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Speaker shootout update; aggressive treble eliminating some (fairly?)

I've been trying out speakers in a complicated shoot out, both bookshelves and towers — all in my home with my gear. I'm looking for speakers obtainable up to about $4k but could go up (or down) a bit if the right thing came along.

Basic facts: All speakers were run in at least 100 hours. Room is 27 x 14 x 6.5 ceilings. Powering with all QS tubes, 60w, NOS, tube R2R dac, and decent cables. No terrible reflection points; room not overly live or dampened. REL R 328 sub available but I did most listening without it.

Recent auditions, type:

Klipsch RP 600-M (budget singleton of the group)
Fritz Rev Carbon 7 mk II (bookshelf, 2 way, soft dome)
Focal 936 (tower, 3 way, inverted metal)
Martin Logan Motion 60s XTi (tower, 3 way, AMT)

Coming soon:

Salk SS 6M (bookshelf, 2 way, beryllium)
Dynaudio Evoke 30's (tower, 3 way, soft dome)

Let me speak just to the problems, rather than what was good about the speakers. So far, I've found the Klipsch, Focal, and especially the Martin Logans were all too bright — forward, aggressive, "turn it down" treble.

The ML's were the most impossible to tame and hardest to listen to on more tracks. (I did a lot of hanging of towels and other dampeners and other soft things to try to see if I could bring them to heel. I varied the recordings used. Changed cables/wires. No luck.)

The Focals were occasionally too bright; their bigger problem was a bit too much energy in my small listening space. They were better when I plugged their ports with socks.

I'm looking forward to how the next two speakers sound. The Dynaudio towers, I notice, are 10 inches shorter and half the weight of the other towers; not sure what that might mean, but it could just be right size for my space. I'm looking forward to seeing if the Salks bring more detail to the treble without also being too rolled off or harsh.

Hearing is very personal for physiological and taste reasons. However, if anyone has any thoughts about why I might be experiencing some of the phenomena I am (harsh treble, especially) based on my room or gear, etc., that might help me understand factors I'm not fully appreciating. Thanks.


128x128hilde45
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,377 posts
 
@hilde45,

This hobby is all about the pursuit of perfect sound that best suited for your ears, associated electronics and the room.

As @mapman pointed out, Nobody ever said good sound was easy to achieve, it’s a journey to that pursuit and you my friend off to a good start. So don’t give up 😊
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,974 posts
 
@mapman mapman, here is a diagram: https://tinyurl.com/y26272p4
In front of my couch is a rug. No coffee table or other reflective surface.
Agree, it's not easy. And notice, when I asked him how many speakers he'd had…radio silence.

@twoleftears  Different tweeters in different Fritz lines — got it. He sent these to me to review, so I didn't really choose these.

@lalitk  The journey is fun. Except for the part where I'm reboxing! (That's today.) But a $20 return shipping charge for $3500 speakers that weight 80lbs each, boxed? I don't know how anyone can compete with that. Still, Crutchfield has what they have and that limits things. (But not a bad selection, really — Focal, ML, Revel, more.)
decooney
1,948 posts
 
"Try before you buy" sure is a nice option to have. 

And "One and Done" is no fun. :) 
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brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Yes, the diagram helps.  I don't know how much flexibility you have with rearranging the room, but if you can move stuff around, I would rotate the bed 90 degrees and move it to the other end where the gear currently resides.  Put the sofa next to the bed, and locate the gear along the short wall firing towards the bed.  This more conventional short wall arrangement should give you a much smoother frequency response, especially the low frequencies.  My room is 21 x 14 x 8, and with a long wall arrangement like you have I had a 30 dB null at 70 Hz.  I know your most urgent issue is the high end, but it's easy to tame a room that is too hot.  But even if you accomplish that you won't get good sound unless you get the low frequencies, especially below 300 Hz, straightened out.  If you start using REW, you will see what I am talking about right away.  
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