New cart for under 1K

Johnnyb53,

I read that same review. I used to toe-in my Focal's and after tweaking inch by inch, straight forward is definitely best with these speakers.

All,

I've decided to put a hold on the cartridge and focus my energies and time to save up for a new pair of speakers. After reading all these incredibly insightful posts I'm definitely convinced that I simply do not like the way my speakers sound (bass is excellent, but that's it). One post stated not to upgrade the cart because that's where my budget is right now. I was looking for the quick fix because the harshness really annoys me. Patience will reap rewards, speakers are the next purchase. I'm thinking Harbeth, Dynaudio, Spendor, any thoughts on a nice pair of speakers without the harshness? Does anyone know anything about the Anthony Gallo 3.5's? They receive excellent accolades and are not all that expensive.

Thanks again to everyone for all the feedback. This has been truly informative.

David

Do you have a price range in mind for new speakers or are you just getting ideas? Are you open to used as well as new?What type of music do you listen to? Do you listen loud? What other speakers have you heard that you liked? Is there anything other than the bass that you like in your JM's?

Nagaoka
They run well in a wide range of Arms.

Jjrenman,

Occasionally with some recordings the JM's sound fantastic! Typically it's with jazz or anything without vocals. Due to the sibilance issues and the harshness in the highs, all vocals are not enjoyable. Separation is also a nice trait of the JM's. I do listen loud occasionally, I have my moments where I just have to listen to some old Queesnryche or Iron Maiden! Most of what I listen to is indie rock, classic rock, jazz, and some chamber music. Some favorites are Wilco, Sufjan Stevens, Miles Davis, Andreas Vollenweider, Neil Young, Stan Getz, Frank Zappa, I think you get the idea. My range is 4K-6K used or new. Of course I'd like to stay closer to the 4K range.

05-20-13: Jjrenman
Johnnyb53, You state that "Spitty sibilants are the first sign the treble isn't right. In addition to an emphasis at that frequency range, it could also be tweeter overshoot or ringing." Agreed but ringing and resonant peak are the same thing.

After I wrote that it occurred to me that we're talking about the same thing. *Just about* all dome tweeters have the "oil can resonance." However, they don't all sound the same owing to different materials (with different resonant peak frequencies), amounts of damping, magnet strength, etc. Dynaudios don't seems to exhibit this problem.

A few months ago I auditioned some speakers with a Heil-type folded ribbon tweeter. As I listened to how natural the sound was, I realized that I was for once hearing treble reproduced without overshoot or ringing.

There are a growing number of speakers that use this tweeter type, including GoldenEar, ADAM Audio, the Martin-Logan Motion Series, and Legacy Audio.

Just about every review I've read of speakers that use this tweeter type mention the detailed yet natural treble reproduction devoid of resonant peaks and overshoot.

Also, I wonder if the oil-canning is mostly a metal dome problem. I've checked the response curves of several Dynaudio speakers and their tweeters seem to be free of any resonant peaks. But then, maybe that's why they get the big bucks. :)