I keep hearing about the KEF LS50's. I've never liked the KEF sound - to me they always suffered from a kind of artificial sound - though I have to admit I haven't auditioned them in the last 20 years..lol
Where do you hear them? Do they have them at Magnolia? |
I trust Dennis Had's ear like noone else in the business. I'll check em out - thanks. |
Actually they use Scan-Speak drivers that are no longer made or available - and the president of Scan-Speak himself was kind enough to write and let me know that the replacements wouldn't fit the old enclosures and wouldn't sound the same in any case.
There actually is a company that could have fixed the voice coils - but the mouth breathing "Speaker Repair" guy took it upon himself to slash the speaker drivers as a way of removing them from the enclosures. (pause for blood pressure to come back down).
I should have known when I asked him if the speaker drivers could be repaired. He answered that they weren't called "Speaker Drivers". I asked what they WERE called and he answered "They're just called 'speakers'."
And stupid me actually let the guy proceed with the "repair work" - which amounted to "speaker" mutilation.
Anyway thanks for responding and please keep the recommendations coming! |
I've heard good things about the Aeriels in that regard, maybe also Revels? I'm actually auditioning some Maggie MMG's that I'd consider adding some REL subs with.
But one other thing I liked about the Silver Oaks was how good they were off axis. The MMG's haven't had many hours on them but at this point they sound horrid off axis and 200% better on axis making them barely listenable. I'm sure that will change dramatically after 80 hours of burn-in, but still doubt they'll be what I'm looking for.
Also the system is in a small room at the moment, though we'll be moving next year sometime. But larger Maggies are out of the question because of WAF and room size uncertainty. |
Pbnaudio - Yes - they're the 21W8553's! Actually I may only need two or three of them since I can salvage 2 from my center speaker that wasn't affected - and I probably won't use again.
PM me with how much you want for them. The only thing I'm concerned about is whether or not the tweeters and crossover were also affected. Someone else mentioned the tweeters are still available - would the X-over be replaceable also?
PBNaudio, Joseph Audio and Magico added to the list - thanks! |
Trust me - if the insurance replaces the amp I'll definitely go Tube with the Cary stuff. That said their solid state amps do have a tube like sound along with excellent slam and dynamics. |
Good news! Just heard from Allstate and they're paying for the whole system. Max $15K but I can live with it (especially since the equipment was 12 years old). Good hands people indeed!
Surprisingly they only gave about $5K for the Silver Oak speakers - so that looks like my speaker budget.
Best realistic speakers under $5K anyone? I currently have everything in a fairly small room, that may or may not change in the near future. I want something that can scale - but giant Maggies (or anything else giant) won't work. |
Douglas - you're right. I CAN reallocate anyway I want up to the $15K+ limit. And actually going to some local audio stores was an eye opener as I really didn't like ANY speaker under $5K.
The only speakers less than $10K that I liked were oddly enough Totem Forest Signatures for $6.5K. And those only had 20 hours of burn in so they'll have a different character once they're burned in anyway.
Here's the thing - even though my Cary 5 channel 200 watt amp had two fried amps, there are still three that work fine that could be used for two channel audio. So either I find a preamp that mates well with the 5 channel amp or start over with an integrated.
In that case I'd use more budget on a Media Server, DAC or maybe just a preamp DAC combo. I listen to Spotify on the main rig more than I'd care to admit.
All this choice is a nice problem to have - but educating myself on what's best in class on an entire system plus what plays nice together is more than I have time for these days.
I kept things really simple with my last setup - All Cary Audio electronics and all Purist Audio interconnects, speaker wire, etc.
The definition of dumb but since they all played nice together it saved LOTS of research, fiddling, and trial and error. |
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Yes - please let me know what you're using for whole house surge protection. When my new gear comes in I was thinking of investing in PS Audio stuff. I don't want to trust it to my lower end Furman stuff. |
When I say I'm looking for scale, I don't mean floor to ceiling speakers or anything (we're currently set up in a smaller room anyway (15 X 25) but that will change.
I have to say even the Maggie MMX's now that they're breaking in have a nice sense of scale. And I have to say I'm enjoying the speed, sound staging and imaging of them even if it doesn't sound as natural as I'd like (but there's still burn in to go).
Sadly the next step up in Magnepan is already too large for the room (and WAF). I'll return the MMX's even though for $600 I see what everyone's raving about.
There's an audio store that carries Legacy speakers about an hour from my house that I'll be checking out tomorrow. Most of the ones I've seen have been pretty hulking, but hopefully they have more modest sizes that would work.
The weird thing about the insurance money is that if I don't buy any more audio gear they cut me a check for $1000 end of story. OTOH they'll compensate me for any audio gear I buy dollar for dollar up to $15,000.
Sadly I have to confess to the wife that I have no choice other than to buy a new $15,000 audio system or lose money. Needless to say the most ironclad of all possible setups for the audio connoisseur. ;) |
Thanks for all the suggestions. Problem is there's a limited selection of speakers to listen to locally. I DID hear the B&W PM1's. They're nice sounding but a bit forward (at least in their setup).
Also listened to the Sonus Faber floor standers ($9K) and bookshelf ($7K) and the were good but didn't light my fire. The less expensive $3.5 floorstanders were a major step down as I expected.
I finally heard Dynaudio Confidence bookshelves ($7.5K) - These were my favorites so far. They were also a bit forward sounding on the Ayre integrated they were playing on but that could be fixed with higher end electronics. Plus the guy set them up so i had to be literally 4 feet in front of them.
They played the same CD on the Contours and it honestly sounded like completely different music - and even so they sounded good for a speaker half the price. In fact in the $3.5K range the contours were by far the best I've heard so far.
Went to another store and listened again to regular Totem Forests (not signatures) on not so great electronics and they sounded not so great.
I wish I could hear Proac, Legacy, Tetras, even KEF LS50's locally but no dice.
Where does that leave me? I might have to start auditioning speakers in home from companies that sell direct and offer that. I'm thinking of Salk Song and others. Anyone have recommendations for speaker companies that sell direct? I may start a new thread about that.. |
Clio - Oooh, I'd love to hear the Proac and Spendors in particular. I'm in Ellicott City MD closer to Baltimore but it sounds like it's worth the trip.
Mtort - thanks. I'm starting to think going American or Canadian with direct in home demo could get better bank for the buck than European speakers at the moment.
I probably had an hour long phone conversation with Jim Salk this morning and am getting close to ordering the Veracity ST's for just over $4K. 30 day in home trial and was very impressed with Mr. Salk, his candor, knowledge etc. This would leave me more money to sink into electronics etc. |
I heard that the Salksound Veracity was off the charts on timbrel and tonal accuracy. At least in one review. Not so? Are they tilted more to the hyper revealing? Those can get tiring quickly for me personally.
Then again as the MMGs are breaking in I'm starting to seriously think about the 1.7s. |
interesting. I remember auditioning Fried speakers back in the early 90's. I recall them being lively and fun if a tad aggressive and short in the bass registers. Obviously the speakers, the industry and I myself might have changed a little in the last quarter century or so.
Do they have a similar (if improved) sound signature as back in the day? |
