Looking for speaker recommendations

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by greglepore

The Polk ribbons are interesting speakers with issues.
My mains are Ohm 4's.
Any of the above are good. I'd also suggest you check out some Vandersteins.

Had some Ohm small bookshelf spearkers in a dorm room....could not compete in "stereo warfare"... but they tried

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by KC911

Had some Ohm small bookshelf spearkers in a dorm room....could not compete in "stereo warfare"... but they tried

If they were the traditional Ohm box speakers, different animal. You owe it to yourself to check out a pair of Ohm 2's, they're cheap now. They have a true omni soundstage without the narrow listening position of most planar type speakers. Its amazing how 3d they are from anywhere in the room. The tweeters aren't the most revealing but the soundstage makes up.

Oh yeah, if you really want to blow your mind, pick up a pair of Koss esp9 electrostatic headphones on ebay. They're clunky and most need a minor diy cleaning but wow-they were the phones used by Alan Parsons to mix Dark Side. So revealing that on some sources I can hear the room ventilation.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

What were some great speakers back in the day? That would still be good today.

https://www.avrev.com/home-theater-av-receivers/av-receivers/b-k-avr307-receiver.html

Conclusion

I find it difficult to find fault with the AVR307. It offers one of the most flexible architectures that I’ve had the pleasure to manipulate. It encompasses nearly all of the latest formats, like all of the Dolby Digital and DTS surround modes, plus decoding for a single matrixed back surround channel, which you can play through either one or two speakers, and the AVR gives you the flexibility of deciding how many speakers you want to use for each source, along with presets for each of those sources, such as volume, EQ settings, and much more. And don’t forget about DVD-Audio
.
The room equalization alone is an incredible tool to truly flatten your room response and curb those nasty room modes. The remote is easy to use and its functions are intuitive and powerful. With its audiophile design approach, the AVR307 endears itself to me in its simple yet powerful performance for music and movie playback with its solid 150 per channel amplifier section. If you are as particular about your sound as I am, you will appreciate the high power and performance levels, the versatility with just about any setup imaginable, and the build quality provided by B&K.

Leaving the room equalization aside, half of the sound you hear is reflected, meaning the size of the room, the shape of the room, and the listening position are all important factors.

I you are looking for ambiance background music while you move about or a near-field listening position (small room) or even traditional equilateral triangle sweet-spot listening position.............all these factor into your choice.

If you are a smoker or have problems with dust and cannot avoid direct sunlight on the speakers then avoid most flat panel speakers with Mylar.

Some speakers are known for their Rock & Roll power and sound level capabilities, and may be the same speakers chosen for home theater applications where nuance and subtle transparency and sense of air or original recording space are secondary concerns.

To recap the selection criteria....................

1. Size and shape of room

2. Listening habits.

3. Types of music or H/T

For me I listen to all types of music and have been happy with my hybrid electrostatic Martin Logan - Aerius speakers for over 20 years.

A good friend had the DCM - Time Windows mentioned earlier in the thread, and they are a fantastic choice. The depth of stage can only be equaled with dipole/bipole and panel speakers.

For high on the wall whole room speakers I have Beovox RL units, also over 20 years old and holding up well.

[jwasbury]

See anything you like here home

No affiliation with this place but they seem to have cool stuff. I haven't made time to visit them yet, but one of these days I drop in.

[1990C4S]

I think I have Ian's email info.

PM me if you want it.

[aschen]

You have TONs of good choices and it may come to preference and what you can find for a good deal wherever you are looking. Budget & size consideration?

I think period correct typical speakers that may be paired with would be something like Klipsch KG series or chorus/forte/heresy models. The upper end polks and dahlquist from the era would be likely candidates as well.

In the late 90s I bought some dynaudio contours which I still have and they still sound fantastic. Anything from dynaudio would be a good choice. Early B&W matrix series, PSB stratus series, or thiels are great as well. all of these can be had in the $700-1500 range. Magnepans and martin logans can be had very reasonably if you are in to planar dipole (not for me)

One thing that has happened in the last several years is that many entry level speakers are truly high performance these days. Brands like Elac, Revel, mid level JBL, and entry level Dynaudio, etc make truly great speakers in the 500-1000 range. Cheaper slightly used. Speakers were much more hit or miss in the pre computer modeling and cheap measurements age.

[KFC911]

My Polk SDAs retailed mebbe 3k back in the day....
Interconnect included, and the Tara labs bi-wire cables seen above.

Don't have a pic...5'...180lbs

I just don't like x.1....when I had these monsters in that mode (never )....meh....with 4k+ watts of amps...

$1200 .

No shipping....

