B&W 703 S2. I’m unable to find anything that sounds better. I have a budget of $15K and have been in-home auditioning speakers for the past 6 months, i.e. Wilson Sabrina, Vandersteen Treo CT, Focal Kanta No. 2, Focal Sopra No. 2, B&W 804D3, Sonus Faber Olympica III, Magico A3, etc. I’m literally trying to give my money away, but nothing sounds better.
Suggestions for Full Range Speakers up to 10K
Hi Everyone,
I am new here and I am working on a home theater/2 channel combined living room setup. My room is shared with a kitchen (island counter separates kitchen from living room). My original plan was to convert my 2 car garage into a home theater as I have a walk in cooler there with 5 beer taps through the wall. My wife is not fond of the garage idea, but I think I could convince her to do a full 2 channel setup out there and leave the HT setup in the living room where it is now. But in the meantime, I'll continue getting the living room dialed in.
My setup is as follows:
Marantz AV7704 pre
Marantz MM8807 amp - currently pushing my center channel, sides and rears. No height speakers at this time.
Peachtree Nova300 - currently doing double duty pushing floor standing fronts using HTB for the HT usage. I understand this is not the highest end, but you have to start somewhere, and it actually sounds pretty nice, even if the buttons are flimsy-ish.
Fronts are ML Motion 40's, center is ML Motion 30, sides and rears are older Aperion bookshelves that I plan to upgrade down the road, but they are sounding ok for these duties for the time being. I like the combination of the 40's with the Nova300, as I run though the DAC into this amp via USB-B in from a Mac with all my FLAC files on it. Sounds decent to my ears and is more than loud enough but I think the mid and low end needs a bit more presence though.
Room is 16' x 24' but opens into a kitchen and has a hallway leading to the back part of the house where bedrooms are. My main wall with my projector screen on it and all my components is about 12 feet wide as I have a desk in the corner and a kitchen counter on the opposite side. Ceilings are beamed, and I have multiple bay windows that are covered with shades. I would say the room is harder than softer with respect to sound reflection versus absorption.
My thinking is to add a full range speaker in the spaces between the center channel and Motion 40's, which is about 22" of space to work with, up to 46" tall (bottom of my screen) and 30" deep. I was originally considering a pair of subs in this space, but having them able to do double duty for music and HT seems more difficult to deal with as most subs have the controls on the back and I don't feel like reaching back there every time I want to go between HT and 2 channel work. And frankly a good set of full range speakers shouldn't need a sub for 2 channel work. I think I will do one big sub later for HT use only, but I'd rather focus on the 2 channel part first. Another option is to replace the Motion 40's with a fuller sounding speaker altogether, but I figured since I have the extra room from the MM8077, I can push the Motion 40's from that amp and move over to a fuller sounding full range for my 2 channel application.
I'd love to hear some expert opinions on what speakers would make sense for my application.
Thanks in advance.
I am new here and I am working on a home theater/2 channel combined living room setup. My room is shared with a kitchen (island counter separates kitchen from living room). My original plan was to convert my 2 car garage into a home theater as I have a walk in cooler there with 5 beer taps through the wall. My wife is not fond of the garage idea, but I think I could convince her to do a full 2 channel setup out there and leave the HT setup in the living room where it is now. But in the meantime, I'll continue getting the living room dialed in.
My setup is as follows:
Marantz AV7704 pre
Marantz MM8807 amp - currently pushing my center channel, sides and rears. No height speakers at this time.
Peachtree Nova300 - currently doing double duty pushing floor standing fronts using HTB for the HT usage. I understand this is not the highest end, but you have to start somewhere, and it actually sounds pretty nice, even if the buttons are flimsy-ish.
Fronts are ML Motion 40's, center is ML Motion 30, sides and rears are older Aperion bookshelves that I plan to upgrade down the road, but they are sounding ok for these duties for the time being. I like the combination of the 40's with the Nova300, as I run though the DAC into this amp via USB-B in from a Mac with all my FLAC files on it. Sounds decent to my ears and is more than loud enough but I think the mid and low end needs a bit more presence though.
