Thank you Al!
Dazed & Confused
Listening to mostly jazz, solo instruments and vocals I find my Martin Logan Spire hybrids to sound awesome, but recently I was listening to some both "Busy" 90’s rock and classical (lots of instruments playing loudly together) and I find the music starts to sound garbled and annoying (to bright), so much so, I turn it off.
I was wondering if you all might have some suggestions on some speakers that would be a little more forgiving with busy/loud music that I could possibly switch over to when listening to different types of music. That is unless I can find speakers that can handle all styles of music, then I would consider taking the hit ($$$) on selling the Spires.
Without getting into room size and dynamics, lets just call it a standard room, I was also looking for something more efficient. The Spires need a huge amount of power (and volume) to sound good. Looking more for something I can listen to loud but also still enjoy the music at a much lower volume if that’s at all possible. Neutral and not to bright.
Living in the sticks, I can’t just jump in the car to go demo speakers. Only once, in the past, did I purchase a set of speakers online and unheard, going solely on the sales person’s recommendations. I learned the hard way to never do that again!
Equipment now: Coda CSiB integrated amp with W4S 2v2 SE Dac running Roon Nucleus.
I also wanted to mention that the Spires have phenomenal base, so much so I sold the 2 subs I was originally using with them. Floor standers and bookshelfs have come along way in SQ these days, but if I need to purchase another set of subs the budget is starting to dwindle.
No vinyl or CD’s, just Tidal.
$3,000 - $5000 budget, new or newer demos.
Thanks for any suggestions or advice you may have to offer!
Paul
I was wondering if you all might have some suggestions on some speakers that would be a little more forgiving with busy/loud music that I could possibly switch over to when listening to different types of music. That is unless I can find speakers that can handle all styles of music, then I would consider taking the hit ($$$) on selling the Spires.
Without getting into room size and dynamics, lets just call it a standard room, I was also looking for something more efficient. The Spires need a huge amount of power (and volume) to sound good. Looking more for something I can listen to loud but also still enjoy the music at a much lower volume if that’s at all possible. Neutral and not to bright.
Living in the sticks, I can’t just jump in the car to go demo speakers. Only once, in the past, did I purchase a set of speakers online and unheard, going solely on the sales person’s recommendations. I learned the hard way to never do that again!
Equipment now: Coda CSiB integrated amp with W4S 2v2 SE Dac running Roon Nucleus.
I also wanted to mention that the Spires have phenomenal base, so much so I sold the 2 subs I was originally using with them. Floor standers and bookshelfs have come along way in SQ these days, but if I need to purchase another set of subs the budget is starting to dwindle.
No vinyl or CD’s, just Tidal.
$3,000 - $5000 budget, new or newer demos.
Thanks for any suggestions or advice you may have to offer!
Paul
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- 103 posts total
Happy New Year Al, Sorry to bug ya again, but with altering my CSib to the V1 configuration (
150 Watts per channel Class AB into 8 Ohms, 300 Watts per channel Class AB into 4 Ohms, Class A ~18 Watts), do you think I could still comfortably power a pair of Magnepan .7's, 1.7's or even the 3.7's? https://www.magnepan.com/model_MG_7 https://www.magnepan.com/model_17 https://www.magnepan.com/model_MG_37 Thanks, Paul |
Hi Paul, Happy New Year to you and yours as well. Both the Maggies and your present speakers have the same nominal impedance, into which the reworked amp will be able to supply 300 watts. All three Maggies have specified sensitivities that are 5 db less than the specified sensitivity of your present speakers. The approximate maximum SPL at the listening position of 110 db that I calculated for your present speakers in my previous post did not take into account their powered woofers, which of course the Maggies don't have. So it seems reasonable to me to simply subtract 5 db from the 110 db to derive an approximate estimate of the maximum SPL the revised amp would be able to generate with the Maggies at your listening position. And 105 db at the listening position is certainly enough for most of us. Although I have a few classical symphonic recordings on labels such as Telarc, Sheffield Lab, and Reference Recordings which have been engineered with minimal or no dynamic compression, that can reach 100 to 105 db at my listening position on occasional brief dynamic peaks, while being listened to at average SPLs in the mid-70s. But recordings having such wide dynamic range are rarely encountered. Best regards, -- Al |
The calculations I do for this purpose involve logarithms, which I do using a scientific calculator. But a simpler method, which yields reasonably good results, would be to start with the following calculator. It applies to box-type dynamic speakers, and if the calculation is being performed for planar speakers such as Martin-Logans or Maggies that are listened to at typical distances (such as yours) add around 5 db or so to the results it provides. The reason being that as listening distance increases SPLs fall off more rapidly for box-type dynamic speakers than in the case of planar speakers. (And in fact the volume produced by a planar speaker may be greater at say 2 meters than at 1 meter, since the upper and lower parts of a planar speaker will generally be more on axis at 2 meters than at 1 meter). https://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html Best regards, -- Al |
- 103 posts total