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Best all around speakers

Just curious what people think around here for best all around speakers for wide variety of musical genres and amplifications needs (tubes and solid state). Not everybody listen exclusively to Diana Krall and Norah Jones and/or acoustical jazz or classical music. Some of us like to listen to a wide variety of music (from rock and roll to bluegrass to blues to you name it) and don't feel the need or want to have a differet speaker for each genre of music. Seems to me many speaker designers have a very narrow taste in music, which unfortunately doesn't reflect what most people listen to, which I think is one of the reasons why many speakers end up disappointing quite a number of listeners.
cleaneduphippy
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
If you listen at average levels of 85 to 87dB, which is what I do, you'll hit peaks over 100dB. They don't last long and will not hurt those with healty ears.

Dave
eweedhome
227 posts
 
Dcstep - To your question about my digital sources: As I may have reported above, I used multiple digital players in order to deal with differently-engineered sources. My primary source now is an EMM CDSA. I use it for a lot of things, but particularly classical. My secondary source is a GNSC-modified Wadia 860x (a fair bit different sounding than the unmodified version), which I tend to use more for pop and jazz. I also have an EAR Acute with Pope 6dj8's that's fairly forgiving and "analog" sounding. In the past, I was using a Linn CD12, but I thought the EMM and Wadia both bettered it (for my ears). Finally, on the comparison (analog) side, I have a Linn LP12 w/ Koetsu Black through an EAR 834P w/ a Telefunken and 2 Mullards in it.

It's all designed to be relatively mellow--"relatively".

I don't think I have a huge problem with a front-end that can't handle (in one way or another) "difficult" CDs--at least not a problem that a different piece of gear can resolve...but maybe I'm wrong. You have any suggestions?
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Eweedhome asked:

"You have any suggestions?"

Playback Designs MPS-5.

Dave
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
The previous discussion about speakers playing at high volumes brings me back to the original post and an attribute needed in a "best all around speaker."
Much of my listening is late at night. As the system is not tucked away in the basement and I don't care for headphones, the volume needs to be kept low. When looking for speakers I look for a one that can play at low volumes without losing its sonic signature. Not all speakers do this well.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Timrhu said:

"When looking for speakers I look for a one that can play at low volumes without losing its sonic signature. Not all speakers do this well."

Unfortunately for you, Flecther and Munson (sp?) demonstrated that your ears don't hear the same at low volumes. The old "Loudness" button on old two-channel receivers was meant to compensate for this.

Does anyone have a modern, audiophile-level way to deal with this today?

Listening near-field is my only suggestion. I do this often on morning when I get up early for coffee and the paper while others are asleep. It works pretty well.

Dave
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