Always tend to go for something just a little different. Whether it is in the drivers themselves or in the design of the cabinet. My basic premise is that the ordinary everyday type plain box design gives you the sound of music coming from a box and not the music itself appearing in your room. And to some degree also the appearance alone, even with the system silent, I like t be able to see it and have that pride of ownership feeling. |
If it has a box, it fails. The only ones i could ever stand was the Maggies, Apogees, MBL (one exeption), Acoustats or SoundLab. There are some good boxes, but id pic a planar any day of the week.
Just me |
Totally close minded: I own Meadowlark, Thiel and Vandersteen specifically because, after listening to other manufacturer's designs, I am convinced that time and phase coherent designs sound best to my ears. |
For years I mostly purchased electrostatic ribbon or planars but today I DIY Today, likewise. Before, a bit of everything. |
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Rcprince,i heard Analysis,Epsilons and was very impressed!I am searching for a pair of speakers to replace my Paradigm Sudio 100s V2,and am open to any design,as long as it has the sound i want ,and would be compatable with my system and room. |
I'm more open minded about amplifier design than speakers.
My two favorite so far are planars and single drivers.I do like the multi driver boxes for HT though. |
For some reason electrostatic speakers sound better than cones in my room.Everytime I switch to a dynamic speaker,I quickly return to a Stat.It's either my ears or the room is just electrostatic friendly. ( stacked Quad ESL 57, Martin Logan CLS 11Z) |
I get whatever my girlfriend will allow in our room! Typically that's something small, so dynamic drivers only. That being said, if decor wasn't an issue I'd love to try a pair of Maggies. |
Plato your correct, they are the hybrid of types, there is a electronic filter just like subwoofer amps have on the built in amp for the rear fireing yes, and the super tweet does have a very simple protect Capacitor and whatnot, but the full range are full range No filters, your amps are litterally connected direct to the voice coil of the drivers Actully soldered right in, natural and transparent, dynamic and all that, but I was not saying they are the best(well they are from what I hear) but just to prove you definatly have to be open minded and try as many variations as possible, Cliché type audiophile speakers are not necessarily my cup of tea in the end I guess. I like pure simplicity and practicality, Drive deep bass with seperate amps which these do, and Intergrate perfectly, they do not sound like conventional subs do with satelite speakers, and run nothing smaller than 10" drivers throuout, which I strongly believe in as well, okay not the tweeter but you guys get the point. Simple high quality Big sound, covering frequency extremes most speakers cannot touch and they handle the bass without draining your main amps, its really a design that I believe handles key problems many manufactures do not look at, and just add complex crossovers to fix the problem. |
Matrix, those Zu speakers look interesting, but they are not a crossoverless design. The super tweeter appears to cross at 12kHz at 6dB/octave, and there is undoubtedly a crossover to roll the rear subs off above 40Hz, as well. I don't know if the front-mounted drivers have a low-cut filter or not. |
I went from Soft dome, Scan speak, Dynaudio style, to Line array type Ribbon's with several woofers, to Monitor style with seperate subwoofers, Finally found Horn speakers into the mix, and Now went to the most exciting, Zu definitions, with dual 10" full range drivers + super tweeter, crossoverless design, and they have 4 active 10" woofers fireing out the rear.... So I have had most the range of audiophile drive systems available, and each time tried to buy as different as possible to end the quest,,, I have not had Electrostatic however and it may never happen... so Maybe I missed something but thats okay :) |
Rc, we all have our special needs, but I think I may get you to lean to the dark side yet. Hey, have you heard about that new woofer that looks like a heavy-duty table fan from Eminent Technology -- this may be the ticket to the best bass yet!!! I bet you could pressurize your whole house with one or two of those babies.
Johnk, I've tried speakers of all types, but lately I've been coming back to hybrid speakers that have ribbon midrange/tweeter sections and dynamic woofers. I just love the speed, detail, and airy quality of a well-designed ribbon. I like transparent, rock-solid bass too, but it doesn't have to challenge my foundation to be satisfying. Then again, if I could afford to repair my foundation and listening room from structural damage, I just might go in for some decent quality room-quaking subs. :) |
Well, Plato, I'm not averse to a ribbon tweeter (the Analysis Plus speakers I heard at a recent meeting were very interesting), but as you know I do need my dynamics and deep bass response!! |
Thxs for the posts I like to try out whatever I can. I do tend to go with Hieff designs but today they can be most any design.For years I mostly purchased electrostatic ribbon or planars but today I DIY. |
Hey, as long as they're cone-type dynamic speakers, right Rcprince? :) |
Considering I went from Thiels to Duntechs (both first order crossover designs and sealed boxes) to my current speakers, which are as different from those designs and unconventional as they come (four-piece, fourth order crossover to woofers, ported woofer enclosure, upward firing midrange, front and rear tweeters), I guess I'm not wedded to a particular design philosophy. I try go with speakers that make the music come alive full range; I don't care what the designer did to get me to that destination. |
I don't care what the speaker design should be.
My main point is its naturality. |
I've owned AR-2, Advent (large), Bose 901 (series 1),
Ohm F, Apogee Duetta, and Quad 988 so it matters not to me so long as they give me the warm fuzzies.
:-))) |
I go with something different most of the time, A little spice is good.
Dave |
I alwas buy what sounds best, unless it is very very ugly although I would go with more showey designs all being equal. But looks is last on my list. I have Vandersteen 5a I think they are ugly but sound grate frot he price to prove my point. |
I guess I tend to go with the same type of designs. |