Room is 16' x 24' but opens into a kitchen and has a hallway leading to the back part of the house where bedrooms are. My main wall with my projector screen on it and all my components is about 12 feet wide as I have a desk in the corner and a kitchen counter on the opposite side. Ceilings are beamed, and I have multiple bay windows that are covered with shades. I would say the room is harder than softer with respect to sound reflection versus absorption.
My thinking is to add a full range speaker in the spaces between the center channel and Motion 40's, which is about 22" of space to work with, up to 46" tall (bottom of my screen) and 30" deep. I was originally considering a pair of subs in this space, but having them able to do double duty for music and HT seems more difficult to deal with as most subs have the controls on the back and I don't feel like reaching back there every time I want to go between HT and 2 channel work. And frankly a good set of full range speakers shouldn't need a sub for 2 channel work. I think I will do one big sub later for HT use only, but I'd rather focus on the 2 channel part first. Another option is to replace the Motion 40's with a fuller sounding speaker altogether, but I figured since I have the extra room from the MM8077, I can push the Motion 40's from that amp and move over to a fuller sounding full range for my 2 channel application.
I'd love to hear some expert opinions on what speakers would make sense for my application.
Thanks in advance.
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I am not sure of your size Restrictions, but for 3300 dollars ,you can get the upgraded Tekton Double Impact speakers Or for 3k the standard .. In my opinion as well as many others, you cannot beat this speaker unless you go to 10k or more. Excellent for Home Theater and Music .BTW they are 97db efficient. So , they are very easy to drive There is a very in depth thread here on this speaker https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tekton-double-impacts Manufacturer link http://www.tektondesign.com/ |
I have been in the market and am focusing on the 10k as well. I haven’t had much time to audition very many so far due to work and finding dealers with many to offer in that price range. But so far I listened to the Sopra 2’s but only once and when they sold the dealer decided to stock only 1’s and 3’s. I really liked them but at the time I felt they were over my budget, but I may stretch. The others are the Vienna Acoustics Concert Grands and the Aerial 7T’s. Unfortunately the dealer no longer is stocking the 7T’s, and sold the pair he had. But of the two, if someone told me buy today or lose the money, hands down the Aerials would come home. But I really want to hear others before I make the investment. Speakers for me a the toughest component to buy. |
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If I was spendig ~$10K or less on a full range pair, I would listen to: 1. Golden Ear Triton Reference (these have built-in powered woofers) ~$8000/pr 2. Ohm Walsh 5000 Tall ~$6600/pr 3. Ohm Walsh F-5015 (also with built-in powered woofers) ~$11,000/pr And many others of course. But I would include these. |
So I'll summarize what I have learned thus far: B&W 703 S2 - dimensionally a good fit at 40.4" high with plinth. I have a height restriction of 46 inches or so in the current set up. Downside is a minimum of 46 Hz. Would like a full range speaker that gets down to 25 Hz or so. Tekton Double Impact - too tall at 54" Tekton Impact - 46.5" so might just barely squeeze in there Quatro Wood CT - could fit at 43" tall, but mildly ugly to me. Treo CT - also 43", same issue as above Revel - good looking stuff. Need to investigate for sure. Studio2 is sexy as hell and could just fit at 46.3" Magico A3 - looks like a good possibility as the height is perfect. Good low end, and height is right on the money. Also very sexy. Magico stuff is very nice looking, but how does it sound? Focal Sopra 2 - Weird looking, and only goes down to 35 Hz, a touch on the tall side at 46 and 27⁄32 inches. Probably not going to win me over on the looks though. Tannoy Kensington - dig the retro look, and minimum frequency response is tolerable at 29 Hz. Height works for me at 43.3" as well ProAc Response D30R - checks all boxes, sort of boring, but nice looking speaker, would need to hear it before jumping in. ProAc Response D40R - a tad bit too tall at ~47" (1200 mm so 1200/25.4 = 47.2" - looks to be a nice box though. Wilson Sophia 3 - Fits perfectly in the space I have for it. Definitely have to go used to keep it under 10K and I don't think they make this model any longer. MFR of 20 Hz is appealing as I don't want to mess with subs. I do like