Wharfedale Linton 85th Anniversary.
Really need some help finding a full range speaker
I've thus far been on the sidelines here, but I must say I've been very impressed with the knowledge many of you bring to this forum . I'm hoping to tap that knowledge, if I may, and get some help finding a new pair of speakers.
I currently have a pair of Paradigm 75f's and I've been very happy with them. To me they sound neutral, fairly accurate and exciting to listen to. But with just a pair of 5.5" drivers providing bass, they are lacking seriously at the low end.
I"m driving my Paradigms with a CJ LP70S which puts out 70 watts per channel. It has no trouble driving the 75fs but I'm inclined to buy a more efficient speaker this time around. I"m also very interested in maintaining or even improving on the accuracy and neutrality I"ve been enjoying with the Paradigms.
I'm searching in the used market and looking for a pretty significant upgrade. I'm very open to vintage options and am searching in a fairly wide price range from $1500ish (used) up to around $5k. I'm concerned about not having the opportunity to demo the speaker before I buy it, but am highly motivated by the cost to value ratio available with used speakers.
One final concern is size and aesthetics. My wife is simply not going to tolerate a tower speaker bigger than she is (or I am for that matter) and more flamboyant designs are not welcome in the listening room that doubles as my living room. I'm hoping to find a fairly straightforward looking speaker that's large enough to accommodate bigger drivers but doesn't completely overwhelm the room with their size.
I currently have a pair of Paradigm 75f's and I've been very happy with them. To me they sound neutral, fairly accurate and exciting to listen to. But with just a pair of 5.5" drivers providing bass, they are lacking seriously at the low end.
I"m driving my Paradigms with a CJ LP70S which puts out 70 watts per channel. It has no trouble driving the 75fs but I'm inclined to buy a more efficient speaker this time around. I"m also very interested in maintaining or even improving on the accuracy and neutrality I"ve been enjoying with the Paradigms.
I'm searching in the used market and looking for a pretty significant upgrade. I'm very open to vintage options and am searching in a fairly wide price range from $1500ish (used) up to around $5k. I'm concerned about not having the opportunity to demo the speaker before I buy it, but am highly motivated by the cost to value ratio available with used speakers.
One final concern is size and aesthetics. My wife is simply not going to tolerate a tower speaker bigger than she is (or I am for that matter) and more flamboyant designs are not welcome in the listening room that doubles as my living room. I'm hoping to find a fairly straightforward looking speaker that's large enough to accommodate bigger drivers but doesn't completely overwhelm the room with their size.
61 responses Add your response
Vandy’s are always a solid choice - musical, full range, not edgy, can listen for hours, good top to bottom response. Spendors. Harbeths. Floor standing ProAcs. Luscious midrange, svelte/sexy highs, warm full tuneful bass. Brilliant imaging. Not rock and roll, headbanger speakers though... they are meant to play music at reasonable volume levels. Wharfedale Lintons are in this league too in terms of warm full bass response, but not tactility of the sound going higher through mids and treble. Other option if you basically like your current speakers other than bass response is add a good sub, or better yet, a pair. RELs are truly outstanding for music, as are Velodynes. |
Like @johnss said, "add some subs." I suggest looking at the AudioKinesis Swarm Subwoofer System, which is not expensive for what you get. It is much easier to find speakers that sound great from about 50Hz and up but getting those lower octaves to sound right from your main speakers can really cost some money. There are benefits to multiple subs that you just can't get by using only your two main speakers. If you decide to upgrade your main speakers later, the Swarm will likely keep pace and do a great job filling in the lower octaves. |
Good suggestions so far. I do like the Parsifals but I oped for Vandersteen 5As myself. I do enjoy having the subs and all of the room adjustments that they have. Less cables and placement of adding subs into the room. Plus resale is always pretty easy. I also like Nola speakers with the alnico drivers. The open sound always draws me in and so far I have yet to find a speaker that does mid-range magic like they do. Good luck and Happy Listening. |
I haven't listened to a lot of speakers but I would say the the Vandersteen CT Treo was the most dynamic I have heard. Out of your price range new but maybe used would be close. Also only comes up to your waist or a little higher depending on how tall you are. I have the same requirements from the wife, "Don't overwhelm everything else in the room". |
I suggest looking at the AudioKinesis Swarm Subwoofer System, which is not expensive for what you get. It is much easier to find speakers that sound great from about 50Hz and up but getting those lower octaves to sound right from your main speakers can really cost some money. There are benefits to multiple subs that you just can't get by using only your two main speakers. If you decide to upgrade your main speakers later, the Swarm will likely keep pace and do a great job filling in the lower octaves. ^^This. Or for super high value you could DIY your own DBA with one Dayton SA1000 and four 10" subs for about $2k leaving $3k for some nice small speakers, that will give you awesome imaging with awesome bass. The DBA helps with spouse approval because they are not fussy with placement and can go in corners or behind furniture. |
A s/h Wilson Watt Puppy 7 offers a great price performance ratio. The tweeter can be sensitive to any issues with upstream components. maybe also look at wilson sasha - not sure of the specs. WWP7 Description: Three-way, floorstanding, dynamic loudspeaker in two sections. Drive-units: 1" titanium-foil inverted-dome tweeter, 7" midrange cone, two 8" woofers. Crossovers: 125Hz, 2kHz (approximately). Frequency response: 21Hz-21kHz, +0/-3dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 93dB/W/m. Dimensions: 40.25" H by 12.25" W by 18.5" D. Weight: 170 lbs (WATT, 65 lbs; Puppy, 105 lbs). |
roxy They are blowing remaining inventory out prior to moving https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649627780-moving-sale-special-emerald-physics-kc-ii-pro-power-co... |
