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Great bookshelf or small towers suggestions

I'm looking to upgrade my main speakers for home theater/music setup.

Currently have Sound Dynamic 300 ti's that are about 16 years old. I have a Marantz 5009 AV receiver and some Orbs for side and back channels. I have a sound dynamic center speaker too. The room is 11x15 with a fairly low 7' ceiling. I want to replace the LR main and Center speakers.  Budget < $5K.

floorplan:  http://tinyurl.com/zd68dqf

Soundwise I am after improved brightness and up front treble and mids. I am not the biggest bass nut - a) I have downstairs neighbors and b) I've played drums for 40 years and have heard it all. I hate being bounced out of my seat every time stuff explodes and mainly want to hear dialog better for TV and clearer more sparkly acoustic pianos and spangalang of cymbals like they're in the room with me.

So far from what I've heard in stores, I liked the Magnepan .7's a lot. But they just won't fit the space. Too wide and didn't pass WAF. I listened to a few other speakers - mid level B&W's, Golden ear, martin logan, and so far little compared to the magnepans except maybe the BW 805D3's - which are way over my budget. I thought about looking for used 805d2's. I did like a pair of Focal 714's and could probably live with them. But this is the last pair of speakers I ever want to buy. So I keep coming back to thinking about the new 805's or something close.

I've been interested in a lot of the factory direct speakers like the Sierra Tower & 2's but it bothers me to buy speakers I can't hear first.

Any advice appreciated.

Thx!
wolfernyc
marktomaras
544 posts
 
I believe I saw some Cremonas here on audiogon 
soix
9,960 posts
 
Two brands that sell directly and get good reviews are Aperion and SVS.  I especially like that their better center speakers are designed with the tweeter above a dedicated midrange rather than the more common MTM configuration.  Both companies get high marks for customer service and I believe they both offer generous in-home demos.  Best of luck. 

reubent
7,071 posts
 
Wolfernyc,

There's one in every crowd, Know what I mean? I'm going to offer up the contrarian post now......

The Sound Dynamics 300ti is a very good speaker and was considered one of the true Giant Killers when it was produced. Even today they are very highly regarded. You may end up buying different speakers that are not necessarily an improvement, but are simply different.

Looking at your complete system, it makes me wonder if your $5000 budget might be better spent on electronics instead of speakers. You are using a mid-priced HT receiver for processing, pre-amp and amp. What are your source components? DVD player? Dedicated CD player? Digital Music Server? Vinyl? What type of media do you play? Redbook CD, vinyl, mp3, FLAC, hi-res digital, etc.? Digital, especially low-res digital, is notorious for having highs that do not sound natural.

The Sound Dynamics 300ti is capable of sounding very good when feed a good signal from the source and amplifier. You may be looking at the wrong part of your system for an improvement.

Now, that said, I have not heard your system or any of the components you own, so I could be totally off base. However, I suggest you do a search on "Sound Dynamics 300ti Reviews" and read what has been written about them. People who own Quad Electrostats, Magnepan and other high end speakers have kept their old Sound Dynamics 300ti's because they were too good to get rid of....

The Contrarian
mikirob
955 posts
 
As a former long-term Sound Dynamics 300ti owner I completely agree with the contrarian point of view submitted by reubent. You should seriously consider his comments. Best, Rob 
wolfernyc OP
41 posts
 
Thanks! I get what you’re saying. I have an NAD 516 CD player and a Rega 2 turntable with an NAD preamp.

I’ve enjoyed the 300’s for many years. They’re spiked and do sound good. They seem to be in perfect shape and I’m the only owner. And I found a center that matches them on ebay last year.

Maybe I’m just tired of them, but what I notice is listening in direct mode stereo 2 channel just isn’t as satisfying as when I turn on the surround speakers and use various music modes. And what becomes glaringly obvious is that these little spherical Orbs and Gallos that I have for sides and rears add more mids and highs and music just sounds better.  (but not great)

On top of that just using it all in media mode when watching TV, the center and fronts just don’t have much sparkle and pop and I find myself cranking the volume so we can understand the dialog. It gets super annoying.

I’ve thought about just upgrading the center, but I think the mains do leave a bit to be desired too.

I’ve toyed with every setting on the receiver and at this point no longer use audissey and have just a few tweaks for dialog and set the speaker levels by ear. I really wish there was a better EQ in the receiver - maybe for each speaker. I’ve tried using the EQ but it gets disabled when you use various other features.

I thought about replacing the marantz but I really don’t want to go crazy with expensive separate components. I’m not a huge fan of messing with equipment. I’m kind of a set and forget guy. And I just wouldn’t know where to start.

-Bill




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