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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
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
@decooney  @hilde45 the Quickies are up and running today and I think they are a fabulous match.Part of that is the tube compliment - Baldwin input,Gold Lions for both driver tubes and KT88s.Warm and flowing.No sharp transients but who cares when I can clearly hear the tone and substance(realness?).Bass is not taut but is dimen tional and palpable.Digital glare would pop up from time to time but wouldn't linger for more than a moment.I don't want to bore anyone with a long list of tracks but flute,brass,strings,reeds,piano,male and female vocals were all played today.Good quality and bad.This is also the first time I paired them up with the MicroZOTL2.The Quickies seemed to have more authority than I recall.Anyways hilde,this is just an opinion you can file away while you go on with your search.
decooney tomorrow I will try either EL34s or KT 150s out of curiosity,those are all I have.I will mention one song that I'm feeling warm and fuzzy about - Janis Joplin crooning Summertime.That will make your ears bleed on a bright system :-)Just gorgeous.
decooney
2,109 posts
 
@jtcf 
I learned I could bias KT150s between 40 to 55ma to produce a different type of sound stage fore/aft on my own QS mono 120 amps.  Variation in tone from softer to brighter presents itself notably. If one did not know any better you would think you were listening to slightly different speakers with lower  bias settings on output tubes. 

+ @hilde45
Might be worth noting and trying different bias levels as both of you guys are demoing different speakers and cables with the QS mono tube amps.    
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,994 posts
 
@decooney backing bias off just a little will soften tone? Just to be clear. 
helomech
1,712 posts
 
The ML Motion 60XTs had a very pleasant and balanced treble in my audition. Very surprised by your trouble with them. I expect it from the Focals though.
helomech
1,712 posts
 
If you want detailed treble with zero harshness and/or brightness, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything better than Stirling Broadcast SB-88s. 
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