Audiophile Speakers for Rock, HipHop and Techno

@arcticdeth Hooray for Cerwin Vegas!

Cerwin’s, especially the older ones are absolutely voiced to rock and hop! 

I hear posters say if a speaker if good then it’s good for all music over and over. IME that’s complete BS. Every damn speaker is voiced to an extent otherwise we would all listen to studio monitors.

For stand mounts, I'd try to find some Klipsch RB75 second hand: an 8inch woofer and a compression driver. I wouldn't go for the lesser models, with a horn loaded tweeter instead of a true compression driver.

My system is huge, fully horn loaded (except the subs), tri-amped, with an average sensitivity of 105dB. Completely DIY. It does double duty for me: during the week, it soothes with Jazz, classical, soul, opera... but the weekends, our DJ friends come over, and we play techno / tech-house / house. For me the ability to do both is mandatory; the hardest part was of course to make it audiophile enough for pleasurable classical reproduction, while at the same time pounding and screeching with the best techno tracks. It's been a challenge, but I think I succeeded. :-)

I must add that even when playing "audiophile approved" music, having lived with ultra high sensitivity speakers for years (and the micro and macro dynamics that go with those), I find a lot (if not most) of audiophile speakers (at least those that are still affordable if you're not crazy rich) to be overly polite, voiced to be "safe", and rather bland and boring. It gets worse when they are brought home and associated with the wrong equipment. I tend to be more easily moved by speakers that are either more "alive" than average (single drivers with very light cones, horns) or more transparent (ESLs, ribbons...). Dynamic relationships between instruments, life, contrasts, that's where music lives for me, not in the flattest / smoothest treble ever measured. YMMV, of course, and we are all sensitive to different things.

There's a pair of RB75 for sale, at the moment.

@rolox please send me your speaker setup dear sir. 

cerwin vega is good for young people,who likes  feel vibrancy of beat and bass go through entire floor and walls and likes booming bass

dynaudio contour worked fine for techno and rap and rock music when listening louder than usual with krell,bryston and top of the range onkyo amp combo

I saw Focal Kantas mentioned and I'll chime in since I have Kanta 3s. I listen to almost everything, but that also includes rock and techno/house/trance. These speakers are phenomenal because they're extremely dynamic and pack plenty of punch. Especially in treble and bass response.

They have a ton of flexibility and while they might not be the end all be all in any one category, they exceeded my expectations greatly with being able to handle electronic better than any others I auditioned yet still working very well with all genres. Which was a must and one reason I picked them. I still plan to add two REL subs at some point though.

Th question looks to exclude floorstanders, which probably cuts out of most of the obviously great choices, including several suggested above. 
 

That still leaves many good suggestions here, but I would add Neat speakers - fast, vivid, engaging, open and very able to get the foot tapping or the head banging.

How much space have you got between speakers and walls?

@tmac1700 If you’re planning to keep the Coda amps, best to go with speakers that will pair well with them that are versatile enough to handle the music uou I quire about. I can think of no speaker better than one by Legacy Audio. Depending on room size, the Legacy Signature SE and Legacy Focus SE or XD are amongst the best you can get without dropping serious dime. They pair perfectly with Coda, as Legacy owner Bill Dudleston used to sell Coda amps with them. The early Legacy amps were actually from them, and today they still pair incredibly well. I’ve owned both the Focus SE and the Aeris in the past, and I have a lot of respect for them. 

Also, if price is a concern, the Signature SE tend to hit the market used at the $4-5K range. The Legacy Calibre is another option. It is a large monitor that plays like a small to medium floorstander and goes down to 38hz at +/-2db. 

I'll second the Legacy Calibre suggestion.

I have the Calibre XD's and they really get it done with rock, techno and hip hop. They do need a lot of power but with your 250w amp running the mids and highs plus the internal amps running the bass, I think you would be blown away with how good they are. The Calibre XD's also fit your budget perfectly. Beautiful sound and can blow the roof off without breaking a sweat.

excellent video discussing the big legacy's...

@bajaed 

Little confused with that speaker. So it's kind of a active speaker with an internal amplifier?

Sorry, just saw this. The Calibres can be ordered as a passive speaker or in the XD version with internal amplifiers. With the XD'S you can run them passive with an external amp, fully active with the internal amps powering everything or bi amped with the internal amps powering the bass drivers and an external amp powering the mid woofer and ribbon tweeter. I'm doing the latter but you can run them full range with just a pre amp if you want.

I promise you they will not run out of power but will sound great at any level. 

@tmac1700, what did you end up doing here?

@rlovendale nothing yet brotha. things happened at home and my funds went towards a new house, lawyer etc. Ya know 🫣

But.. I still have eyes on this thread and plan on using all the good advise I was given .. 

Hi rrrItmac1700, I suspect that a Mark Levinson 27.5 would fix your problem. Short of that a PS 200C or CX, but they are a bit colored compared to the neutral 27.5.

Lou