Am I the only one who wants floorstanders?

JackStraw · « **on:** 18 Mar 2005, 03:21 pm »

I'm using a pair of Emerald onwalls as L/R and a Protege center. I just got a pair of custom RAD Micro onwalls that I'll eventually install as rears, and custom RAD Tumult sub. I'm running it with a Sony AVD-C70ES in ~50/50 HT/music usage.

The sound is very good, but I'm itching to upgrade my L/R to something that will sit out in the room a bit. Naturally, I'm looking at ACI options, especially the Protege V as I've read the rants here about the benefits of having a uniform L/C/R speaker set. The trouble is that I'm having a difficult time getting excited about standmount speakers -- aesthetically it just doesn't do it for me, especially when the speakers are in that mid-size tier (call it 21-32").

So, I've been exploring floorstanding options (i.e., the Odyssey Nightingale and Meadowlark Kestral2). I have considered just trying it to see how the match will work out, knowing that I could sell my Protege down the line and get the matching center for my mains.

I guess this decision boils down to the criticality of the L/C/R match, and the decision to choose the center to match the mains or the mains to match the center. Or, for that matter there is the option to just go for it and not worry about it. Advice on this from the AC brain trust would be much appreciated.

But, through all of this, I'm left wondering why ACI doesn't have an affordable floorstander designed to blend well with their other speaker models. I know, they have a lot of models already, but there must be others out there who would prefer floorstanders over the 21-32" tall standmount speakers that ACI has been introducing lately. I'm sure that Mike has optimized his designs for size/sound/cost, but if you have to add stands to the cost of every speaker then that optimization goes straight out the window. I'll concede that monitors like the Sapphire XL have their place, but it seems like ACI is ignoring a pretty significant chunk of the market.

Thoughts?

thedeskE · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Mar 2005, 09:03 pm »

Perhaps `affordable floorstander' is an OXYMORON at ACI

Not to say they didn't have a beautiful FS available. Affordable in terms of what it was.

http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/talisman/talisman.htm

E

BradJudy · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Mar 2005, 09:28 pm »

What about the Essence? http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/essencev/essencev.htm

Mike Dzurko · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Mar 2005, 03:20 pm »

Quote from: BradJudy

What about the Essence? http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/essencev/essencev.htm

Brad:

The Essence is actually a LARGE standmount

BradJudy · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Mar 2005, 03:39 pm »

Quote from: Mike Dzurko

Quote from: BradJudy
What about the Essence? http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/essencev/essencev.htm

Brad:

The Essence is actually a LARGE standmount

Interesting - I'm guessing about a 10" stand (I don't see any short stands in the accessories area of the ACI site)? If so, it does boggle my mind a bit that you didn't just make the cabinet taller. I'm sure you had your reasons.

JackStraw · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Mar 2005, 04:25 pm »

Quote from: Mike Dzurko

Quote from: BradJudy
What about the Essence? http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/essencev/essencev.htm

Brad:

The Essence is actually a LARGE standmount

And, how would the Essence / Protege match work out? Of course you'd rather have all Essence across the front, but if you already had a Protege Center and wanted to stick with that for size constraints, would you pick the ProtegeV or EssenceV for mains, MikeD?

Mike Dzurko · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Mar 2005, 05:16 pm »

Quote from: BradJudy

Quote from: Mike Dzurko
Quote from: BradJudy
What about the Essence? http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/essencev/essencev.htm

Brad:

The Essence is actually a LARGE standmount

Interesting - I'm guessing about a 10" stand (I don't see any short stands in the accessories area of the ACI site)? If so, it does boggle my mind a bit that you didn't just make the cabinet taller. I'm sure you had your reasons.

The Essence series is designed to be used with subwoofers. A lot of the Essence models end up mounted near a wall, or in custom cabinets (the custom version). For all the ways we figured people would place it, we wanted to minimize the vertical dimension.

Mike Dzurko · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Mar 2005, 05:17 pm »

Quote from: JackStraw

Quote from: Mike Dzurko
Quote from: BradJudy
What about the Essence? http://www.audioc.com/speakers1/essencev/essencev.htm

Brad:

The Essence is actually a LARGE standmount

And, how would the Essence / Protege match work out? Of course you'd rather have all Essence across the front, but if you already had a Protege Center and wanted to stick with that for size constraints, would you pick the ProtegeV or EssenceV for mains, MikeD?

You definitely want to go either all Essence across the front of all Protege across the front. Perfect match either way

JackStraw · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Mar 2005, 05:37 pm »

Quote from: Mike Dzurko

You definitely want to go either all Essence across the front of all Protege across the front. Perfect match either way

Mike, don't you know that you're supposed to make up a reason why your more expensive speakers are a better choice. C'mon, man!

Mike Dzurko · « **Reply #9 on:** 22 Mar 2005, 12:31 pm »

Quote from: JackStraw

Quote from: Mike Dzurko
You definitely want to go either all Essence across the front of all Protege across the front. Perfect match either way

Mike, don't you know that you're supposed to make up a reason why your more expensive speakers are a better choice. C'mon, man!

Well lthe Essence series is really for those for whom space and money are not issues . . . To put it into perspective, locally we've down a number of dedicated HTs. The Essence series are in dedicated HTs that totaled out in the $60-$150K range. The Protege is really just scaled down a bit. Locally those dedicated HTs ran in the $15K - 30 K range. More than enough output and SQ for most of us.

Brenda@ACI · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 Mar 2005, 06:21 pm »

My vote is with Jack. I'd like to see an affordable floorstanding model in the ACI line-up. Have already shared the same thoughts with Mike.

I often get requests from customers wishing they could still purchase the Opal Towers...

Eric · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 Mar 2005, 08:11 pm »

The Opals were a great speaker. The great thing about the ACI line is that even the stand mounted speakers sound great. Especially when used with ACI subs which integrate seamlessly

budyog · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Mar 2005, 01:43 am »

I use to be a floorstander kinda guy, but why! When you can have the Panorama and Maestro. Buy for sound NOT looks!!!!!!!!! You can make them stand out in the room as far as you want.

stevekim · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Mar 2005, 08:58 pm »

I'm with budyog on this one. Up until now, I've owned florstanders exclusively. The Panoramas by themselves delivered a more full sound than my previous Paradigm Studio 100 v2's. Addition of the Maestro put the system into another league entirely!

I've always felt that speakers with fewer drivers tend to sound more coeherent and usually image better as well, The Panoramas are no exception in this!

Of course, if the ACI team were to ever come out with a powered speaker that just happened to incorporate something like an AWS and had a floorstander footprint, I'd HAVE to give it a try!

Eric · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 Mar 2005, 09:02 pm »

The Jaguar / LFM nearly fits that bill. It is wonderful

Harry P · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Mar 2005, 02:42 pm »

Or the beautiful Talisman