LSA-20 Statements are available here new discounted to $4500/pr (normally $7k) and, very importantly, offer a 30-day, in-home trial. They’re only 39.5” tall and 9.5” wide but will go down to 25Hz and will likely be a considerable improvement over your Paradigms in virtually every area. These may be a very good fit for you for many reasons. They’re sold direct so offer very good value for what you’re getting. There are a couple pairs of Nola KOs available here now that love tubes and will bring a very impressive and “live” feel to music with their dipole midrange/tweeter arrays, and they’re only 4’ tall and not very wide so not too imposing. Used Joseph Audio Perspectives are a fairly easy load for an amp and will also be a significant sonic upgrade in every way. They are very attractive with a small footprint (i.e. very wife friendly) if you can stretch to $6k, and you also have the option to upgrade to the new Graphene drivers if you want even more down the road. Lastly, there’s a pair of Usher CP-8571s with Diamond tweeters available on US Audio Mart for $4500. They’re not very tall or wide and they’re downright gorgeous end-game-type speakers, but they’re quite deep and weigh 250 lbs if you can swallow that. Hope this helps, and best of luck in your search. |
+1 for tomic601's Vandersteen suggestion. If your lucky enough to be able to audition most any Vandersteen model along side your Paradigm's you'll experience, as my family and I did, within the very first minutes what time and phase design brings to a speaker presentation. To quote my wife, "...wow, it's not even close." Close your eyes and pick out the individual drivers of each pair. If setup properly you'll have difficulty doing so with the Vandersteen's. In my limited experience full range low frequency has more to do with the ability to control individually powered woofers by equalization, gain, and proper room placement. All the best in your search. |
@robertbrook I have the same Paradigms that you have, the 75fs. It's interesting that you feel you need more bass? I absolutely loved the bass on the paradigms. Very fast accurate and punchy. They don't go super low and they don't make your chest vibrate but I was very pleased with the bass. There were other aspects to them that I didn't love but I do think they are really nice speakers, especially if you like a very clean and exciting sound. I would agree with the folks that say add a couple subs if you want bigger bass. Also, if you haven't already, look into getting some bass traps for your room. I was shocked at how they not only improved the clarity of the bass but the amount as well. Plus it's a lot cheaper than buying new speakers ;) Good luck! |
+1 ianrodger. ZU: I purchased ZU Omen Mk II, 3 months ago. I’m waiting for new Soul Supremes to arrive now at end of month. I do use a subwoofer They have an excellent trade in program. Check out the details on their website. I got full purchase price back for an upgrade to the Supremes. Their speakers are fantastic or I wouldn’t be trading up. Bent |
adam8179 - Where did you buy your bass traps? I like that suggestion a lot and adding room treatments is another item on the audio "to do" list. Regarding the bass on the 75f. I've actually been impressed with how much bass they deliver give the size of the drivers, but I had the misfortune of hearing the Wilson Alexia at a friend's house, playing a record I brought and knew well. I was floored at how much music was there in the lower frequencies that I didn't even know was there. Granted, it's a totally unfair comparison, but eye opening none the less. I really like the way the 75f's do drums and bass, but I sometimes find it hard to hear a clear difference between the two and understood this as a function of the speaker limits in low frequency extension. Thanks! |
http://www.stereomojo.com/Onix%20XCD-50%20and%20XIA160%20review/XCD-50ReferenceCDPlayerReview.htm I have this one as backup for Lansche 4.1. It will work well with your CJ LP70S due to high efficiency. It also looks tidy (Good WAF). If you live in Pacific Northwest, I can let you audition it at your home for a week. Thomas |
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa2gbb-salk-sound-veracity-ht3-full-range Beautiful woodwork... even better sound. |
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649531512-salk-ss-ht2tl-pair-speakers/ The big news here is the transmission line low end... very deep, punchy and great tone.... and not much money and easy resale. ...I’m guessing they actually do have grills. |
yeeesh... too many good/great choices $1.5-$5k used or new, you can even choose a used Klipschorn! Choosing a high-end speaker without listening first is pretty tough, like buying toilet paper during COVID. So I'll try to stick to "safe" choices: ELAC - designed by speaker designer Andrew Jones (TAD, Pioneer). Best bang/buck reputation. Consistently positive reviews. Frequently puts out new speaker models. The ELAC Adante AF-61 got good reviews and is now half price at $2.5k - I suspect to make room for newer models. KEF - I listened to the KEF-LS50, which a very large number of positive reviews, and compared it to the R700. To my attentive untrained ears they generally sounded/voiced the same with the exception of more bass for the floorstander R700. You can get the R700 for $3.6k, the newer model R7 for $4k. GoldenEar - Triton series got great reviews. Designed by industry great Sandy Grossman (just retired). Great bang/buck reputation. Monitor Audio - Gold 300 $7k. Although I've never demoed these speakers, I did demo their upper tier Platinum 300 series and I was very impressed with the sound and the solid build quality which punches significantly above it's price point. I know that the Gold 300 has garnered multiple positive reviews including Stereophile. For me, the Gold 300 is one of a handful of speakers I can purchase without demoing but confident it would meet my satisfaction and beyond. |
if if you can get Daedalus speakers as dodgelum has suggested you will be set for life A pair of Rel subs would also help in getting the very low end if you are looking at the 23HZ to 24Hz my Poseidon will go lower than stated 28Hz bottom & my Rels S/812 will go down to 19 Hz but I have adjusted them for a perfect blend at 24Hz |
The Evo 4.2 have really piqued my interest. Some like them much better than the Lintons and Dentons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dNi7CHzE9E |