[aschen]

I've been playing with a sub-woofer lately and I like the results for most music. Ill probably eventually add another. My main speakers -3dB point is 27 Hz, they can play loud enough to seriously damage anyone hearing, but the sub can loosen screws on wall plates in the opposite corner of the house. Integration effort is key with subs. Its loafing around with all sane music except EDM

[kach22i]

Subwoofers can be like oil additives.

I have one, but it's turned down to about as low as you can go.

I've never heard a Polk that didn't sound like flat cardboard to me.

Some brands have a house sound that you either like or do not like.

At least in the old days they did.

[Ayles]

For a vintage type speaker I don’t think you can go wrong with something like the Klipsch KG4. They can be had for $300 or so a pair and both the tweeters and crossovers can be upgraded inexpensively.

[aschen]

agree that KG series klipsch is a great option and easy to find for a few hundred dollars. Fortes and Chorus are similar if you like your neighbors to hear your music too.


Definitely wont be using all the wattage of that AVR with any of these though

[Bill Verburg]

Not for sale but I also have a set of older Polk SDA speakers, frequency response is almost totally flat from 20 to 20k, You'd be hard pressed to find a better sounding speaker. They can also take a lot of power, but run fine on a 100 watts/side too, back in the day I ran them biamped w/ 2 1000 watt/channel amps.

Another great choice is JBL 100(aka Studio Monitors), they do color the music a bit but most find it a great sound, They can't take huge amounts of power but can be played quite loud w/ even a modest amp because of their efficiency.

[KFC911]

^^^^ Bill...I'm keeping the 2.3s above and the pair I've had the longest....30 yrs . To each their own ears....mine have dropped jaws for a long time...audiophiles and musicians alike....I love them...that's all that matters....

A Carver 4.0t I thought needed help....doesn't

425 watts each channel ....if the LEDs on the amp even move....it's LOUD. But all those watts spread across that many powered speakers are really needed to due them justice....100w won't...can't

Doesn't matter...it's personal....I don't like subs and Maggies....so there

[KFC911]

I need a good ol' 2-ch pre-amp ....for now .

Old school...Carver/Sunfire....me like, any good one....

I wish I hadn't "given" some stuff away over the years....now .

Anybody got sumthin'?

Thread hijack over

[Rusty Heap]

careful with Vintage Speakers, as the Surround Foam of the drivers most likely is uber brittle and/or cracked.


The key thing with speakers, it's all personal. sound / tone.


one thing people often overlook is the Efficiency of the speaker.

85 dB at 1 watt at 1 meter. not efficient.

Some Klipsch speakers used to be like 100 or 105 dB 1 watt/1 meter



grins. When people brag about how their speakers can handle 1200 watts of power, and I've done this.......ask them if you can plug their speaker into the 120 VAC wall socket.


WHAT? they'll scream!!!


I shrug.... Well, that's a perfect 60 hertz sine wave generator. 120 VAC .



try it.

that's only 10 amps for 1200 watts......... Yes I've let smoke out of wires before.

[KFC911]

No need to worry about foam on Polks. Rusty....I wuz gonna send that 4.0t in for "service"... but it's OK as of Sunday...if I knew where I could source another one....BOTH could be done....then bi-amped, bridged mono ....ya know?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

....
I shrug.... Well, that's a perfect 60 hertz sine wave generator. .

Sine wave generator....how we controlled the clock/speed over copper network lines....back in the r&d labs @ IBM

T-rex

[aschen]

Power handling specification is mostly meaningless, particularly when there is no standardization in how its reported. Most of y'all listen at less than 5 Wrms 95% of the time, substantially less if the speakers are particularly sensitive/efficient.

People plug giant car subs into AC mains as a torture test. I have my doubts that nearly any home speaker would survive very long unless there is an impedance peak near 60hz.

This is a giant dual voice coil car sub taking the AC treatment. Very low impedance driver so huge current/power.
https://youtu.be/Fs98965IAiE?t=71

[Bob Kontak]

I have a set of Bose 901's, Series 1 with the control box. Not fancy wood. No stands. Some damage on one corner but speakers/face cloth fine. Kind of like a burlap.

The surround on the speakers is cloth. I think they changed that on later series.

I would change out the electrical components in the control box. The sell refresh kits for them. It works but has to be getting tired (I think?)

Fo' free plus shipping. I see sets with spiffy wood bringing a few hundred dollars.

If remotely interested, I can send pics.

Critics beat them up and others love them. They are definitely nostalgic.

Wait for javadog's input before deciding.

[javadog]

No comment...

No stands, no problem. Hang ‘em from the ceiling like my brother did...