I am the guy who opened the thread "Harbeth Love". Unfortunately, wife didn't like them at all. She listened to ATC, nope. Spendor? Nope. I do trust her ears too but we need speakers that we both like. I remember her liking this Sonus Faber speakers (can't recall the model but I know newer Fabers). She also likes KEF LS50 which I find good but not outstanding. Any help for this married couple?:)
Thanks everyone for the input! I really do leave these decisions to my audio geek - he can have whatever he wants and I just want him to be happy. Unfortunately for him, he has a burning urge to pass it through me for approval because he thinks I have better ears 😂
I want to feel the music in my bones, I want to feel like I can close my eyes and am listening to it live. The full reverberation of the bass, the nuances in the metal strings of an acoustic guitar. The sibilance in vocals just grates my ears. I basically want to sit in the 1980s Maxell poster and be blown away.
I don't particularly remember the Sonus Fabers except that they were very expensive 😂
The KEF LS50, it's tiny and aesthetic perfection (imho). We've listened a few times. It's a very tight and clean sound, bass is pretty damn good (even better supplemented with a sub), but perhaps not as natural in the vocals for me to be blown away. Not as warm as I'd prefer.
Harbeths, I cannot pinpoint it, but I just didn't feel it. I felt like it was a simple speaker, and it just felt flat. Definitely a warm sound but I just didn't feel the power in the vocals. I think the lows drowned the sound.
So, I guess I am looking for warmth and bass, detail in mids, and no/low sibilance in vocals.
Certainly listen/look again to the Sonus Fabers... The Olympica 1 may be found used in the $ 3k price range... I have Oly II's and my wife likes the cosmetic appearance for our space better than any box style speaker... the Sonus Faber Olympica series is finely crafted and looks like sculpture... For the best sound they must have proper placement and that includes about 2' of air around them. Sonus also has some lesser priced models that are quite entertaining.
In my case the Sonus Fabers were replacing some older B&W speakers that looked like boxed robots... She loved the look of the Oly's so it was a non issue for us... and she loves the sound too.. Female vocals, live jazz and acoustic recordings are amazingly enjoyable on the Sonus Oly's.. Older rock can also be great depending on the recording qualities.. My old Buffalo Springfield album and Neil Young come through wonderfully... I am not a high db listener but the 4 ohm Oly's crank it out if I want to with an old 100 WPC ARC solid state amp.
My wife is a visually oriented person as are many of women that I worked with in my A/V sales years... I suspect as mentioned above that your wife might be interested in the visual qualities of the choices just as much as the auditory preferences.... Regardless, if you search around enough you will find something you both love.
I am older. Have had all sorts of speakers. Listen to all sorts of music. Actually have a pair of Omega's now - among others. I think for the range of types of music, the budget you have - if I understood that correctly, and for something of an appropriate size - you should go listen to a pair of Cantons if you can. The Canton Vento 836's are, imo, pretty remarkable over all styles of music, solid, attractive, and obtainable. Do what you will, but, you should hear some Cantons before making a decision.
I solve this all the time with a pair of Sonus Faber Venere 2.5's. Beautiful to look at in Gloss White, Black or Walnut, but the best part is they sound way above their price. I've had a lot of guys come in and listen to speakers up to twice the price and at least 80% of the time they go home with the 2.5's. Never had a disappointed customer and have never had a return...well actually twice because they traded up to the 3.0's. We always have demos, but not looking to plug us here. Buy them locally from a reputable dealer and then take her out for a nice dinner to show your appreciation.
I'm surprised no mention of Maggie's ? 1.7 would work well. New Kef reference but out of the budget? Also Dynaudio's are great. Best soft dome tweeters are Dynaudio's, the tsss sounds are called sibilance Btw.. DeVore are nice too.
Given that you are in Europe, I suggest Gradient and Amphion. Both are imo extremely intelligently designed as far as room interaction... in particular, both do an unusually good job with the off-axis response. The vertical off-axis response matters more than usual in this case, given the low ceiling height. If fairly early reflections are pretty much inevitable, you want them to have essentially the same spectral balance as the direct sound, and both of these brands are very good at that.
I've had similar discussions with my wife and my wife had similar comments to your wife's. I hope we're not talking about the same wife but since you mentioned you're in Europe, we should be OK on that count since I'm in the US. Back to speakers. You're wife's observations lead me to draw two conclusions. She like the point source sound of the Kef's and the natural sound of the paper drivers of the Sonus with it's simple crossover. The Kef's do not sound as natural to her because of the metal cone -- never a natural sounding solution. Because of close proximity ceiling surface you will need a consistent off axis response = point source or coaxial design. Or an open baffle. Also, you need paper drivers for natural open sounding vocals, such as paper cone full-rangers. So... Look at paper cone coaxials like Tannoy's (go for the 12" models) or Emerald Physics open baffle. They have natural, dynamic sound and are not overly bright. The point source "open baffle" designs will have less problems with ceiling and wall reflections and a natural presentation of semi-omni directivity. Another option -- full range paper cone based speakers with woofer support like Rethm Bhaava.
