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3way replacement for my 2way

I’m thinking of replacing my Triangle Comete EZ Bookshelf speakers with some 3 way speakers and seriously considering purchasing either 2nd hand or new.

My Triangles are good about 85% of the time, they’re somewhat forward, not very forgiving and lack that warm feeling of a 3 way.

My Triangles currently are on the company’s accompanying stands about 24” from the back wall and about 20” from the side walls and towed in projecting to my couch’s center. My room is 12’x 11’ w/ a 10’ ceiling, in addition the room has a tray in the center giving the center an additional 1’ of height. The floor is carpeted, no furniture other than a couch against one wall facing the equipment and record storage racks on the other wall, one window on the side wall is treated with thick room darkening curtains, basically the room sounds pretty good.  

I’m running a Carver Crimson 275 Amp that’s hooked up to a Parasound ZPre3 Preamp. I mostly listen to vinyl on my Orbit U-Turn TurnTable equipped w/ a Ortofon Super OM20 Cartridge stylus that’s hooked up to an IFi Zen Phono Preamp. 

I get that it’s a “Mid-Fi” set up but it lacks some warmth that I feel is a result of my 2 way’s extreme forward output. 

Like I mentioned prior, my Triangles sound great at times, they just always have that in your face high going on, sometimes more than others. 

I’m looking for 3way speaker recommendations in the $2k - $3k Ballpark that have a nice balance of Highs, Mids & Bass. 

I know there’s some really great speakers out there and not to sound obnoxious, but please don’t recommend some great pair of used speakers that even if I spent six months full time searching the internet I won’t be able to locate. 

Not into Klipsch,No B&W’s or Polks. My music tastes are Blues,Jazz, Big Band, Reggae & Classic Rock if that helps. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts.


128x128flasd
flasd's avatar
flasd OP
89 posts
 
I’ve had the Comete EZ’s for 3 years now, tried every position possible… Just a Very Bright Speaker… Room has good acoustics, I know the room inside out,I’ve done bass crawls, have tried with 3 different AVR receivers (Marantz, Sony ES & Yamaha), & 2 different tube amps, measured levels with my sound meter, etc., and pretty much too forward for my liking.
The speakers are great like I said in my post about 85% of the time…The imagery & sound stage at times can feel like a near religious 3D experience,  but just can’t seem to tame that tweeter, more forward than I like. It’s like there’s no consistency as to when it’s going to be fatiguing or not. 

My only concern at this point is will I miss that forwardness in my new speaker choice? As for now, kinda looking forward to a little warmer of a sound.

Hey if you’re interested, my set is White Gloss in “MINT” Condition with the matching Triangle Stands…have all the original boxes, paperwork, etc., We can talk…
flasd's avatar
flasd OP
89 posts
 
Wow ! Only 3 days into the home trial and so far the Monitor Audio Silver 300’s are checking all the boxes and sounding better each day !  Still in the break in period but these just may be keepers…👍

Really a sensational speaker, my set up never sounded so good, really has become quite a comfortable listening experience. 

This is not a sales pitch, just observations from my listening experience so far and how these speakers have addressed the forward output I was tolerating from my previous speakers.  If you haven’t given these speakers a listen, highly recommend doing so and I certainly can hear why they’ve received the awards and accolades they have.
flasd's avatar
flasd OP
89 posts
 

Monitor Audio Silver 300 Observations so far …

1st let me say I listen to all genres of music but picked out a few of what I felt were very forward sounding recordings from my collection to test the taming ability of these speakers.

1st. Track (Source: Flac Recording)

Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra. I chose this track due to it’s mixture of a strong bass line mixed with the vocal chorales, as well as the hitting of the bell done several times during the track.

The sound was much more relaxed and listenable, heard nuances I never heard before being was now not overwhelmed with treble, one issue I noticed was the bell was not as pronounced as with my Triangles, but the rest of the treble audio spectrum was perfect. It’s crazy how that high frequency is buffered and the rest gets through… Overall the very pleasant listing for a track off the hard drive.

2nd. Warren Zevon’s Live Stand In The Fire - LP.

I received this record just prior to switching out the speakers, played it once and was a total treble mess on the Triangles, unlistenable and figured it’s a sell on my next visit to my local record store. Well the Silver 300’s made it a totally listenable and quite enjoyable listening and wow I could have traded away a great album. Made me wonder, how many other great albums I ridded myself of being I thought they were horrible recordings ?

3rd. Another Treble Mess … Roger Hodgeson’s Solo LP, “Hai Hai”

I’m a Huge Supertramp Fan …

Note: Side one of this LP is great, Side 2, man all I can say is some woman must of ripped this guy’s heart out and just too depressing to listen to more than once, but Side 1 is very Roger Hodgeson if you like that Supertramp sound.

It made this LP magical to listen to actually traded overwhelming treble to depth & warmth…Perfect Highs with no Clipped Distortion or Ear Drilling …. Amazing !

LP’s like my numerous John Mayall stuff, James Cotton LP’s, John Klemmer LP’s, Savoy Brown LP’s, Louis Armstrong LP’s, Glen Miller LP’s, Miles Davis LP’s, Papa John Creach LP’s and the many other albums from my eclectic collection of all genres that I had no issues with prior, all sound Fantasic on the 300’s… Just a very comfortable listen, but I can hear why some very treble hungry listeners may need a more forward speaker. I myself would rather a more consistent listening experience.

I did notice these speakers do not take well to you adjusting the tone control, maybe it’s they’re still in the break in period, but they really like to be left as they are, which is fine with me, but when needed they will accept no more than a nudge, a notch or two on the treble but thats it.

Compared to the Triangles, the sound stage is nice but not as far reaching beyond the outer side of the cabinets. Magical in the center, but not getting as much 3D effect as the Triangles. i do have a small room (11 x 12), so with my seating arrangements, the sweet spot pretty much hits my whole couch.

The Silver 300’s play well with tubes (Carver Crimson 275 Amp w/ Tung Sol KT 120’s) and they really like vinyl & streaming but I wasn’t knocked out with CD playback, possibly my cd player, an old Sony ES 5 disc Carousel, not really what I’d say you’d want judge any speakers by, but to be truthful, if I played a half dozen CD’s in the past year that would be a lot and really see no need to upgrade.

I plan on auditioning other speakers not in my home but at various local hifi stores, but gotta tell ya, these 300’s set the bar pretty high meeting my listening desires and will be hard to beat for the money.


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