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For electronic type music, I think speakers with large woofers and high efficiency is going to get you there. My current favorites of this type of speaker is the Klipsch Forte III but there's several others that are good as well. JTR audio is another good one. So is the new re-launch of the classic JBL L100. These will all give you that direct window into the music. They also have a very exciting, punchy, get up and move type of sound. And the are also not too bad on other types of music either.
I don't personally know much about the Von Schweikert brand but after some quick looking around they have intrigued me. I also found a pair of VR-4 Gen 1 that are located near me and are priced within my budget. Not sure if these will produce the type of sound I am looking for considering they are not the Ultras that you suggested. Any idea if these would be worth looking at?
Hi thanks for the response! The information regarding the active bass drivers was very interesting and not something I knew could make a noticeable sound impact. I will have to look at the Focus series.But I may not have explained myself thoroughly but I am definitely NOT trying to blow my face off with bass I rather am looking for speakers that can reproduce the depth, speed, and detail to electronic music. I am really looking for something that can immerse you in the sound and produces depth from all the layers commonly found in electronic music!Thanks for all the responses this has been quite interesting!
Wow, lots of interesting recommendations around here! Yeah, not the ideal forum to be asking about EDM, but it seems like some common themes are coming up. I'll be building on them with my thoughts. I'm in law school so have music in the background a ton while studying, and try to make time for critical listening a couple hours a week if I can. But I also have been in the hobby for about 20 years and have been around the block a few times with various systems over the years. I do listen to some EDM, in addition to classical, jazz, indie rock/pop, and so forth. So, I have a sense of what you're talking about. EDM can have some nice layers to reproduce, and it's NOT just about bass at all. In fact, I've just been listening to a track by Grimes called Violence that has a ton of reverb and atmospheric effects to her voice that can throw a massive and enveloping soundstage if the system is up to it. But I could also see a bright system ripping my face off trying to reproduce the high frequencies and the sibilance in her voice on this track. So, midrange and high frequency clarity, immediacy, and naturalness are critical to high quality and long-term listening pleasure with EDM just as much as with jazz - perhaps even more so given the potential for harshness in all the electronic effects.Ok, now to my thoughts about system-building with electronic music in mind.I would second those arguing for high efficiency speakers and larger drivers. In particular, I would recommend the Zu Omen Dirty Weekend for a supreme bargain, and would like to highlight how it's distinctive from other speakers like Klipsch and JBL that have been recommended as well. Ok, caveat that these are my speakers, and of course others who have been promoting Klipsch and JBL are doing so because they own those speakers. We all tend to recommend stuff on this forum based on our personal experience - duh. And while that experience is usually based on hard-won and often costly lessons (so you can benefit from our lessons-learned), there's also inherent psychological bias for whatever we own and against what others own and would recommend. I'm no different. I have my reasons backed by science and semi-objective personal listening experience, but I also have my innate biases. So regarding the following, YMMV, and IME, and all that...I have nothing against the Klipsch or JBL or JTR, per se. I have recently heard and enjoyed the Heresy III at a local friend's and a mid-end JBL at the same. Heard a JTR model at RMAF in 2014. Owned both Klipsch La Scala and original Heresy for about five years back in the early 2000's in the early phase of my audio journey. They're all great brands and nice speakers. All are also high efficiency and will have a nice dynamic and fairly immediate sound as a result. However, Zu does all of that without a traditional crossover, which makes it different, and which can be a significant advantage in terms of immediacy of sounds and layering of effects. Those other speakers are high efficiency, and all tend to do a good job of creating a dynamic and engaging sound. However, all have crossovers, and crossovers steal immediacy and detail. If you have a speaker with a lot of crossover for the signal to pass through, you have to go to some pretty extensive and expensive lengths to have really high quality crossover parts if you're going to minimize this problem. This often (usually) means opening up your speakers yourself and either upgrading crossover parts, or installing a completely newly built crossover. Ok, you don't have to go to this length, but in my experience you're not hearing what your speakers are capable of without doing so. With the Zu, you can quiet your mind knowing that you have as direct a connection between the amplifier and the drivers as you're going to get. This gives you