that WATT/Puppy type look, but I realize that's not for everyone. Unsure if my lowly Nova300 would do a speaker like this justice. Focal Kanta - again weird looks, but less polarizing than the Sopra, height is good but MFR is a tad bit high Magico S1 - prefer the looks of the A3 McIntosh XR100 - too tall Vienna Acoustics Concert Grands - checks all boxes and price is lower than my max by about half, which is nice. But will this speaker rock? Aerial Acoustics Model 7T - checks all the boxes. Sexy looking speaker for sure. KEF Reference 5 - damn good looking speaker in that copper black aluminum finish. Would have to buy used obviously, but doesn't go that low at 40 HZ MFR and is too tall at 53.1". Could consider the 3 as it might be shorter. Had some mild wood forming when I saw the copper black aluminum though. Spendor D7 - plain Jane-ish, but seems to click all the boxes. Could go a bit lower in MFR, but size is on point. Lots of finishes. UK built, which I don't know if that matters much to me. Looks like a solid choice. Triton Reference - way too tall. Buddy of mine got a set recently and I did listen to them at his house. They sound quite nice, but they wouldn't work in my place based on the height alone. They are strangely narrow looking as well. Ohm Walsh - not your every day suggestion, but intriguing. Would like to hear these. |
Each one of us is unique in what we want in sound. When it comes to speakers, you really have to listen to hear what you like. The “look” or aesthetics is your choice.....What we believe a high fidelity system is, whether it is part of an audio/video home theatre experience or so involved as built up from a well designed sound room and with an unlimited budget (think MBL) is really whatever we want it to be. |
https://youtu.be/TXFXBCHnUbg this is a phone recording only, but def dont rule out snell xa90ps or the xa reference, this was recorded with a galaxy s8 |
I agree. I’m not in this for the fashion side, but it is playing a secondary role in terms of considerations. It certainly helps to have something you can live with in terms of looks. I'm pretty sure my wife will not allow me to bring home a set of something really ugly, even if they sounded just exactly perfect. Those Snells sound tight for a shitty youtube video. I’ll check those out. |
irrenarzt, I was the one who suggested you give Revel a listen. I have Performa 208 (non-upgraded) because upgraded ones (228) came out just as I acquired mine. Well, to tell you the truth, it saved me $5000 that I would have spent on something just because it came in different colors and would match the piano. Sound would be better, too, but it would be the color that I would have bought it for. I just wanted to say that you are not alone in giving looks a thought. Happy hunting for your speakers. Let us know what you decide and, hmmmm, why on Earth would you try to judge $10000 speakers based on youtube video? |
There's a nice pair of Joseph Audio RM33LEs for sale on eBay for $5500 that meet your size requirements and go down to 28Hz. This model uses the same tweeter from their flagship Pearl speakers. There's also a pair of Silverline Bolero Supremes for sale here at $7500. Either of these speakers would give you superb sound. Best of luck. |
Wow guys, I’m surprised you are skipping over one of the most important posts on this thread! "Whatever speaker you ultimately decide, make sure you consider the (port) design especially if you can’t push them far into the room. Almost all the speakers mentioned so far need a lot of space both behind and around them to sound good." kalali and +1 don’t join the dark side. So many speakers today are little more than eye candy and only able to play well with a limited number of setups and conditions. |
I agree with the Magico A3 as something you definitely want to listen too. I’m going back in a couple weeks to listen again. Also I know height is an issue but the Legacy Signature is a great sounding speaker but at 47” tall. It’s also not rear ported so much easier to place as well. Great speaker for 7K |
That’s a 54" tall speaker, which won’t work in my setup. I am very curious about the Magico A3. That speaker would fit well in my current alignment. Numbers look great on it, other than the cost (top of my budget, and since it is new, I will not find any for sale used any time soon). I plan on setting up an audition for that in the near future. I have some travel coming up as well, so I’m planning on hitting up some dealers while I’m away to do some listening. I’m surprised the Salk Soundscapes do not get mentioned at all. Looks like a solid lineup. There's a nice looking pair on here for 6K in Dallas, which means I could theoretically go pick them up. |