Just look around -- paper cone + point source, or 8" full-range with woofer support. Herman
See last two posts. We both wrote concurrently and mention low ceiling and good off axis performance -- nothing will beat point source here for off axis uniformity.
May I recommend a pair of Aerial 5B speakers? They're an excellent value and make beautiful music. While they're not super efficient, they're not difficult to drive either. And they work very well is both small and large rooms.
Hi, I am Italian and this is the first time I write here but I am an old member of the Naim forum and it's extremely interesting to see how similarly all audio things are seen from the two sides if the sea.
Anyway, I am slightly amazed at reading of a wife who really cares about the sound of a pair of speakers instead of their looks – this is not meant to be diminutive of women's musical taste or intelligence. But there can be surprises: my wife never objected to any pair of speakers I bought or tried at home, from an aesthetic point of view, safe for the Naim Ovator S-400s, that I love and that she found ugly.
Then, in the end, after an awful amount of tentatives, I bought a pair of Ovators S-400s, and she had to admit a) how beautiful they are and how easily and elegantly they fit into the room and the furniture and, b), how good they sound. They go down to below 40hz when requested, are extremely coherent and never harsh. So this would be my 'blind' recommendation.
My wife has liked all the speakers I've owned over the last 25 years regardless of brand, type, cost etc. I think she is scamming me somehow and enticing me to spend more on audio... :o)
She he is a good QA resource after a change for test verification and validation. That comes in handy...
My wife at first was only concerned with the furniture: that is, the size and appearance of my speakers (Altec 604C duplexes) which is what I thought this thread was going to be about.
Now that hat my system has been repaired and tuned again, she hears the difference and she's sorta into it. Sorta. Kinda.
Celo, At least you have a wife who gives a Schiit about your hobby. The more time I spend with my music/system; the more my wife hates it. ;^) Take your time shopping and enjoy it. Have you tried any brands not as often mentioned in the forums these days? PSB may be just the ticket, or SVS or even (gasp) GoldenEars.
The only pair of speakers I ever regretted selling were our Vandersteen 4, although if we still had them our cat(s) would have shredded the brown nylon fabric covers by now, and they also would be decorated with dried dog slobber (we own a 170-pound English Mastiff who slings everywhere). Oh, well. I did not like having to use Vandersteen's external crossover for bi-amping and tri-wiring, but it was fine. The sound was glorious no matter the size of the room or where we were sitting. We "upgraded" to a used pair of large Genesis III, still excellent speakers, of course, just harder to place to achieve the right soundstage. We use them now with an 18" Velodyne sub, but sometimes they are just too revealing of the harshness of early digital recordings. I can adjust the treble on the speakers, but it is hard to disguise the "nails on a chalkboard" sound of massed orchestral violins on 1980s and 1990s digitally recorded classical CDs. Accuracy is not always a good thing! Our upstairs system was purposely chosen to be more forgiving, based around a pair of old ProAc EBS speakers. They are not ideally placed, but we lie in bed and just enjoy the music. Both systems use Wadia CD players, which easily sound as good as $6600 worth of separates we tried (a CEC belt-driven transport and several different brands of expensive DACs), tubed Audio Research preamps (with remote volume control - a must!) and Levinson amps. I sold the huge Vandersteen 4 to a woman who runs a music academy in her cavernous great room overlooking the northern California coast, and even placing them under the stairs and running them with a mediocre mid-fi integrated amp, they filled the entire room with amazingly wonderful sound. I've heard the inexpensive Vandersteen 2 at a friend's house and, while not in competition with $6,000+ plus speakers, they too were very musical. I don't know if second-hand Vandersteens are available in Europe, but they are quite engaging and tend to disappear, leaving you to enjoy your music. I wish I could say that of our Genesis III. They are absolutely stunning speakers on well-mastered recordings, but far too revealing of poor source material. Congratulations on marrying a woman who shares your love of music and fine audio! Please let us know when you find a pair of speakers that pleases you both.
I would highly recommend the new Aurum Cantus line. They are amazing in every way including the furniture grade finish. For the price nothing I know of comes close. The icing, you get a 60 day in home trial from audiophiledirect.com
Same thing happened here. My wife wanted good sound from a speaker that was not hideous like my Bowers and Wilkins 802d3... So we ended up with walnut Sonus Faber Olympica 3 to match the furniture downstairs and I can tell you she enjoys that speaker.
