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.
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.
Montana's, Dunlavy, Duntech, VMPS (bottom choice) Legacy Audio, Focus/Whisper, there's a bunch, or old Altec Voice of the Theatre or Klipsch K-horns with a Sub.
I know what you're after but---- with the exception of those listed above and I'm certain there are others, it's tough to get what you're after. Brute force drivers tend to give up a little in finess.
In terms of physical size, warmth/"musicality", and good size/quality/bass per dollar spent used, you might try a pair of Merlin Excalibers. As I remember they are about 6'-6'6" tall, look a bit like very large and tall Vandersteen 3s, have a very "large" full-range sound. I enjoyed them, almost fell for them, and periodically wonder what it would be like to have them.
Actually I heard some Martin Logans today. Maybe they weren't warmed up or something, but the bass sounded very tubby and ill defined.
I've also heard the Legacy and Dunlavy might be good candidates elsewhere. Now that I have good electronics, I'm not really looking for high efficiency, especially if it hides or colors the electronics.
The Vandersteens I heard and were unimpressed with were the 2 series. I'll keep a lookout for the 3's or 5's going used. Thanks again for all the suggestions.
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