I’m a great believer in less is more, because you can focus more on quality. If you like Dipole speakers and that wall of sound, and have plenty of power bi-amping, you could get into a pair of Maggie 20.7’s for under $10k used. They’re better value than used ML CLX’s and i’d argue sound better dollar for dollar than used Apogees.
New speakers for my system
I am currently running a bi-amped system comprised of a pair of 360° dispersion transmission lines that are tuned to 17Hz and a pair of 2 ways using Scanspeak Ti HF and 6" full range drivers. The 2 ways are crossed over at 4k with 2nd order Butterworths.
I am driving them all with a pair of Classé strereo amps. The crossovers to each amp are via a DSP.
The plan is to eliminate the 2 ways and replace them with a better imaging pair of something that will not require digital filtration but will only see the digital crossover. The crossover can be at a low enough frequency, perhaps 100Hz, so there will be no significant time alignment issues caused by the digital circuitry.
Another option would be to bi-amp a single pair and replace both speaker pairs. This is hard to justify since the T-Ls are pretty effective. In fact I’ve needed to roll them off at 25Hz. They use a pair of the old Focal kevlar cone drivers (8".)
Maybe some time-aligned D’Appolito configuration?
I am driving them all with a pair of Classé strereo amps. The crossovers to each amp are via a DSP.
The plan is to eliminate the 2 ways and replace them with a better imaging pair of something that will not require digital filtration but will only see the digital crossover. The crossover can be at a low enough frequency, perhaps 100Hz, so there will be no significant time alignment issues caused by the digital circuitry.
Another option would be to bi-amp a single pair and replace both speaker pairs. This is hard to justify since the T-Ls are pretty effective. In fact I’ve needed to roll them off at 25Hz. They use a pair of the old Focal kevlar cone drivers (8".)
Maybe some time-aligned D’Appolito configuration?
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- 19 posts total
Thank you for your suggestion. I am a bit apprehensive about using ribbon drivers for several reason: Firstly, my listening room is asymmetrical with one side with a partial corner thus being likely problematic; Secondly, the size of the Magnepans will be difficult to deal with; Thirdly, I’ve used ribbons in the past and found them to be somewhat difficult loads to deal with. They tend to be rather inefficient and must therefore handle very high currents since their actual impedance is very low on the ribbon side of the transformer. I think I’d like to stick with more traditional drivers. What are your thought regarding Vandersteen 3a signatures? |
Fair enough. The larger Maggies do need a good size room, and even front wall for the dipole radiation. When you mentioned you bi-amp, I thought you (may) have enough power to drive them properly, hence the mention. I haven’t heard Vandersteen speakers, so I couldn’t comment on their sound. Though the consensus is they are good value speakers at their price point. Fyi PS Audio are working on some new hybrid speakers, including a 2nd top range model <$10k which will have active sub & mid-bass drivers and an array of planar magnetic drivers. Paul M has been talking them up, so they should be good. With the active bass drivers, they should be relatively easy to drive also. Here is video Paul posted fyi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa8nqlLs3wQ |
- 19 posts total