2. speakers
  3. 125890-8625

Speakers with warm treble and good bass

I've been on the hunt now for a several years, attempting to find speakers that match the criteria of having good bass and soft, warm treble output.  A good liquid midrange with good texture and timbre separation is another top priority.  The speakers I have owned and tried:

Paradigm Studio 60 v3
LSA 1 Standard Edition Monitors
Totem Staff
Golden Ear Triton 3
Vandersteen 2ce Sig ii
Tekton Pendragon
Acoustic Zen Adagio
Spatial Audio Hologram M3 Turbo S

Out of all of those, the most enjoyable due to warmest sound signature was the LSA 1 monitors.  Of course those were the most deficient in bass out of that entire list.  Contrary to that, the Golden Ear Triton 3 had the best bass (obviously, due to the built-in powered subs).  The Adagios had the best detail and least distortion, but were a bit too analytical in the end for my tastes.

So far, surprisingly, the speakers that seem to get the best blend of everything for my tastes have been the Paradigm Studio 60 v3.  These are not "reference level" speakers by any means, but they achieve a nice balance of detail, dynamics, bass, and have a surprisingly good midrange.  Unfortunately, the pesky metal dome tweeter has gotten on my last nerve during many listening sessions.  

I am trying to stay in the price range of the aforementioned speakers.  What suggestions do you all have for speakers that can meet this criteria for a smooth, dynamic, and warm sound?

Thanks
jwglista
vicweast's avatar
vicweast
150 posts
 
@steakster I agree that your satisfaction with speakers is bound to change when you clean up your power. I found power quality to be more important than speaker cables, which make less of a difference versus power quality. (I use PS Audio Power plants.)

I also have a Rogue "Cronus Magnum+" and it sounded great with Avalon Acoustics "Eidolon" speakers (AntiCables speaker cables). Since the Rogue, I’ve also run Ayon Audio "Triton III"s and Raven Audio "Blackhawk LE". I found the Rogue to have a wonderful sound, but it has a discernible noise floor versus either the Ayon or Raven. I would attribute that to the premier quality of the parts (especially the resistors and caps, along with transformer shielding) of the Raven and Ayon. I could be wrong, and it could have been my tubes, but I did roll a few through the Rogue so... (Note: Rogue is a GREAT bargain at it’s price point, even more so used, plus it’s made in the USA ...same as Raven.)

I’d start with my power, the I’d try out different speakers. I recently listened to the Harbeth Super HL5 plus and also the Monitor 30.1 and 40.2 -- all are wonderful speakers. I am absolutely dying to hear the Harbeths with the Raven amp, that might become my next home office system. (The Ayon Triton seems to be in love with the Avalon Eidolon speakers...)

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,308 posts
 
Dynaudio a great choice. Excellent quality speakers that will never sound too cold but rather anywhere from to neutral to a TAD warm depending on what is fed to them.  Gotta have an amp up top the task of driving them optimally though for best results.
theothergreg
222 posts
 
PMC Twenty series is all that.  NEAT Motive series if your room is small/medium size.
aniwolfe
760 posts
 
I think the Eminent Technology LFT-8b speakers would work great with your amp. My dealer sells both products (Rogue and Eminent Tech) and they really are amazing paired together. I find the LFT-8b’s to be very neutral with amazing detail and somewhat laid back presentation. One of the best attributes is that they have basically no distortion. The bass detail is great and they go low (25hz). The tweeter also has 3 output settings to tailor the sound. They also sound great a lower listening levels, which I find most speakers fail. Just my experience, thought I would share.
The one negative is speaker placement can be fussy.
jwglista OP
206 posts
 
Wow lots of replies here, this is great, thanks all.  Lots to respond to.

One thing that I have seen mentioned a few times is cleaning up my power supply.  This is something I have been considering for a while, although at the moment I'm not sure I can come up with the cash for speakers *and* a good power regenerator.  I am currently using my old trusty PS Audio UPC-200 for basic filtering, which does help, but I would like to end up with a PS Audio P3 or P5.

I am currently auditioning a pair of the Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S.  One of them arrived with a broken woofer, so I'm not sure that I am getting a true representation of their sound.  The replacement is being delivered this Friday, so I should know more in a couple weeks after it breaks in.  My impressions of the M3 Turbo S so far is that they have excellent coherency, soundstage, detail, and bass, but the treble may not be to my tastes either.  They use a compression driver, which from everything I read said it was supposed to sound smooth, but I've been having fatigue issues.  I really do think I need to address the power thing though, as I will never know if these issues are due to the speakers, or just the fact that the speakers are extended enough in the treble to reveal issues with hash and grain.

The Vienna Acoustics have been on my radar for several years, but I never followed through with them.  My concern with those would be the bass.

Electrostats like the Martin Logan may be good, but again, not sure how the bass would be on those unless I moved way up the line or had a very powerful amp, which I currently do not own.  The Summits are way out of my price range I'm afraid.

Dynaudio have always been interesting to me as well.  Not sure if there is a place near me to audition them.  My Rouge integrated can output I believe up to 100 watts if using the KT 120 tubes, not sure if that will suffice.


More to discover