A good warranty should be a factor in any purchase you make, including speakers. That said, speakers are generally very reliable pieces of equipment. For me personally, as I tend to buy used, I would not consider the lack of a warranty to be a deal breaker. This of course is dependent on age, condition, type of equipment, and from where and whom you are purchasing.....I would tend to be less concerned about a lack of warranty if looking to purchase speakers as opposed to other components.
Best bookshelf speakers
I’m building my first high fi system after being more of a portable audio person. I want to start with the speakers. Space is limited so bookshelf speakers are a must.
Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later
These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?
Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.
What else should I be looking at?
Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.
Preferences:
Balanced and revealing with a hint of warmth.
Midrange most important to get right over highs and lows
Timbre is super important - I listen mostly to acoustic music especially jazz
But I do need some bass as I also listen to some electronic music
Smaller is better but SQ is most important
A speaker that sounds good with different amps but also scalable with high quality sources
Wide sweet spot - I wont have money for a great amp at first but want them to be scalable for later
These speakers have caught my eyes - any thoughts on them?
Ascend Sierra 2s - Ribbon = dispersion limitations?
BMR Philharmonitor - See above. Also massive.
Buchardt S400/S300 - Wary of the sudden hype train and limited info
Silverline Minuet Grande - Limited info
Reference 3A De Capo - This caught my eye as a potential endgame speaker if I could blow up my budget a little. But concerns about BE tweeter as well as some potential snake oil stuff (cryogenic treatment (!?)), exaggerated sensitivity claims and wonky measurements put me off.
What else should I be looking at?
Edit: I could have sworn I had <$2,000 in the title... Anyway, my budget is 2k.
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- 174 posts total
Stuff_Jones: The one Silverline speaker I heard (last year) was the Minuet Grand, as that's the one I specifically requested. Fritz was kind enough to bring over several models of his speakers: Rev 5, Rev 7, Carbon 7 (not the SE, if I remember correctly), Carerra 7(extremely nice speakers, those), and a pair of one-off floorstanders (an experiment, according to Fritz) with a ribbon tweeters that I got to audition in my system for a week. This was a couple of years ago, so I only have the most general recollection of what I heard. |
A good warranty should be a factor in any purchase you make, including speakers. That said, speakers are generally very reliable pieces of equipment. For me personally, as I tend to buy used, I would not consider the lack of a warranty to be a deal breaker. This of course is dependent on age, condition, type of equipment, and from where and whom you are purchasing.....I would tend to be less concerned about a lack of warranty if looking to purchase speakers as opposed to other components. There's a pair of used Totem Hawks near me which are tempting. However the comments of this 2011 review of the Hawks show several users with damaged drivers needing replacement. I want to say its because the long throw Revelator but then one person blew out their tweeters. Is this a model specific thing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVS0GCwNxg |
I had Hawks for a few years and loved them. If you're going to have bookshelf speakers on stands then Hawks are a great alternative. They are small, but have a huge soundstage and image fantastically. They also play down into the mid 30's and have great detail. Everyone who heard them thought I had a subwoofer, but I don't (I know - audiophile cliche, but true with the Hawks). Not sure how anyone would blow out the driver unless they really cranked the volume and fed it too much power, but almost any speaker can have that happen. My only issue with the Hawks is that the tweeter is a metal dome which I don't love. With certain music and at moderately high volumes the highs would sometimes sound a bit edgy or too sharp. The RAAL tweeter in my Song3's has more detail, more air, more texture, and none of the edginess. That's why I also recommend the BMR's which use the same RAAL as the Song3's. Again, with most music the tweeter, which I believe is also ScanSpeak, was fine, but sometimes I would have to touch the volume down. The Hawks are great though, and if you get them used at a good price you can probably sell them down the road for about what you paid for them. |
- 174 posts total