[sresener]

Hey everyone this year I was planning on upgrading my kef r900 mains and I was considering the kef reference 5's, now that I have the evolution amplifiers I have come to the conclusion that the reference 5's would not be a good idea.

Three other speakers that are on my short list are

dynaudio contour 60's, I have reservations that these being 4ohm and 88db sensitivity would possibly not work well. (opinions?)

Focal 1038's these are 8 ohm and 92db sensitivity, I feel these would be a easy for the amplfiers to drive but they may enhance "hiss" during vocal only tracks or silent passages. (any thoughts)

B&W 802 d3, These are considerably more expensive as the others as I can find the above two speakers greatly discounted.

Any input would be gladly appreciated

I have heard all of these speakers and they do all sound different but I enjoyed listening to all three.

[mresseguie]

What's your budget for new mains?

Are there any size constraints for us to take into consideration?

What are your room dimensions?

What genre of music do you listen to, and how loud?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Evolution amps ought to have plenty of drive power for just about any speakers, no?

Michael

[Delta77]

I use Tekton speakers..
Ryan speakers are making waves.
You can go way custom with some Omega speakers. ( talk with Luis )

My suggestion is work with a company that will deal with you directly..  (more for your money) & (Ability to make custom for your system)

[sresener]

I don't really have a budget but I do like the sound of the above speakers, I also don't mind the sonus faber olympica iii, but I listened to the focal's shortly after and liked there bottom end a lot more.

As for music I pretty much listen to everything except classical or choir or opera or whatever its called .

I can find all the speakers besides the b&w for CONSIDERBLY less than 10k Canadian. I will not mention exact prices but they are priced aggressively.

I like to listen to my music around 80 to 90db and my room is on the smaller side at 13x8x18 I have spent considerable time with base traps, diffusion and absorption panels to get it to a point where the 3d soundstage is exceptional bass can shake and hit me hard but not be boomy.

I really need a speaker that can shake and hit me with bass so keep that in mind.


As for the evolutions being enough to drive any speaker. (as many reviews say they can) I actually had the amps kick out on me and I defiantly was not pushing things. Thats why I thought the more efficient focals would be a good match. But the evo's are far from a silent amp so im concerned I may hear more "hiss" with a more efficient speaker.

Im not being negative on the evo's I have had, emotiva, bryston, simaudio, denon, Yamaha, Marantz, nad, onkyo and anthem (im forgetting some) and the mch-k38 was an improvement on them all and the evolutions are better than the mch-k38.

[JackD]

Aren't the Evo's small and lite enough that you can just carry them into the dealers and try them with the speakers you are looking at including the KEF Reference? On the Focal's I would move up the line to the Sopra 2 or 3's.  Also don't overlook the PSB Imagine T-3 or the new Verity Lakme.

[JLM]

Nicely shaped room.  Floor standers can easily overload a room of that size.  Recommend monitors with 3 or 4 subs to minimize bass echo (happens in all rooms) and of course to adjust bass output.  Also suggest you measure the room using REW or Dirac Live with the specified mike.

Careful when comparing speaker efficiency/impedance to capacity of the amp.  From my days when interested in flea amps real world speaker load, based on bass output, impedance friendliness, and crossover efficiency all must be considered.  Plus manufacturers are notorious for over rating speaker efficiency.

In general I recommend shopping for speakers first, then finding a suitable amp, but you seem to be much more of an "amp guy" than I am.  Of course a home audition is a must at this price range.

[rollo]

  Look at Fritz speakers from Calif. Sells direct. Best floor standers I have heard.


charles

[mresseguie]

I would like to combine JLM's suggestion for multiple subwoofers spaced about your room with Charles' (Rollo) suggestion to consider a pair of Fritz speakers - specifically the Carrera Be speakers.

http://www.fritzspeakers.com/CarreraBESpecifications.htm

The multiple subs will supply the thump you want while the Carreras will provide everything else in buckets. I have a pair of Fritz's L/S-5 R monitors and love their sound, imaging, etc. I am considering purchasing a pair of Carrera Be monitors, but first must sell off my 'extra' gear in order to avoid being strangled by my wife.

If the above idea doesn't excite you, contact Rick Craig of Selah Audio, Jim Salk of Salk Sound, or Kerry Armes of CSS-Audio for ideas on which speaker(s) they recommend.

Enjoy your journey.

Michael

[sresener]

Thanks for all the info im looking into all of it.

There are two things I have done since my last post.

1. I was using a simaudio mind2 connected via aes to my evolution dac as my source, I was messing around with roon and decided to reconnect my passively cooled pc. I can tell the files played directly from the ssd were considerably nicer to listen to. Also the mind2 does not have a usb connection and my evolution dac only unfolds mqa via its usb so mqa from tidal via my mind2 is not going to happen.

2. I let the evolution amps run continuously on a burn in track.

Last night I have heard my mains sound better than they ever have. The evolution amps are truly a noticeable step up from my k38 which was a step up from my emotiva's. I think my perfect amp would be a evolution amp with the power of a mcx mono. And be reasonably priced 

As for subwoofers I have done countless rew measurements and have my two sunfire hrs-12s meticulously placed and they seamlessly blend in with my mains, This took me six months to get the room treated to get to this point. I also tried 3 and 4 subs and did not get the desired results I was hoping for.


I guess my next step is get my subs up and running then address my mains. Trying to do this and work and time it when the wife is out is going to make it drag out