Speaker recommendations?

diofan56 · « **on:** 20 Apr 2008, 01:43 am »

Hi all!

What speakers sound great for Blues, Rock (Beatles to Van Halen), and Old-School Metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, UFO, Black Sabbath, etc.) at higher volume levels? At this point I am not worried about cost or room sizes; I would just like your recommendations.

My background: I have played in a rock band. I have also done the mobile DJ thing. I am used to a wall of sound from those professional PA systems. I like the way the drums thump and the bass rattles the walls.

Do any of you own these speakers you are recommending?

Dave

Rocket · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 02:04 am »

Hi,

Do you live in the US?

If you do my recommendation is to listen to as many hifi systems as you can and judge for yourself. Hifi is very subjective, what one person likes another dislikes, and only you can judge for yourself what you want from your system.

Don't read reviews of equipment either. There are a number of manufacturers here on Audiocircle that have good sounding products.

Best of luck with your search.

Regards

Rod

twitch54 · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 02:19 am »

Given your criteria.................Klipsch, Cerwin Vega, JBL, Radio Shack, etc, etc, etc.........

Like the previous poster said, go out and listen, besides, if you played in a band and you like boom boom, thumpty thump thump..... well you know the drill !

diofan56 · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 03:08 am »

Hiya!

Thanks for the replies!

Cerwin Vega? I remember that company. Are they around any more?

I recently listened to a pair of JBL floorstanding speakers at a Best Buy store. That particular model had 2 8-inch woofers. They were around $500 a pair. I was kind of surprised at how good they sounded. I know they have some higher-priced home speakers that I would like to check out if possible.

Klipsch do not have any guts. They are too bright. I know because I have owned a pair of them.

Right now I have a pair of B&W 602 Series 2 speakers.

Some speakers I would like to audition are: Paradigm, Tyler Acoustics, Definitive Technology, RBH, and Emerald Physics to name a few.

Please keep making recommendations! I do appreciate your time and efforts.

Dave

2gumby2 · « **Reply #4 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 05:22 am »

Check out Pi Speakers at www.pispeakers.com I have a pair of their Two Pi Towers and they sound great with the type of music you referenced. Most highly recommended!

n2djazz · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 06:04 am »

Try to audition some Zu Audio's Definitions.

NewBuyer · « **Reply #6 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 07:26 am »

Are you interested in active (internal line-level crossover and amplification) speakers?

JLM · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 10:30 am »

Klipsch has no guts?? What do you mean? It would help us know if you could provide more detail. Based on what you've told of your priorities (lots of bass, high spls, and wall of sound for rock/blues) Klipsch should be ideal. Klipsch brightness can be tamed with the right amps. The vintage stuff were designed for small tube amps (also explains they're lack of deep bass which would expose any poor damping factors and require much more power).

Paradigm are good value for traditionally retailed stuff (better value than B&W), and stretch from entry level to quite high quality. Paradigm has no real vices, but no real "personality" either. Like B&W, they just sound like "hi-fi" (artificially reproduced sound, not live unamplified music). My vague impression of Cerwin Vega and Def Tech is lower quality versions of Klipsch. RBH looks like a member of the "brute force, more drivers the better" club.

Why not just buy PA speakers? Frankly it seems like you're hunting in the wrong place as what you've described is rather opposite of the design priorities for most high-end, audiophile speakers like Taylor or Emerald Physics, unless you're ready to take the edge off the gritty rock sound.

Another option from around these parts is Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris. High efficiency, well built, solid response down to 40 Hz, and a wall of sound from a $300 15 inch coaxial driver that you can mount in a 24 inch square piece of plywood. They also sell matching woofers for more bass. I've heard them with and without the extra woofers (that were mounted in the ceiling as infinite baffles) and the woofers only helped for extremely deep bass heavy material (could barely be called music).

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #8 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 10:55 am »

Try something that has open baffle bass. nuf' said.

Bob

norton54 · « **Reply #9 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 01:23 pm »

The Definitive Tech speakers will rock good. I've owned several and really like them.

Zheeeem · « **Reply #10 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 04:52 pm »

Quote from: diofan56 on 20 Apr 2008, 01:43 am

I am used to a wall of sound from those professional PA systems. I like the way the drums thump and the bass rattles the walls.

You might consider a pair of magnepan 3.6s (or 20.1s) with a pair of powered VMPS 215 subwoofers (or the VSS or VLA subs, which would be a bit more substantial).

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #11 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 05:30 pm »

Just get a pair of the newly re-released (2003) Altec Voice of the Theater:

http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=105

marvda1 · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 05:37 pm »

i might be a "little" biased but check out usher speakers. aa

diofan56 · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 05:43 pm »

Quote from: JLM on 20 Apr 2008, 10:30 am

Klipsch has no guts?? What do you mean? It would help us know if you could provide more detail. Based on what you've told of your priorities (lots of bass, high spls, and wall of sound for rock/blues) Klipsch should be ideal. Klipsch brightness can be tamed with the right amps. The vintage stuff were designed for small tube amps (also explains they're lack of deep bass which would expose any poor damping factors and require much more power).

Paradigm are good value for traditionally retailed stuff (better value than B&W), and stretch from entry level to quite high quality. Paradigm has no real vices, but no real "personality" either. Like B&W, they just sound like "hi-fi" (artificially reproduced sound, not live unamplified music). My vague impression of Cerwin Vega and Def Tech is lower quality versions of Klipsch. RBH looks like a member of the "brute force, more drivers the better" club.

