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Thinking about replacing my '87 Vandersteen 2Cs at some point. 5.1 system with Vandersteen V2W sub in a 25x23' room with the listening position about 1/2 way back, speakers on the short side. Room is open to another room on one side. It's not a dedicated room, used most of the time for casual HDTV or Blu-ray watching, but I like to crank it when I'm listening to music. Tastes range from classic rock to jazz including multi-channel concerts. Using an Oppo 93 into an Anthem MRX300 into a Parasound HCA-2205A. I'm thinking that since I'm using a sub for the real low end, it may be a better value to go with a stand-mounted monitor vs a floorstander. Less money into cabinetry and more into drivers. Also makes for easier placement. Any opinions and recommendations?Considering Salk (Songtower RT up to Soundscape M7 possibly), Selah Tempestra, Cirrus Vapor, Ascend Sierra Tower with Raal, Phils, but open to other suggestions.
I'd agree with you that if you have a good sub you like, monitors make more sense. But, even a lot of very high quality stand mounters may not get the volume you want, even in a small room. One of the tradeoffs you make with monitors is that you generally give up getting those really loud "realistic" sound levels. You don't seem to listen to orchestral music a lot, so that makes it less important. If you find some monitors you like, I strongly suggest not buying anything that you can't audition in your room, just to make sure they not only sound good, but play loud like you like it.
...as i said before, i would recommend subs, even w/floorstanders...ymmv,doug s.
I am very impressed with the Selah Tempestas I took delivery of about 3 weeks ago. The 45 day return policy makes the purchase low risk, but I don't think you'll need it.Don't let the 85 db efficiency rating scare you off either. This is a very conservative published number -- they seem much easier to drive than some other similarly (at least according to the specs) efficient speakers I've had.I haven't written a review yet but I plan to. The summary is that they're just totally excellent.Customer service was also terrific. Speakers delivered as promised and on time.
At most, I may be able to squeeze one more sub in there, WAF is paramount as this is our main family room. I had my wife look at pictures of several contenders, Philharmonics, Salks, Tempestra, Vapor. She didn't like the look of the Salk ST or the Phils, the Tempestra or Vapor in black might be acceptable. She wants something that will not be very noticable. Leaning towards a stand mounted monitor in a black finish.
For the Tempestas, Rick suggested a stand between 18" - 22", and in particular, he said a very budget friendly stand that he personally uses is the Sanus SF22B, a 22" stand.I was a bit concerned that the Sanus was too small and narrow a stand for the Tempestas, mainly because my cats like to use speakers as an intermediate jump point when they want to get on top of a book shelf I have. I just wasn't convinced that the Sanus would have rock solid stability.I ended up getting a pair of stands from Sound Anchors. I phoned them up and described the speaker, the Sound Anchor guy suggested he build a one off based on the Project 4 stand. He said the Tempesta was large for typical monitors and hence he didn't think the single post home audio stand was a good choice, but the 3 post stand or a 4 post stand would be overkill. He suggested a variation on the studio line Project 4, which has a wide footprint, but he would make it shorter to accommodate the Tempestas.We settled on a 20" stand (splitting the difference between 18" and 22") although if I had to do it over again, because of the length of the spikes and the height of the Herbie's gliders, it turns out that 18" or 19" would have been more appropriate to get the tweeter to ear level. Right now, it is just slightly above ear level. Having said all of that, precise stand height probably isn't all that critical given that Selah recommends a pretty broad range, from 18" - 22".The cats have jumped on the Tempastas a few times now and nothing looks at all precarious so I'm pretty happy with the stability of the Sound Anchors. In the past, I've also used Skylan stands, which I think are more handsome than the Sound Anchors. Both Sound Anchor and Skylan are good choices, but the Sanus is about half the cost.
