Bookshelf spkrs revisited -Spendor/Dynaudio/FA


I have been looking for bookshelf or small floor standers to replace my B&W’s. I am in a difficult space (approx. 12 X13) with the speakers angled out from the corners. I have added more substantial curtains as well as a few acoustical panels (and a great deal of time tweaking). My system does well with female vocals and acoustical, but can be a bit fatiguing with male vocals and alt. Rock. I pretty much have concluded the present speakers are just too big for the room.

My system comprises a Krell HTS 7.1, Cary Cinema 5, Cary 306/200 with XLO sig & ref cables. I would like to get smaller speakers, which still have good lower end (sub only for HT) with a warm midrange and detailed highs w/o being etched or analytical. I rather give up a bit of detail for a warmer presentation.

I am having trouble demoing these speakers locally & doing it as I travel. As a result, I am not hearing the speakers under ideal conditions. I would appreciate your thoughts on being able to place the speakers close to the back/side wall (6” to 10” away), the ability of the speaker to create a big soundstage and the tonal characteristics.

So far, I have listen to the Dynaudio Contours 1.4 (with Adcom amp & preamp & arcam cd92) in a fairly large room. The speakers had a large sound stage with very good bass response. The presentation was forward & not sure if its electronics. When the speakers were placed to the back wall the soundstage was smaller & the speakers were less forward. The upper-end was pretty extended. I wouldn't say bright, but not overly smooth. Not sure what to think of this speaker yet. They offered to setup the speakers in another room to mimic my condition, but not sure the adcom (amp in particularly is a good way to demo these speakers). Are these speakers going to sound close to the B&Ws?)

I also had a chance to listen to the Spendor 5se (dealer had no monitors). I was really impressed with the speakers, but they were aligned with pretty smooth gear, audio research int. amp with cd3. It was a very nice, non-fatiguing presentation. I had a brief listen to it with the same preamp & an esoteric DV-50. The presentation lost some its midrange plushness and the upper-end was a bit grittier. The only down side with the AR set-up was the level of detail I couldn’t hear? Do you need to give up maybe that super-detail for a more polite presentation?) Will these speakers mate well with my electronics?

I am also expecting to home demo the FA fs688. No opinion on them yet, but hopefully they will be some where in between these two. At this point, I thought the Spendors were more livable than the Dynaudio, but I think I think I had a less then ideal set-up. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
macct

Showing 1 response by rar1

If you look at my 2 channel HT system and Bedroom systems, as well as some of my speaker posts, you will see that my speakers require placement near the back wall or inside of bookcases. The quest for getting good sound with these set-ups has taken me to purchase & experiment with a number of different speakers. With these types of set-ups, you should be looking at two types of speakers: acoustic suspension (sealed box) or front ported. Stay away from anything that is rear ported (which will disqualify a good number of speakers), as it will just not work. I will also add that given your set-up constraints, you should not spend a huge amount of cash on your speakers.

With that said, for my bedroom system, I have had excellent results with the NHT SB2 ($400 list) and the Omega Super 3/TS3 ($540) loudspeakers. The NHT's are a smallish, 2 way, sealed box bookshelf model that have a warm, musical presentation to them. They have worked well with all the music types that I listen to (pretty much everything with the exception of dance/electronica and hip hop). They give a respectable amount of bass and have a very listenable mid and upper range sound. The NHT's differ from B&W 's (300 and 600 series) in that the upper ranges are more relaxed sounding, not over emphasized like B&W's or bookshelf Polk's for that matter.

I recently have begun using the Omega Super 3/TS3's. I had these speakers built for me and opted for the Omega Super 3 product in the narrower TS3 cabinet. What excited me about these speakers is that they use one, high efficiency full range Fostex speaker ... no crossover.

.... (Anecdote ... one of the most satisfying small systems that I owned about 15 years ago used the original Bose 101 speakers (a single 4" speaker in a black indoor/outdoor enclosure) paired with a cheap ($130) Technics receiver and cheap a ($130) Pioneer CD player. Talk about a system that you would swear that you could hear inside the speaker and around the music) ....

Back to the Omegas... These speakers are front ported and are designed with both tube and solid state components in mind. These speakers are very musical sounding, without sounding overly lush. Absolutely dead-on with acoustic piano and vocals. Extremely clear sounding. They sound great played low. My wife commented on how good these sound (lite jazz; Norah Jones) and she is normally pretty indifferent to the whole audiophile thing. What could work for you with the Omega loudspeakers is that Omega offers an in-home trial/return policy. I am considering getting the Omega 6 Grande to replace the AR 302's (which I love) in my 2 channel HT set-up.

Lastly, in the interest of saving you some time, the speakers that did not work out in this type of near wall set-up were: B&W 302's; Optimus Pro 5 LX; EPOS 11; Acoustic Research 15; EPOS ESL3; and Wharfedale Diamond 8.1 (came the closest).

Regards, Rich