Round Two: Best Speakers for LOUD music and rock??


Hi:

ROUND TWO, here we go.......

I listen to mostly rock, classic rock, female vocals, and the occasional dramatic symphony or opera, VERY LOUDLY.

I posted here before, and, taking everyone's comments into account, I purchased a used set of Genesis Vs.

They are great speakers, but failed for me in three critical areas: One, they seem to cause my amps to shut down at much lower volume than my present NHT 3.3s (even though the Genesis are rated as 3dB higher efficiency -- 90dB/4 ohms, as opposed to 87dB/4 ohms for the 3.3s), two, I cannot successfully couple these speakers to my room in such a way as to make the bass taut, dynamic and authoritative, and three, they do not image, in my room, as well as the 3.3s. Not even close.

My main system now consists of:

NHT 3.3s,
NHT SubTwo Subwoofer (60Hz & below only)
Cary 306/200 CD Player,
Sony XA 777es SACD player,
BAT VK5i preamp,
Audio Research M300mkII tube monoblocks,
MIT 750 Shotgun Tube Biwires,
MIT 350 Twin 30' ICs,
AudioZen Silver mkII I/Cs for front end.

I have a LARGE listening room with lots of glass & high sloping ceilings, app. 20x40 ft. w/18' ceilings.

I want to try again to upgrade my speakers, and I am considering a used pair of either Dunlavy SC-Vs, JM Mezzo Utopias, Legacy Focus, VMPS, Montana XP, Revel Ultima Studios, etc., etc.

My system is a tad bright right now, but not objectionably so. The imaging is stellar, and the soundstage depth is good, not great. I want smooth, rich, warm sound, yet detailed and clear, and as I said, I listen at VERY loud volumes for extended periods of time. I MUST have the slam and tight, low bass needed for the type of music I listen to.

Because of the size of speakers involved, I will obviously not be able to hear them with my system 'til I buy them, but, I guess I can just buy a good used pair here on Audiogon & sell them and try another pair if I need to.

Any comments/suggestions?

Thanks - Jeff
jeffj

Showing 1 response by twl

Why not try some professional sound reinforcement speakers? A couple of big "scoop" type bass bins, a big horn loaded midrange, and a compression horn tweeter, just like they use on stage, with tri-amping, might be just what you'd like.

They won't cost $30k, and might just have exactly the sound you are looking for, because that is what you used to hear at those older rock shows on stage.

It won't have anything to do with accuracy, but it sounds to me that accuracy is not what you are after. You want hard rock with ear bleeding SPL. This is exactly what professional sound reinforcement systems are designed to do.

I am not joking about this, even though it may seem like it. This type of equipment is what the bands you are listening to, rely on for their on-stage performances. If you are listening to "electronically amplified" instruments and music, and not acoustic material, this is what the stuff normally comes out of, during a performance.

I think that part of your problem, is that you are trying to use "delicate" audio equipment, that is designed for accurately reproducing acoustic and vocals naturally, to create a "rock show" environment. This is not the right application for that. Just get what they use a "rock shows" and you'll have what you are looking for.