Full range tower speakers with bass under $10k


Hello all,I am searching for full range towers with great bass for under $10k.  I do have a sub (JL E series), but seems that when I hook up my Revel F36s directly to my integrated amp, it sounds better directly than going through the sub, sub's crossover, back to the speakers.  I am guessing that the sub's crossover is the factor that degrades the sound quality.Ultimately, I decided to explore full range speakers in order to eliminate the subwoofer.Triton Reference has great specs, but they are too tall and unattractive for me.PSB T3 looks great with frequency going down to 24hz.Revel 229Be looks really nice.Any suggestions would be appreciated.
skimrn

Showing 1 response by drcjj

For my far less than $10K... I purchased some Sonus Faber Olymica ll"s here on AG and added an ancient M&K 125 powered sub crossed over at 35hz driven by speaker level inputs off my ARC power amp. This gives an extremely coherent sound stage and deep controlled bass when its actually on the source recording... Not added as a by product or an overly emphasized thickening agent.  Most people who have a new subwoofer want to "hear it working" at least at first, and then over a period of time, dial it in to be as transparent and coherent with their room and overall system as possible so as avoid listening fatigue.

Pay detailed attention to placement of speakers and subs too.. Acoustics play a huge role in your listening experience and fantastic speakers/subs can be awesome or terrible by way of room placement.

When I was in the high end audio business years ago I often had to make some home visits to assist in clients getting the best out of their gear. Many of the better dealers want you to be 100% satisfied with your system, they love it when you love it!  They want you to be an enthusiastic hobbyist, maybe even drag your friend in! So be sure to ask for on-site help from a pro for trouble shooting if your are not happy with your sound.  AG can, of course, be a great information source however... Your room, gear and ears are uniquely YOURS!

It appears from my understanding of this discussion that you are not driving your subs with the proper outputs... This makes a HUGE difference and you are correct in that an electronic crossover in the signal path can have substantial negative sonic artifacts and for that reason many subs are driven by speaker outputs off the power amp at the end of the output chain rather than earlier.  

Some pre amps are not designed to drive lower impedance loads... ARC pre amps need to have a 20K ohm load or more to work properly and I am sure others have their own design limits.  Driving a sub with the speaker output method also tends to reduce cable sonic artifacts although not entirely.  Good quality speaker cables can still play a role... 

As the resolving powers of many high end audio systems can be revealing of every component, interconnect, AC power, fuses etc... It  gets to be a matter of can you hear music the way you want to hear it? Does the equipment fit well into your space? Thats why auditioning equipment is so educational in this hobby... To many, the cosmetic appearance of gear, especially speakers can also play a big role in choices.  

I love the sound of many B&W speakers, way ahead in sound for their day and even visited their main factory in Brighton England with John Bowers himself... I loved his wit and I quote... "We do our best to make our speakers idiot proof, the problem we find is that idiots are so F---ing ingenious!!!" 

From my memory, the REL subs mentioned above in this discussion are designed to only be driven by the speaker outputs of an amp and they are some of the best subs I've heard, great looking too and come in a variety of price ranges and sizes.  I think REL also provides a wiring harness to hook up to your amp outputs but its been a while since I auditioned them so things may have changed a bit.  I will probably get one in the future.

 If I were redoing my system speakers at the $10k price point I would consider the Sonus Faber Olymica lll's used here on AG, which are 90db efficient compared to my Oly ll's at 89db, go deeper in the bass down to approx 35hz and sell here on AG for well under $10k leaving some $$ for the REL Sub of your choice.  Of course your ears, your room, your taste in sound is unique to what gives you the pleasure when your listening.  Enjoy the music!