Speakers with warm treble and good bass


I've been on the hunt now for a several years, attempting to find speakers that match the criteria of having good bass and soft, warm treble output.  A good liquid midrange with good texture and timbre separation is another top priority.  The speakers I have owned and tried:

Paradigm Studio 60 v3
LSA 1 Standard Edition Monitors
Totem Staff
Golden Ear Triton 3
Vandersteen 2ce Sig ii
Tekton Pendragon
Acoustic Zen Adagio
Spatial Audio Hologram M3 Turbo S

Out of all of those, the most enjoyable due to warmest sound signature was the LSA 1 monitors.  Of course those were the most deficient in bass out of that entire list.  Contrary to that, the Golden Ear Triton 3 had the best bass (obviously, due to the built-in powered subs).  The Adagios had the best detail and least distortion, but were a bit too analytical in the end for my tastes.

So far, surprisingly, the speakers that seem to get the best blend of everything for my tastes have been the Paradigm Studio 60 v3.  These are not "reference level" speakers by any means, but they achieve a nice balance of detail, dynamics, bass, and have a surprisingly good midrange.  Unfortunately, the pesky metal dome tweeter has gotten on my last nerve during many listening sessions.  

I am trying to stay in the price range of the aforementioned speakers.  What suggestions do you all have for speakers that can meet this criteria for a smooth, dynamic, and warm sound?

Thanks
jwglista

Showing 4 responses by jwglista

The rest of my system:

Rogue Audio Chronus Magnum II Integrated Tube Amp
PS Audio DirectStream DAC
Acoustic Zen Satori Speaker Cables

As for the Pendragons, I felt that they had too much of an "up front" sound in the midrange, at least in my listening room.  The cabinets in them resonate quite a lot, and they really load the room with sound.  I think ideally you need a massive room to use them comfortably.  They did have excellent bass and a smooth treble, however.
Monitor Audio may be an option, but I do recall hearing them at an audio show once, and they seemed to be more detail-oriented rather than musical.

I wasn't able to get good bass out of the Vandersteens for some reason.  They also sounded a tad bright to me, contrary to everyone telling me they should sound smooth.  Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

The Aerial Acoustics looks very nice, but looks like they are a bit out of my price range at the moment.

Wow lots of replies here, this is great, thanks all.  Lots to respond to.

One thing that I have seen mentioned a few times is cleaning up my power supply.  This is something I have been considering for a while, although at the moment I'm not sure I can come up with the cash for speakers *and* a good power regenerator.  I am currently using my old trusty PS Audio UPC-200 for basic filtering, which does help, but I would like to end up with a PS Audio P3 or P5.

I am currently auditioning a pair of the Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S.  One of them arrived with a broken woofer, so I'm not sure that I am getting a true representation of their sound.  The replacement is being delivered this Friday, so I should know more in a couple weeks after it breaks in.  My impressions of the M3 Turbo S so far is that they have excellent coherency, soundstage, detail, and bass, but the treble may not be to my tastes either.  They use a compression driver, which from everything I read said it was supposed to sound smooth, but I've been having fatigue issues.  I really do think I need to address the power thing though, as I will never know if these issues are due to the speakers, or just the fact that the speakers are extended enough in the treble to reveal issues with hash and grain.

The Vienna Acoustics have been on my radar for several years, but I never followed through with them.  My concern with those would be the bass.

Electrostats like the Martin Logan may be good, but again, not sure how the bass would be on those unless I moved way up the line or had a very powerful amp, which I currently do not own.  The Summits are way out of my price range I'm afraid.

Dynaudio have always been interesting to me as well.  Not sure if there is a place near me to audition them.  My Rouge integrated can output I believe up to 100 watts if using the KT 120 tubes, not sure if that will suffice.


Alright there is a lot to respond to here.  First, I'll answer some of the questions that have been asked:

--Room Treatments
I am using acoustic panels from ATS Acoustics.  I have a total of 8 of them spread on the walls.  First reflection points have been taken into account.  

--Tubes in my Rouge
I have a range of tubes, but have been mainly using my Mullard new production EL34s for power.  For the input tube, I recently purchased a NOS Mullard CV4003 which is an excellent tube, best one I've found yet.  I've also tried the Brimar 12AU7, and another Mullard NOS 12AU7.  Other power tubes include Gold Lion KT 88 (good bass, good all-rounder tube), Tung Sol Kt 120 (not a fan, a bit too forward and aggressive), TAD KT88 (nothing special), SED Winged-C 6550 

--Soft dome vs. Metal Dome
I would tend to agree that in general, my ears agree more with soft dome tweeters.  However, the only exception to that rule that I have witnessed has been on the Totem speakers I auditioned.  They seemed very analytical to me.  Not bright and harsh like metal domes can tend to be, but it was still an uneasy sound IMO.

--My Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S
I've had the replacement pair for a week now, and have about 100 hours on them.  I am still not enjoying the sound.  They do several things very well, but I still get a certain aggressiveness from them.  It's possible that the high noise floor of the Rouge amp combined with the high sensitivity of the M3s is allowing some electrical noise to be amplified much greater than it would be in less efficient speakers.  Either way, it translates to a sound that my ears simply cannot settle into.  I am not going to start chasing my tail again on the amp search either.  

Next, I compiled a list of most of the speakers mentioned in the thread here.  Some have been omitted due to price, or other factors.  There are so many speakers here to try, but unfortunately the selection I have to listen to here in the Pittsburgh area is fairly limited.  That means it's all about taking the gamble and incurring more loss if things don't work out.  I am checking out my dealer this upcoming Saturday.  He does have Harbeth in stock, which I am curious to hear.  My main concern with those is the bass.  I've heard B&W before, and they weren't really my cup of tea; a bit too analytical.  I've also spent considerable time with a pair of Dali IKON 6.  My ears tend to have issues with ribbon tweeters.  I think it may be electrical noise that is reproduced too well by them.  They were pleasant speakers overall, but IMO leaned towards the analytical side.

--Monitor Audio
--Aerial Acoustics
----10t
--Dynaudio
--Harbeth
--Spendor
----S8e
--Soliloquy
--Vienna Acoustics
--Sonus Faber
----Liuto
--Rega
**--Proac
--PMC
--Alon Lotus SE
--Dali
--Avalon Acoustics Eidolon
--Tannoy
--Acoustic Energy AE109
--B&W
--Thiel