Speakers that sound like Usher Be-20s/10s

I have a friend with Usher Be20s so know them pretty well.To me some of the Focal speakers have a similar sound.The 1038Be springs to mind as having a similarly big,smooth,open sort of sound .The Ushers are incredibly cable fussy.Get the cabling wrong and they will not sound right at all.

The thing about Usher speakers is that they seem to be so music friendly. Every show I'd attended that had an "Usher" room had an exceptional sound. Not a show winner but really nice. Focal rooms seemed to be fussier and in fairness, hotel rooms being what they are, it's not easy to get a system to sing well. I own the Usher Tower XL's which are similar to other Usher speakers featuring the DMD tweeter, Eaton wooofer and Ushers midrange paper driver.

These speakers have never put a note out of place. Early on I thought there was a slight disconnect between the woofer and midrange/tweet (different cabinets). I upgraded all of the cross-over components and wire including binding posts. Totally seamless now. These speakers are simply brilliant. Always a joy to listen to with a wide variety of music.

 I've run them with BMC S1 amp, Usher 1.5, Lindemann Musicbook 55, and now the Nord NC1200 signature. Friendly with all those amps.

Wife wants the Usher Grand Towers. Ouch. Sorry, a bit off topic.

Had the Usher BE-10 for the past 10yrs along with Emm Labs & Pass Labs gear. The room is also quite well prepped (40sqm room) and speakers + listening position close to ideal. The sound is very well balanced, musical and involving. I don’t think they can be beaten by anything else at their price. However, there is an area where I would look for improvement. I think the dome BE midrange is very fast but the Eton driver falls a bit behind in this area. I would say a better and much more expensive speaker should have 2-3 7-8” mid-bass drivers to fill in the gap. 

I revived this thread a few years ago, and ended up reselling the be20 dmd’s to feed the addiction. The huge woofers to a 5’’ mid require some care in placement and toe in, but I have no complaints with their sound and while there are wire and xover upgrades available for the speakers it isn’t necessary. The be 10 is probably big enough for most rooms.

Hello: a smaller version of Ushers