immediacy and microdynamic detail without lots of cost. But you'll need to buy the Clarity capacitor upgrade (the single capacitor on the tweeter) - about $100 I think. I'd also strongly recommend the resistor upgrades and the upgraded footers if you're on a hard surface (about $100 total between the two). The Clarity cap will bring refinement and transparency to the high frequencies, and the resistors make the speaker much more linear when powered by a wider range of amplifiers. The upgraded Zu ODW are my speakers, and I'll tell you why they are great for EDM:Upsides:Efficiency - unbridled dynamics!No crossover into the main driver, and only a single capacitor on the tweeter - Immediacy! - sounds jump out when you don't have a crossover to steal energy from the signal, including at low volumesLarger 10inch main driver - can move enough air to fill large spaces (my main listening is in a great room environment, 20ft x 25ft with cathedral ceiling with openings to long hallway and extra rooms - a pretty large volume of space). This space would arguably benefit from one of the Zu models with dual 10" drivers, but the ODW does fine for my needs, and makes them versatile for use in smaller spaces too.Immediacy/dynamics also mean that it's great at low volumes too - I listen a lot while I'm studying late in the evening after the baby and wife have gone to sleep, and they have great articulation and intelligibility no matter what volume you listen to - and the sound quality scales quite linearly with volumeThe immediacy/dynamics also create great intimate connections with the performance in smaller spaces - when I've had the speakers in a small office setup they thrived there too, probably even better than in the large roomEqually at home with rock and electronic music, and are really very good at classical too, as long as you're in the sweet spotOnly about $1200 with all the upgrades mentioned aboveDownsides:The large 10" main driver is used all the way up into the lower treble - which means you won't get an accurate frequency response in the upper frequencies when listening outside a somewhat specific sweet spot. Basically, any critical listening must be heard in a single "sweet spot" seat for accuracy of upper midrange and lower treble frequency response. Outside this spot, you'll get a bit of a "cupped hands" kind of sound to those upper midrange sounds. I don't mind the effect for background music, and I can always go sit in the prime spot for a song if the mood catches me in between reading cases. For EDM, this doesn't matter much at all (to me at least) - just realize you'll get a different sound when sitting in the sweet spot vs. when off-center or walking around or whatever. The immediacy of a crossoverless design means that you'll hear even more of your electronics. It's possible that the quality of your source material (noise from your streaming source, computer, or network) and/or your electronics (DAC, preamp, amp, or receiver) may impart harshness that the Zu will convey to you in all its fatiguing glory. They'll always present an immediate and engaging sound, but may be more fatiguing than desired, depending on electronics.And that's it!!! Ok, for some, the downsides above are deal-breakers. And they'd vastly prefer a speaker like the JBL which has an optimized horn structure and multiple drivers to ensure linear sound response, but do so with sophisticated crossover design, and potentially even outboard digital EQ. Just different philosophies, and I don't think those guys are crazy for their opinions. But I can hear the difference, and prefer the immediacy and versatility of the crossoverless Zu, especially in this price range. And I can live with the downsides.Finally, even if you don't go with the Zu, I would recommend considering a nice efficient, dynamic, and immediate sounding main speaker that goes down reasonably low (ballpark 40hz), like the JTR, Klipsch Forte, or maybe one of those JBL active speakers mentioned. BUT!!, then supplement with a sizeable ported subwoofer or two. Don't expect your main speakers to do EDM justice on their own, and it's not worth the cost of trying to find speakers that do, IMO. Just get a good main speaker that can do the midrange and highs justice in terms of dynamics and immediacy for your needs, then use subs to address your bass needs. Integrating subs to fit with main speakers is not a trivial exercise if done right, but IMO it's the lesser of all evils. I have an old 15 inch powered subwoofer designed by Mark Seaton of Seaton Sound (the MFW15). The amps in the MFW15's were crap, and died early deaths, but Mark Seaton has offered a high quality reliable amp replacement that is tuned to the specific driver and cabinet combination. It's great for filling a larger space. Get one or two subs like this, depending on how much space you need to fill (lots of companies to consider - Rythmik, SVS, Hsu, or used bargains like the MFW15 - but be careful when going used as you might have reliability issues and end up replacing electronics and so forth). Again, I'm very happy with my Zu ODW's and a sizeable sub in order to capably fill a pretty large volume space. For a smaller space, you wouldn't need such a large sub to supplement. In fact, I was pretty satisfied with the bass of the Zu's on their own in the small 11ft x 12ft office environment.Good luck!
