[twitch54]

Thank you gents for the many interesting options !

[dB Cooper]

Now I am really interested. Thanks, dB Cooper!

Glad to help. It would be interesting to hear your impressions if you give in. Reading the review carefully makes me wonder if they might be a little particular in terms of listening location/toe-in but my Allisons forever spoiled me in that regard. Certainly looks like a good value. Coaxials have always been interesting to me.

Twitch, let us know what you decide. Always good to learn of worthwhile offerings at the 'C&C' end of the market. That segment needs to be active for the audio market as a whole to thrive. Has anybody brought up the Andrew Jones-designed Elacs which seem to be making a good name for themselves? There are several options at or below your stated budget.

[Russell Dawkins]

Reading the review carefully makes me wonder if they might be a little particular in terms of listening location/toe-in but my Allisons forever spoiled me in that regard. Certainly looks like a good value. Coaxials have always been interesting to me.

And they are interesting to me, too. I have owned Tannoy Ardens and apart from minor flaws, like a slightly ragged top end (they were mid 70s vintage and drivers have improved since then), they had huge assets, like imaging of large-scale sources, like grand pianos and orchestras. Another Tannoy that caught my ear was one of the System 600 studio monitor series—again with the pole piece forming the throat. To my ears this is superior to the easier-to-manufacture tiny tweeter on the end of the pole piece with the cone forming more of a shallow waveguide than a horn mouth. The Tannoys and this Hsu are using the tweeter dome more like a compression driver which spells serious gains in efficiency.

Too bad audioholics didn't get their frequency response curve from the designed reference angle of 15º off axis. Mr Hsu mentions that they were designed this way so they would sound correct when crossing the axes about a foot in front of your head for the usual reasons. I can't give a link to the reference, though.

Another off the wall coax that sounded amazing (and that I owned) was the Presonus Sceptre S8 designed by David Gunness of FUlcrum Acoustics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9cUeauCH4A  I never heard the S6, but word is it's at least as good. Possibly the most precise imaging I've ever heard, even way off axis. Listening to an orchestral recording I had done where the 6 spot mics represented perhaps 5% of the total sound it was painfully obvious that the spots were mono, not stereo pairs. Their mono-ness was immediately apparent. I have never heard that so clearly before or since. DSP accomplished with the use of FIR filters is essential for this design. The S6 and S8 never took off for Presonus, and they were available for very cheap about a year after introduction. Hidden gems.

[JLM]

This is an interesting coaxial design and right in your price range:

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/ccb-8.html

A friend and audiophile, who has a terrific knack for finding low cost audio gems and is a Hsu fan, turned me onto these.  Haven't heard them and don't need more speakers, but if he says they're promising - count on it!  But don't know if I could live with those big yellow "eyes" staring at me.   

[maty]

There is black option too.

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/ccb-8.html




https://www.audioholics.com/bookshelf-speaker-reviews/ccb-8-bookshelf

Resized and optimized



Minimum: $ 369 x2

Complex crossover with a lot of cheap components -> much money to invest vs speakers price if someone wants an audiophile upgrade 

[twitch54]

Twitch, let us know what you decide.

The decision will be that of my sister and brother in-law, it's their kit, I'm merely helping out with some research for them. They have an inexpensive Elac set up in their family room HT configuration and are quite happy with it, they might just decide to go up the food chain a bit with Elac

[maty]

2-ways with front bass-reflex

ELAC Debut B6.2

https://www.pressreader.com/australia/australian-hifi/20190301/283356178455276

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=138550.msg1770963#msg1770963


Coaxial with rear bass-reflex

KEF Q150

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=161371.0

[twitch54]

Thanks maty for the update .........

thoughts .......are the Kef Q350 worth the price over the 150's ?

                      how about the Elac Uni-Fi BS U5 ?

                      any love for the Klipsch RP-600M or B & W 606 ?

[Sparky14]

Thanks maty for the update .........

thoughts .......are the Kef Q350 worth the price over the 150's

With the Q150s on sale for $299 for a few more days, I'd say no for a few more days.

[fredgarvin]

And they are interesting to me, too. I have owned Tannoy Ardens and apart from minor flaws, like a slightly ragged top end (they were mid 70s vintage and drivers have improved since then), they had huge assets, like imaging of large-scale sources, like grand pianos and orchestras. Another Tannoy that caught my ear was one of the System 600 studio monitor series—again with the pole piece forming the throat. To my ears this is superior to the easier-to-manufacture tiny tweeter on the end of the pole piece with the cone forming more of a shallow waveguide than a horn mouth. The Tannoys and this Hsu are using the tweeter dome more like a compression driver which spells serious gains in efficiency.

Too bad audioholics didn't get their frequency response curve from the designed reference angle of 15º off axis. Mr Hsu mentions that they were designed this way so they would sound correct when crossing the axes about a foot in front of your head for the usual reasons. I can't give a link to the reference, though.

Another off the wall coax that sounded amazing (and that I owned) was the Presonus Sceptre S8 designed by David Gunness of FUlcrum Acoustics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9cUeauCH4A  I never heard the S6, but word is it's at least as good. Possibly the most precise imaging I've ever heard, even way off axis. Listening to an orchestral recording I had done where the 6 spot mics represented perhaps 5% of the total sound it was painfully obvious that the spots were mono, not stereo pairs. Their mono-ness was immediately apparent. I have never heard that so clearly before or since. DSP accomplished with the use of FIR filters is essential for this design. The S6 and S8 never took off for Presonus, and they were available for very cheap about a year after introduction. Hidden gems.

Thanks for that video, I am a big advocate for compression drivers. The HSU's have had my interest hooked for awhile but I've never run across a pair for resale. I would love to hear them. I know they made a big splash at the shows they were introduced in.

[maty]

Thanks maty for the update .........

thoughts .......are the Kef Q350 worth the price over the 150's ?

                      how about the Elac Uni-Fi BS U5 ?

                      any love for the Klipsch RP-600M or B & W 606 ?

Only the KEf 5.25" coaxials have the magic. KEF Q300 and probably Q350, both with 6.5" coaxial, sound like traditional 2-ways.

Forgive the ELAC Uni-Fi U5.

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1802:nrc-measurements-elac-unifi-slim-fsu5-loudspeakers&catid=77:loudspeaker-measurements&Itemid=153



http://noaudiophile.com/ELAC_UB5/

http://noaudiophile.com/ELAC_UB5_Listening_Impressions/

...The ELAC UB5 speakers are technical marvels, that Jones and the team at ELAC should be proud of, but will perform well as long as you don't turn them up too much

About Klipsch RP-600M, maybe with D. Richie improvements: https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=166535.0

[maty]

B&W 606

https://www.avhub.com.au/product-reviews/hi-fi/bw-606-loudspeakers-review-test-517755

[maty]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/video-speaker-measurements-by-danny-richie.8840/

[Russell Dawkins]

B&W 606

https://www.avhub.com.au/product-reviews/hi-fi/bw-606-loudspeakers-review-test-517755

Arrrgh!  Thanks for this link, maty. 

[dflee]

Stretch the budget $300 and look at the Golden Ear Triton Two that just
came up for sale here.

Don

[Amirghaly]

Well I just ordered my Triangle Titus EZ, I'll let you know my opinion once it arrives

[ServerAdmin]

$1000 for speakers is outside the Cheap & Cheerful Guidelines, so moving this to Enclosures.