys/ |
All the speakers mentioned are excellent, and all have their nuances and unique sounds. Only your room + equipment combo, combined "with your ears" will give you the answer. However, there are some excellent speakers out there that don't cost as much as you are willing to spend. I like the psb stratus golds, and the paradigm reference 100's. Both do a very good job with rock music, reasonably efficient, well proven with excellent reputations. Good Luck and enjoy. |
before you do anything go to www.waveform.ca and check out the site and than call the owner John O. and speak with him . I guarentee that you will be elated . |
Korn, You won't go wrong with a pair of Legacy Focus. Recently upgraded to the Focus. The bass in these Focus are something to behold. No need for a sub with these, three 12 inch woofers. Their midrange is world class, bar none. The Focus are also very efficient, around 96db. My wife and I listen to mostly rock, but not exclusively, and these babies kick butt. You can usually find them used for around $2500 - $4000. Check ebay every now and then. That's where I purchased mine. Go to legacy-audio.com and check out their website, if you haven't already. Good luck with your hunt, Skip. |
The Avalon Eclipse and Arcus are both GREAT speakers; however, they won't play at ear crushing volumes. I listen to alot of rock, but also jazz, blues, and classical and my Eclipse's are the best I've had in my system BY FAR!! If you have a good high powered amp (preferably tube, though good solid state works also -- McCormack DNA2 works very well), you cannot beat these speakers for $3600 used. I also owned Martin Logan ReQuests (not good for heavy metal, though ok for other rock), Mirage M3Si (pretty good head-banger speaker -- plump bass/midbass and fairly forgiving highs), and Aerial 10T's (great bass, though not as well integrated with the mids and highs as the Eclipse and not as good at soundstaging. Still the 10T's are much better than ML ReQuests or Mirage M3Si). If you really just want to jam most of the time, try one of the older BW 801 models(used under $4000) and mate with a high powered solid state amp. They can rock with the best, though they need alot of juice to come alive. |
Talon Audio makes a line of speakers that have completely floored me. I am in NJ. www.delveaudio.com 973-812-6717 oliver |
If you really want to rock, then full size floor standers are the way to go. Take a look at the ad here on audiogon for the Tyler Acoustics A-12's. They have two Eminence 12" woofers, (the same as in the Legacy Focus), plus two 7" Peerless 7's and a Vifa 1" tweet. Rated 20Hz~20kHz. Full list is only $2950 in real wood veneer finishes (four oaks, maple and walnut), and they weigh about 125lbs each! They room shown in the ad was at a customers house, and is 8H x 15w x 33d. He is driving them with a pair of Carver Silver 9's at 575 watts per side, and at the seated position some 15 feet away, they were pumping out 112db, with NO signs of breakup, and still had plenty of room to go. I'll be happy to forward you the owners e-mail address if you'd like to ask him his opinion on them. Just drop me an e-mail and I'll get you some more information. Happy hunting! :-) |
You have what I believe is a medium sized room. There are many, many speakers which should work for you in the $4,000 range. Given your amp you can choose between efficient and not so efficient speakers. Perhaps the Genesis APM-1 that is on auction now would work for you. The current bid is about $3,000, and these have a built in powered subwoofer which will give you all the bass you need. As for the Dunleavy speakers, if you shop carefully you should be able to get a pair of IV's, which are much better than the III's (the Dunleavys will work best if you are able to put them along the long wall). The only problem is that the Dunleavy's are very large, more than six feet tall and so if you have an WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) problem you may want to make sure that they will fit your situation. The full sized Merlin speakers with BAM may work as well and these can be purchased for less than $4,000 used. You may also want to try out the Hales, which may be the sound you are looking for. If you have a cooperative wife you may like the sound of the Maggies, you can get the 3.5's (a wonderful speaker and a steal right now often under $2,000 because everyone wants to upgrade to the 3.6's) The latest version of this series, the 3.6's, can be had for less than $4,000 new and, even though the 3.5's are a great speaker, are a definite improvement, especially in the bass. I also agree that you do not want to cheap out on the speaker wire. The wire you use should depend significantly on the amp and the speaker combination you are using. Good luck. |
I have heard the Aerial 7A, and the 7B. The add mentioned in the previous posting, to my knowledge, may actually be for the 7"B", instead of the 7"A", which retailed for less than the stated retail price of $4k. Unless the original owner sprang for some exotic finish, that is. Both are excellent speakers, the 7A has been discontinued (sadly)but is a 2 way using a 7.5 (I think) driver for mid and lows. The 7B is on the Aerial website, so you can research that for yourself. Anyway... You have what I consider to be a medium sized room, perhaps on the large side of that, but that is only opinion. In a small room, a speaker like the Meadowlark Shearwater, with a 6.5" driver in a transmission line scheme, could provide all the taught, tuneful bass any non headbanging person might need. In a medium sized room, (Mine is 14' by 18') The Meadowlark Shearwater (also excellent) with it's Scan Speak 7' driver might be a little (just a little, mind you) on the light side for the bottom octave (20-40hz), but would probably be ok for the non bass head, but would excell in the smaller room. I own the Hales Revelation 3 loudspeakers. They are a 3 way, 10 inch bass driver, 4 inch mid, and a 1 inch ti tweeter. If you like rock music, these may be the speakers for you. They sound very neutral, and have a presentation that is fabulously real. They retail for $2100, and are a steal. Check out www.audioreview.com, go to speaker reviews. They were at the top end of my budget, and I love them. If I had more money, I would have bought the Meadowlark Heron-i in a New York Minute, with a 3/4" tweeter that blows the other Meadowlarks away, a sweet midrange driver, and 2 7' bass drivers. These speakers are awesome. If I had a budget of $5k, I'd check out the Meadowlark line,especially the Heron-i, the Audio Physic Virgo's, and everything else they make, the Hales Transcendence 3's (very nice)and the Revelation 3s(My Revelation 3's are great, and you should definately check them out. If you like them, you would have $3k for another preamp, amp, or maybe even some really good interconnects or speaker cables-NEVER SKIMP on these!) But like I said, they are NOT the best speakers in the world (just the best at 2 grand) and last but not least, check out ProAc, and Joseph Audio (Jeff Joseph is a great guy, and will ship you a pair, pre paid of course, to audition in your home. If you could position your speakers 9 feet apart, and about 10 feet from your listening position, you may need to look no further than the Dunlavy SC-III. Bob at Avalon AV in Medford NJ sold me my Hales, and he is a class act. He also carries Dunlavy and Meadowlark. As far as Audio Physic goes, I cant seem to locate a nice dealer..... (Hmmmmmm.) Anyway, this is an important decision, so dont let some snooty salesperson tell you what to buy. Trust your ears first, your heart second, and your check book last. Happy listening. Joe |
Korn, I went back and checked the ad I told you about and see that I made a mistake. The ad is for 7As not 7bs. I don't know the older model. I still believe you should check out the 7Bs and the Model 6. |
Hello, Someone put a pair of Aerial Acoustic 7bs for sale today for $2500.00 here on audiogon. I have the Aerial 6 model and have heard the 7bs. I think they are great speakers and for that price a great deal. If you buy them, you should get the optional spiked stands from Aerial. They go for about $400.00. The Aerial 6 is just right for my smaller 12x18 room. The 7bs are Stereophile class B recommended full range speakers and there is a small review in the April issue. The cabinets are about as good as it gets, and the rose walnut adds agout $500.00 to the price. If you have any questions about them, feel free to email me. |
Alon IV or V, both can rock with the best and you can find them for less than your $4k budget. Make sure you get their speaker wire with tyhe deal. |