Why not just buy PA speakers? Frankly it seems like you're hunting in the wrong place as what you've described is rather opposite of the design priorities for most high-end, audiophile speakers like Taylor or Emerald Physics, unless you're ready to take the edge off the gritty rock sound.

Another option from around these parts is Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris. High efficiency, well built, solid response down to 40 Hz, and a wall of sound from a $300 15 inch coaxial driver that you can mount in a 24 inch square piece of plywood. They also sell matching woofers for more bass. I've heard them with and without the extra woofers (that were mounted in the ceiling as infinite baffles) and the woofers only helped for extremely deep bass heavy material (could barely be called music).

==================

Hey there JLM!

How are ya? I mean what I say. I owned a pair of Klipsch KLF 10 (large floorstanders) speakers for a while. To look at the sizes of the drivers in those speakers one would think they would really kick butt. Guess what? They did not. They were very bright and thin sounding. I even turned the bass control on my Adcom all the way up and the treble control down and it still did not make much difference.

I have demoed JBL professional audio speakers at the local Guitar Center. They sounded great in the big room but my front room is about 12 x 16. The guy in the pro audio room said that I would not want those in my house. He tried to steer me towards some small studio monitors. I have considered buying the JBLs to see what they would sound like in my house. GC has a 30-day return policy so I could do that but I really do not like doing business that way.

I think I should clarify something. I am not an audiophile. I cannot afford most of that gear and I have no desire to tweak things every time I turn around. That being said I do like quality gear and sound. That is why I bought the Adcom stuff way back when. That level of gear sounds wonderful and is about as much as I can afford. At this point I need bigger better-sounding speakers than my little B&Ws. I am just trying to figure out what is out there and what will sound good to me.

Yeah, I saw those RBH T2s and thought that they would move some air. They sure look like they would do so. I have some reservations about the aluminum drivers though.

I contacted Emerald Physics and they also have a 30-day trial period. According to them their speakers need to be 3 feet away from walls in order to work properly. My listening room is not very big so I doubt if I will be able to do that as I walk through that area.

At this point I am going to take trips to Minneapolis and maybe Kansas City to visit audio dealers to hear stuff I cannot hear locally (Iowa). Actually hearing speakers will definitely narrow down the list and will help me choose what I want to buy.

Dave

WGH · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Apr 2008, 10:51 pm »

Quote from: diofan56 on 20 Apr 2008, 05:43 pm

I owned a pair of Klipsch KLF 10 (large floorstanders) speakers for a while. To look at the sizes of the drivers in those speakers one would think they would really kick butt. Guess what? They did not. They were very bright and thin sounding. I even turned the bass control on my Adcom all the way up and the treble control down and it still did not make much difference.

You are right about the Klipsch and Adcom pairing. I had a pair of Klipsch Quartet's in my shop for over 10 years, they sounded great and would rock the place with an NAD receiver. After the receiver started acting up, I replaced it with an Adcom GTP-400 and GFA-5400 and WOW did the Klipsch's sound bad. The Adcom equipment stayed and the Klipsch's went on Craigslist.

Adcom stuff can sound very good with the right speakers, now they are happily driving a pair of heavily modified JBL L100's. My shop is where the classic equipment hangs out, the Sony CD player from my neighborhood thrift store feeds a California Audio Labs System 1 DAC made in 1992.

Good luck with your search.

Wayne

Carrickfergus · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 01:21 am »

I have an Adcom 545MKII that I had for probably 7 or 8 years now, and I've yet to have any problems with it. I'm using it with Monitor Audio Silver S6's and the combo is great. I've heard much more expensive systems that don't have the speed, transparency, imaging, and tonality that they do. The Monitors sound way better than you'd expect for a grand. Their only issue is that to get the bass extension they have, the bass isn't quite as tight and fast as the midrange or treble, but properly set up in the right room they can really sing.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 02:34 am »

diofan56...

Quote

At this point I am going to take trips to Minneapolis and maybe Kansas City to visit audio dealers to hear stuff I cannot hear locally (Iowa). Actually hearing speakers will definitely narrow down the list and will help me choose what I want to buy.

Good idea....

SET Man · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 04:14 am »

Quote from: Russell Dawkins on 20 Apr 2008, 05:30 pm

Just get a pair of the newly re-released (2003) Altec Voice of the Theater:

http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=105

Hey!

Oh my!

Congratulation Russell. What are you planning to drive them with? And how do you like the sound? Are they better or the old one or it is the other way around? May I ask how much you actually paid for them?

Sorry for so many questions. I do have fascination with these type of muti-way horned speaker.

Take care,
Buddy

TONEPUB · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 04:32 am »

Those look very cool. Are you buying used ones or are they available new?

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #19 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 06:47 am »

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I said "just get", not "just got"!

Apparently these are still being sold by Altec on a custom made per order basis. It is just one of their current small line of home speakers:
http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_listing&icat_id=16&iparent_id=3
They sell for the seemingly reasonable price of $5800 which includes free shipping to all of North America the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

I am led to believe that with some tweaking these can be made to sound very good, but if I wanted something like this I would personally go for those Jazz Modules of Duke's and be prepared to use twice the power to compensate (94 dB vs 97dB/w/m), plus Duke's go almost an octave lower.

Still, these are righteous speakers with a serious history - sort of the Harley Sportster of speakers.