If you want bass, go for VMPS. There is no speaker that has better bass for the money...and very, very efficient too.
Big Stupid Warm Speakers
I'm getting ready for a speaker change. I've owned B&W 804 matrix speakers for about 12 years now. While I've enjoyed the refinement of them there's always been something missing.
Yes that's right, and that something might be BIG STUPID WOOFERS. Some of my favorite speakers ever were a pair of Infinity's I paid $300 for in 1979. They had 15 inch woofers, tweeters that were harsh and not the greatest, but these things roared like an angry lion even when no music was playing. When it was playing, about anything from Oingo Boingo to Mozart was a visceral experience.
Now with upper end speakers, you don't know there's bass until there's supposed to be, the tweeters are refined and realistic sounding, there's some wonderful imaging etc. But it's somehow too polite - I want to get back some of the warmth from the big woofer days. And no, using a sub isn't the same thing.
I remember being in a high end store about 10 years ago when a Polk Rep was there showing this huge new Polk speaker that was just incredible sounding. Big warm, realistic, detailed -awesome. I asked the store owner when he'd be getting them. He rolled his eyes and said, "Our customers are too discriminating for this type of speaker. The bottom end was way out of control."
So maybe I want out of control instead of polite. Can anyone put me in the direction of some BIG STUPID WARM SPEAKERS that still have some refined and high end attributes? The rest of my system is all Cary HT that retails for around $10K.
Cary Cinema 6 Preamp Processor
Cary Cinema 5 Multichannel amp (200 WPC)
Cary Cinema DVD 6 (incredible with CD's)
Even though the system is HT, the electronics do very well with music. And even the they're Cary components, they're solid state - but easy on the ears. I listen to Classical, Jazz, Electronic, Bluegrass, etc.
Oh yeah, and looking to spend under $3K/pair.
Has anyone else gone through this? Any speaker recommendations? Thanks.
Yes that's right, and that something might be BIG STUPID WOOFERS. Some of my favorite speakers ever were a pair of Infinity's I paid $300 for in 1979. They had 15 inch woofers, tweeters that were harsh and not the greatest, but these things roared like an angry lion even when no music was playing. When it was playing, about anything from Oingo Boingo to Mozart was a visceral experience.
Now with upper end speakers, you don't know there's bass until there's supposed to be, the tweeters are refined and realistic sounding, there's some wonderful imaging etc. But it's somehow too polite - I want to get back some of the warmth from the big woofer days. And no, using a sub isn't the same thing.
I remember being in a high end store about 10 years ago when a Polk Rep was there showing this huge new Polk speaker that was just incredible sounding. Big warm, realistic, detailed -awesome. I asked the store owner when he'd be getting them. He rolled his eyes and said, "Our customers are too discriminating for this type of speaker. The bottom end was way out of control."
So maybe I want out of control instead of polite. Can anyone put me in the direction of some BIG STUPID WARM SPEAKERS that still have some refined and high end attributes? The rest of my system is all Cary HT that retails for around $10K.
Cary Cinema 6 Preamp Processor
Cary Cinema 5 Multichannel amp (200 WPC)
Cary Cinema DVD 6 (incredible with CD's)
Even though the system is HT, the electronics do very well with music. And even the they're Cary components, they're solid state - but easy on the ears. I listen to Classical, Jazz, Electronic, Bluegrass, etc.
Oh yeah, and looking to spend under $3K/pair.
Has anyone else gone through this? Any speaker recommendations? Thanks.
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- 64 posts total
I use Acoustic Research 302's in both my main and 2 channel HT systems. They are 3 way; 10 inch woofer reissues of the AR5's and were updated by Ken Kantor of NHT fame. They were made in 1995 and there are enough pairs out there, as Accessories4less liquidated boatloads of the whole AR series about 4 years ago. Going price is usually in the $300 or so range. Check out Classic AR Speakers for more information. Nothing quite like the sound of acoustic suspension speakers and their approach to bass and sound, in general. Of current speakers, supposedly the JM Lab Chorus 707's offer a close to 8 inch woofer, but I have not heard these. Regards, Rich |
Big, smart accurate speakers you build yourself. Put JBL 2226 15" woofers in a 4.5 cu ft box and the cone/ribbon/compression tweeter of choice. Second order Butterworth on the tweeter and a 1.5 mH coil on the woofer. Or buy a kit. Or assembled: http://www.pispeakers.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/105 |
JBL L-200 or L-300 from the mid-70's. 15" woofer with 4" voice coil and 2o lb. or so ALNICO magnets. Or Altec Lansing model 19(?) I think, home version of the Voice of the Theatre. Or Klipsh horns. Now these speakers are IMHO much better than the Cerwin Vegas or other 15" jobs. All these other choices listed here are "hi-fi" jobs. For some reason there is no other sound like a really big powerful, forceful (as opposed to tubby flubby) 15" woofer. |
- 64 posts total