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Speaker upgrade help?

Mostly use the stereo for learning songs. (I'm a bass player and saxophonist) Presently use B&W 685 with B&W 650 sub. Decent front end: Oppo, Arcam, Dynaco. Room 8X14X24'
This system hangs a clean, deep image up to a point. But being a lifelong musician I occasionally indulge in loud sessions and it doesn't sound like clipping when the image starts to flatten out and get abusive. My guess is I'm starting to overload the 685's?!? (No I don't keep listening @ these abusive levels.) After about a year and a half the 685's are starting to seem zippy or bright and I have experimented with dangling paper napkins (1 ply) in front of the 685 tweeters. The napkin mod reminds me more of the good old days with Doubled Advents. Ah youth...

Considering B&W 803's(used), NHT Classic 4's, NHT xD 2.2 or Definitive Technology Mythos ST. All available $3K or less. Would love to get rid of sub for room clutter. But the NHT xD promises so much? Any thoughts? I can demo the 803's but odds are I won't be able to demo the others.
markws
daverz
487 posts
 
Can you describe your listening room? Could it be that reflections from the walls are hardening the sound?

I don't know what Marakanetz means about NHT's "complete decline from real music". My Xds sound great with careful placement, but I listen mostly to classical music. Their midrange is very pure sounding. Their treble is never offensive, though it can be a little dull if the room is overdamped. With only one subwoofer, the bass goes down to at least 30 Hz even in my cavern-like room, so I imagine the dual subwoofer system that NHT is now selling should have very impressive in-room bass performance.
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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
Try Tannoy DMT 15's. 15" bass driver, horn tweet/upper midrange, efficient and should present a fairly easy load on your amp(s).

Best of luck,
Dan
markws OP
10 posts
 
Thanks for your suggestions. I love our old PSB Alphas(c.1992) Tannoys big$ but I enjoyed 12" monitors years ago in a studio. Sonus Faber or Totem I have never heard or even seen in person. Thiels I've heard would require a sub and were very bright. Interesting no Def Tech fans stepped up to the plate yet...

803's are only going to get cheaper. Also could someone describe the B&W "house sound" for me?
elevick
2,636 posts
 
What amp are you using? I'd avoid upgrading speakers if your amp is clipping. 1 watt of distortion can ruin $5000 speakers while 200 watts of clean power won't hurt even modest speakers. I'd bet that you could get a whole new life out of the speakers with double or triple the power and a much warmer and cleaner amp.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
I occasionally indulge in loud sessions and it doesn't sound like clipping when the image starts to flatten out

This a common complaint with nearly all speakers targetted at consumers.You might research speakers with pro type drivers such as some Dynaudios - the Tannoys already mentioned,JBL, Meyer and others.

The problem with cheap drivers with small voice coils and long coil in small magnet gap is that with increasing SPL they rapidly lose linearity and compress. This is due to cheap design and the voice coil getting extremely hot. Consumer designs are as good at lower levels but can't respond dynamically when driven really hard - flat or dull is exactly how they sound.
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