Big Stupid Warm Speakers


I'm getting ready for a speaker change. I've owned B&W 804 matrix speakers for about 12 years now. While I've enjoyed the refinement of them there's always been something missing.

Yes that's right, and that something might be BIG STUPID WOOFERS. Some of my favorite speakers ever were a pair of Infinity's I paid $300 for in 1979. They had 15 inch woofers, tweeters that were harsh and not the greatest, but these things roared like an angry lion even when no music was playing. When it was playing, about anything from Oingo Boingo to Mozart was a visceral experience.

Now with upper end speakers, you don't know there's bass until there's supposed to be, the tweeters are refined and realistic sounding, there's some wonderful imaging etc. But it's somehow too polite - I want to get back some of the warmth from the big woofer days. And no, using a sub isn't the same thing.

I remember being in a high end store about 10 years ago when a Polk Rep was there showing this huge new Polk speaker that was just incredible sounding. Big warm, realistic, detailed -awesome. I asked the store owner when he'd be getting them. He rolled his eyes and said, "Our customers are too discriminating for this type of speaker. The bottom end was way out of control."

So maybe I want out of control instead of polite. Can anyone put me in the direction of some BIG STUPID WARM SPEAKERS that still have some refined and high end attributes? The rest of my system is all Cary HT that retails for around $10K.

Cary Cinema 6 Preamp Processor
Cary Cinema 5 Multichannel amp (200 WPC)
Cary Cinema DVD 6 (incredible with CD's)

Even though the system is HT, the electronics do very well with music. And even the they're Cary components, they're solid state - but easy on the ears. I listen to Classical, Jazz, Electronic, Bluegrass, etc.
Oh yeah, and looking to spend under $3K/pair.

Has anyone else gone through this? Any speaker recommendations? Thanks.
larryb
Maybe the new Cerwin Vega CLSC-215? Dual 15” 3-way tower. They look like they'd be unrefined and out of control, but I've never actually heard them.
A few years ago I sold a off 10-15 year old pair of Cerwin Vega's (AT-10's I believe). I often miss their warm sound and musicality... Particularily with rock music. With 10" woofers they had very good bass. I went with NHT 1.5 (stand-mounted) speakers... I had to add a sub because I just could not live with the dramatic decrease in bass. I am not recommending CV speakers for ya, I don't think they are in the class you are interested in... I'm just relating to the story. I use a Cary 308 for my CD source, their solid state stuff has a great sound!
The Von Schweikert VR2's would also be worth considering. BIG soundstage, and plenty of refinement to do the jazz thing, but will also deliver up Grand Funk in FINE style !
My buddy and I have been talking about just this type of thing for some time....neutrality/accuracy/ tight bass blah blah. A speaker like the VR2 can go a long way to putting the pure pleasure factor back into a system.

Good luck,
Mike
How about some Duntech (Princess?), about 12 feet high and 3 feet wide. Don't try and handle them yourself, they can do a lot of damage! Take-out the units and you have ready-made coffins! Should be quite cheap now too.
Since you liked the earlier model I think you would do well to check out the current Polk Audio Lsi series. I think they would suit your desire for added warmth without sacrificing sound quality. I have heard the bookshelf models (Lsi 7 & 9) and they are excellent. There is a good review of the floorstanding Lsi 25's in the Product Review section which applies to your situation very well in regards to an HT system. I think the reviewer has some interesting comments on which model to choose for fronts. Good luck.