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My Demo results: I feel like I'm at a frustrating block in my speaker journey

Hi all,

New poster and longtime lurker. 

As the title says, I feel like I'm at a frustrating endpoint in my audio quest, and hoping to draw from your guys' experience for some direction.

I bought my first speaker system a couple years ago because at my old house my tv speakers were not cutting it. 

First I bought an old budget pair of Klipsche bookshelves (P15s?  I dont really remember)  They were really shrill, and I sold them fairly quickly. 

After reading a bunch of the mainstream audio review sites (I now understand these platforms are often pay to play) I purchased the ELAC Unifi UF5 Towers.  These had beautiful, lush musical bass but sounded about engaging as energetic as a sponge.  They also had kind of a dark muffled sound at times- like there is a wet blanket over them.   Paradoxically, they also sound inorganic and kind of metallic. 

In the past few months I decided to start demoing speakers to see what I like.  Ive found some speakers that do certain things right, but not everything right.  Every one of the high-end, expensive speakers I have tried have had certain large flaws. I've been kind of shocked at this whole experience, because to my ears my $60 set of logitec computer speakers handily beats a number of speakers 50x more expensive. Like, they dont have great detail retrieval or clarity but at least they dont color the sound a ton, and they present very engagingly.

Im still lookijng for my goldilocks speaker.

  • Various Kefs- very similar to the ELACs but worse imo- very metallic and unengaging
  • Various B&W- Metallic, boring, no dynamics
  • Warfedale Evo 4.4- nice highs!  Absolutely sloppy bass (for my room at least) and terribly muddy mids
  • Tannoy Revolution 6XTE- Similar to above.  Very, very dark speakers.
  • Martin Logan 35XTI bookshelves-  Eureka!  These are much more organic and clear.  Guitars actually sound like guitars instead of a bad digital rendering of them.  Theres energy in what I listen to.  This is what I was missing in the others... things sound like theyre supposed to!   Only issue is they arent as full-bodied as towers.  They just cant play very loud and I wish they had more bass to be better full range speakers.    Somewhat more minor issue is that they sound slightly grainy.  Though thats not a total dealbreaker. 
  • Martin Logan 60XTI Towers- I had high hopes for these.... but where did the magic for the 35s go ML?  These are very "meh".  The highs and satisfying acoustic resonances are gone.
  • Focal Aria 906 bookshelves- holy clarity batman!  But it sounds almost too clinical to the point that theyre not engaging.
  • Focal Aria 948 Towers-  Holy clarity and body batman!  These sound almost perfect- but they dont quite come alive until higher volumes (and I have a small space), and there's still something missing... a certain *zing* in the acoustic guitar resonances. 
  • Def Tech 9060- Hard to describe.  Sometimes they sounded good, sometimes they sounded imprecise and like the drivers were way too small.  Bass gets bloaty in my room.  Theyre also ugly as hell. 
  • Ascend Sierra Tower with RAAL-  After all the others, I had only tthe ML 35XTIs and the focal 948s remaining.  I was hoping, based on my extensive reading of forums, that the ascend towers could give the best of both worlds- the clarity/full body of the focals with the acoustic resonance/energy/zing of the MLs.  Unfortunately I was once again disappointed.  They seem unbalanced to my ears.  Like, they have very punchy bass but they color the sound to be sweet and there seems to be something missing in the middle of the sound.... some body that just isnt there.  The highs are very sweet and engaging, but almost a little artificially so.  Where the MLs sound like an actual acoustic guitar being played in front of me, the Sierras make it sound unnaturally sweet or high.  Theres unnaturally sweet zzzing out of string instruments that I dont think actually sound that way....  Im bummed because I really wanted to like these speakers. 


I think I've established a list of qualities Im looking for:
  • The etched sound of the MLs
  • Full body and clarity of the Focals
  • The forward, engaging nature of the ascends
  • Not overly smooth
  • Not metallic (I dont think I like aluminum tweeters)
  • wide horizontal dispersion (my room is wider than it is long)

Where do I go from here?  Im at a loss.  Id appreciate any recommendations you guys have. 

mjt8
entergraph
1 posts
 
I don’t think any speaker would sound good in that setup. Start with some wall treatments, going to have to rearrange the room. Also figure out if you want cinema setup or 2.1 and AVR’s generally are not great for anything but loudness. Surround sound might be your ticket to the system your looking for.
ace17
23 posts
 
Here’s an idea ~ get a good pair of headphones. Your room arrangement stinks, your amp is sub-par, you’ve rejected all sorts of GREAT speakers because of [at least] these two factors, as several have already pointed out. You can get a great pair of headphones for less that what you’ve burned through on speakers, like perhaps the Focal Stellia. Then trade everything else for a decent headphone amp.Yea, guys, I realize it’s not the answer he’s looking for, but it seems to me his best solution if he wants good sound. A lot of wonderful recommendations have been made, but I don’t think any of them will fix his problem. Short of room mods and power upgrades, and a pair of speakers that has that magic synergy w/his amp[s] and other equipment, he’s doomed to spend more and more money and never get there. None of you who made these legit observations have your hi-fi setup in a closet or a bathroom or the family "junkroom" ~ right?
mglik
888 posts
 
Hi mjt8,
I have a simple and clear suggestion. After almost 50 years getting my first system when I was 18. Constantly upgrading, especially speakers. TetraSpeakers.com.
I didn’t need to hear them after I looked at this website. An amazing group of famous and great musical artists all owners who would only  use Tetras for life. And they all say the same superlatives. Like Herbie Hancock: “Whenever I play Tetra 606s for people it stops them dead in their tracks. They can’t speak for a few minutes and then all they can say is ‘Wow, unbelievable,’ ... I’ll try to get Quincy over to the house to hear them. Stevie Wonder needs to hear them too.” And Keith Richard, “The’re not just ANY pair of speakers!”.Who am I to disagree. I own the entry level $1500 120 Us and the $16K Phoenix TXs. The Phoenixs have a fuller, more complete sound but the house sound is there in the 120u. They just sound right. I lived for 10 years happily with rebuilt Quad 57s. I still miss them but I will never own any other speaker than a Tetra. Once you hear the unique truth of music it grabs you and doesn’t let go.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
These things tend to degenerate and keep going long after the OP has bailed, which at 5 days since his last post seems to have happened. On the off chance he hasn't, I notice he loved everything about the ML bookshelf speakers except for their lack of volume and bass. Other than that they would be ideal, and a lot easier to position than bigger speakers. All he needs is a way to make them sound a lot bigger than they are. 

The obvious solution is a DBA. The four subs can be as small as 8" and placed just about anywhere. A perfectly fine sub could be made with an 8" driver and a length of ABS, just look up enclosure info to determine the length to tune to the frequency you want. These would lay on the floor along a wall behind a sofa or whatever. Or stand upright in a corner. Whatever. Point is location is not fussy when you use four like it is when using only one or two.

That's it. All the rest is details, same as we all have. It will never be a dedicated room but it will be pretty darn good for what it is.
sandthemall
544 posts
 
Speaker placement and room set up is a science.
The best thing to do right now is stop talking about components for the time being...and focus on exploiting the best layout based on what you have. Understand and solve that now. It will give you a reference point for new amps and speakers when you do upgrade.

Ask yourself where you will be listening from? Pick one listening spot. Then arrange furniture to satisfy other guests but defer as much as you can to that listening position. It's a compromise when you don't have a dedicated listening room.

It's tougher with newer homes because the trend is to no longer build formal rooms...nowadays rooms blend into other other rooms to create open layouts that are all the rage these days. 




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