We even had a designer come by to help with finishing up the house and not one objection was made with regards to the Sonus Fabers in the family room.
Sonus faber Cremona M Auditors are spkrs my wife liked if you want stand mounted monitors. We also got some YG acoustics Carmels for our family room that she really likes (yes, I'm a lucky man...).
also, I'd agree that Vienna Acoustics might work. They are very attractive speakers and with their thinner profile, they don't look like bulky old school spkrs. I actually got a pair of Mozarts for my 20-something daughter.
Tekton speakers aren't so attractive looking…might sound OK but really….maybe with some exotic finish. I'm looking into single ended tube amps so I just bought a pair of (93db efficient) Sonist Recital 3s, solid wood (Poplar) with a deep reddish finish, and they look great. My wife likes them, but doesn't care much about gear as a hobby as is the case with 99% of everybody I know. I try to hide wire behind things and keep the rig from dominating the room, and when people come by for fun I move the speakers back so so nobody feels like they could knock them over…I put the grills on also if I think about it.
Thanks everyone for the input! I really do leave these decisions to my audio geek - he can have whatever he wants and I just want him to be happy. Unfortunately for him, he has a burning urge to pass it through me for approval because he thinks I have better ears 😂
I want to feel the music in my bones, I want to feel like I can close my eyes and am listening to it live. The full reverberation of the bass, the nuances in the metal strings of an acoustic guitar. The sibilance in vocals just grates my ears. I basically want to sit in the 1980s Maxell poster and be blown away.
I don't particularly remember the Sonus Fabers except that they were very expensive 😂
The KEF LS50, it's tiny and aesthetic perfection (imho). We've listened a few times. It's a very tight and clean sound, bass is pretty damn good (even better supplemented with a sub), but perhaps not as natural in the vocals for me to be blown away. Not as warm as I'd prefer.
Harbeths, I cannot pinpoint it, but I just didn't feel it. I felt like it was a simple speaker, and it just felt flat. Definitely a warm sound but I just didn't feel the power in the vocals. I think the lows drowned the sound.
So, I guess I am looking for warmth and bass, detail in mids, and no/low sibilance in vocals.
Hello wife. Buying Hi-Fi is quite a tricky subject. Sizable dosh for something personal. It is even more tricky for me because I live very close to the edge of the earth and the opportunities for listening are few and far between. Not only that but I have a wide range of styles to accommodate; from singer and guitar to large orchestra. That is enough about me. I like the suggestions so far about Sonus, Canton, and Tannoy. You can add Triangle and to that. In particular I think the 'paper driver' comment is right on the money. I think little boxes - Harbeths, LS3/5a, Kef LS50 - wont cut it. These days manufacturers do sterling work with getting bass from small designs but the bass - while there - seems a little contrived, without real body. Sorry for the abstract language, but hopefully you are used to it by now. Or as has been said 'There is no substitute for cubic inches' - or was that in relation to vehicle engines? :-> I know there is already enough to think about but (& sorry if I have missed it) what amp is to drive the speakers? The relationship between those is the most important issue in system matching, in fact this is why 'active speakers' are inherently right. Good luck.
Monitor Audio Silver 6 or 8. Pick whichever one works for your listening room size.
KEF LS50 plus a good subwoofer; the sub could make it work for the both of you.
Magnepan 1.7, with or without subwoofer. This is the one that my wife picked over several others including the GoldenEar Triton 7. You can also add a sub to this one to give it more low end oomph while being free of boomy, boxy resonances. This is a *fabulous* speaker for the money. It's the one we bought, and it captivates me every day.
Sonus Faber Venere 2,5; voluptous, seductive, and engagingly musical. Also beautiful.
Speakers will depend on your budget, amps and room size. But considering all +/- average, I would go for Tektons or for near perfect unbeatable sound beauty and balance for pounds/sound: XTZ Divine 100.33 http://www.xtzsound.eu/product/divine-100-33
If your budget will allow, try a pair of Wilson-Benesch Vertex Loudspeakers. No serious listening for about 200 hours of break-in.. Extremely revealing of your upstream components, but they absolutely disappear. Plus a very Hi Wife Acceptance Factor!
Look up Tetra Loudspeakers from Canada. Not that it matters, but a few Jazz greats, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter endorse them. I own the 222's and am waiting for the 111's (bass units) to arrive shortly. I have owned a lot of loudspeakers over the years, Klipsch, Duevel, Magnepan, Ohm, Trenner & Friedl, Silverline, Vandersteen, Infinity, Polk, Bose, Pioneer, Avid, EPI, A/D/S, Fritz and the Tetra 222's do it for me. They sound natural, without any emphasis on certain frequencies. The 222's are running I think $2750.00. They make stands for the 222 which were made for them. If you think, you need more bass, you could add the 111's later but they are quite a bit more in cost. Adrian is the owner and builder of these speakers. He tunes everything by ear. I am not a spokes person for his company just a satisfied customer.
Stereophile did a review of a Tetra 505 or something like that a few years ago. Not that I am hung up much on measurements but these were practical joke bad.
@cory1985 I have met Adrian years ago. Very funny guy and loves what he is doing. He did a demo. Can’t recall the model but I remember him trying to distort his mini (maybe should call micro) monitors with Pass Labs amp. That thing didn’t distort! Took all the beating. Couldn’t believe it. He makes very good speakers but very hard to audition the new models.
John Atkinson ran the specs on the 505 or 506 and it measured poorly. Not bad mouthing his skill but he has said this about other products, although very few, which his staff thought sounded fine.
You forgot what I told you! Yes let her pick, but that is when you go to work for the next decade, tweaking the sound. You do that with the other gear in your system, and their tweaks, like tube rolling et cet.
Lot of truth in what you say mechans. Speaker most important rule came from back in the day when most of them sucked . Almost any half-decent speaker today will let you know how your amp etc sounds which is where it is .
The comment (I paraphrase) that to "hear what a speaker is capable of you need to use your current electronics" is lame. Example: I have a pair of biwireable speakers and the designer told me this model of his lineup sounds much better single wired…tried both and he's right. My new speakers supposedly sound better biwired (again, from the manufacturer) and hey…they do! Some speakers do better with brighter or not so bright or SS or tubes or Class D or are better not used at all. The last group are simply speakers that can harm pets and furnishings…hot lava tweeters, liquid lead bass drivers…avoid those.
Bose acoustimass 5. The little cubes are really cute, the "subwoofer" can be hidden, and that's what most wives want. Come on man, don't you want to sacrifice a little bit of sound quality so that your wife can have cute, unobtrusive, out of sight little speaker system that sounds huge?
What a thread. Yes, you need to go listen. Your wife most probably does have much better hearing than you do. If you want a full range sound with a warmer mid, most of the speakers that folks are mentioning probably don't fit that bill IMHO. You mention looks also, so is that a wood or painted look? Yes, I'm a Vandersteen lover and you can get a pair of Treo's painted if you want to or in wood. If you want to spend much less, then the 2 or 3 are the way to go. They fit the bill about what you are looking for, but so do a few others, but until you go listen you'll never know which ones. There are many listed though that are very very hot in the high end. My wife has heard a few of them and within seconds said no way, lol. She liked Avalon's (very expensive and the distributor isn't really doing a great job with them). She heard the Legacy's with me and both of us looked at each other and said NO WAY, lol. That ribbon they use is very detailed, but it's bright. It's hard to get a smaller speaker that has little bass (physics says smaller cabinets can't produce that much bass) to sound warm. A few I've heard over the year have, but you can tell that you are missing a large part of the music.
Again, what is the budget? Where do you live? As Troy said the NYC area has a ton of dealers, but only a few who are reputable. Yes, Johnny is one and Troy is in NJ too and has a totally different set of gear. Again, you need to find out what YOU like and believe in your ears. Don't let a sales person tell you how to listen to music. If you hear a speaker make sure you listen for an hour or so and not have anyone in the room (other than your wife) to see if you can live with them full time. Often times we listen to a speaker and it sounds so "OPEN' or "extended' or whatever, but in the end it could be distortion or the speaker's just very hot and you won't be happy for the long haul. The same thing can be said about a mid that too forward. I used to LOVE Sonus Faber but they changed with their new speakers (and now being owned by the Mac group folks). I have heard them in a few set ups and they sounded dead to me. The mids were very forward and there was nothing on top. They just never opened up and they were being run with top Conrad Johnson gear (which is very good) in one set up and with top SS amps in another (I'm sorry, but I forget which amps).
It's hard to make decisions on speakers unless they are in your own room though. That's why I try to keep an open mind when going out to listen, so you want to keep that in mind also. What does your room sound like? If it's got lots of reflections and slap echo, then you really need to fix it or stay away from a speaker that is bright, unless it's a speaker that you will set up and listen to in a near field kind of set up. That way you take much of the room boundaries out of the equation.
Have fun and take what you think is good advice and stick with it. Again, trust your own ears as well as your wife's. Ask what wood choices and what other finishes you can get (like painted). The best part is that you will have fun and get what you both love I'm hoping.
Wife loves my Proac D48Rs. Not to tall (49'') or deep and only 8.25 wide.....The BIGGEST factor is they are easy to place. The problem my wife has with most highend speakers is they need to be 3-4ft into the room.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
