“House” Character of Popular $20-$30k Speakers
I’ll be upgrading my speakers in a bit (after I add a turntable to my system). I’ve always thought that people two often end up attempting to correct or compensate for a quality they don’t like in one of their system components. My thought is that speakers and amps shouldn’t try to “correct” each other, but rather, they should complement each other, while sharing many similar qualities in their sonic signatures.
With that in mind, I’d describe my Gryphon Diablo 300 with the internal DAC (fed by an InnuOS Zenith MK3 streamer) as being rich, lively, engaging, slightly warm but moderately detailed, with dramatic dynamic swings that can often simulate a live sound. Smooth but energetic and engaging at the same time. My speakers I’ll be upgrading from are B&W 803 D2’s. Big full and bold sound but with finesse and moderate quickness too.
What brand of speakers would be along the lines of the sound I describe above? I’d be hoping to follow this sonic signature in my next speaker purchase, but adding some small capabilities with transparency and detail, imaging, and low end presence.
The speaker brands I have in mind to look into are:
-Magico (would check out the A5’s. I hear the A5’s could be too analytical for some, but have an excellent and clean bass presence. Bust most rave about the A5)
-Sonus Faber (heard these are too relaxed for some?)
-Wilson Audio (if I can get over how they look)
-Monitor Audio
-Dynaudio: Maybe this brand could be a sweet spot?
-B&W: I’ve tested many and find them lacking in bass presence resulting in a mid forward style. That said the 802 D3’s I auditioned matched the sonic character of their upper ranges very well.
Would be interested in how others describe the house sounds if the brands above…
My speaker dealer didn’t carry Gryphon products, so I schlepped my 90 lbs Diablo to the dealer and auditioned it with a bunch of speakers. There was an ARC 160s lying on the floor minding its own business so we compared it to the Diablo using an Aurender A10 as the solo source. No pre-amp.
Oh My Goodness…. That was a mistake…!
I came in for a new pair of speakers and walked out with a new amp. |
Nyev, This is impossible to do because the same speaker in 5 different rooms is going to have 5 different sounds. You can predict sound stage size and depth to a degree whether a speaker is a point source or a line source. Some speakers such as dipole planars and horn are less room sensitive because they have controlled radiation patterns and do not spray sound all over the place creating a multitude of early reflections. From an amplitude perspective you can make a speaker sound any way you want it to if you get a digital room control unit with 1/3 octave EQ capability. Once you get use to using it you will know exactly what you like and how to get there with any loudspeaker. I like the bass boosted below 100 Hz up 6 dB at 20 Hz a flat midrange and the treble rolled off from 1000 Hz. By 20 kHz I am usually down 6 dB but this depends on the recording, some more, some less. With digital EQ you also are able to balance the channels so that they have the exact same frequency response curve which really sharpens the image. All the speakers you mentioned are excellent and I agree on your evaluation of the looks of Wilsons. I like the workmanship on the Sous Fabers the best. Italians are really good at that. But, I am totally invested in ESLs so perhaps I am not the one to listen to when it comes to dynamic loudspeakers. I would tell you to get Magnepan 20.7s or Sound Labs 545 - 8s. |
@nyev you can find Alexia’s at a reasonable price used, but my bigger point was that I ended up getting rid of the 802 D3 because of bass. And yes, I would say Wilson and B&W, while not having the same signature, certainly both reside in a more neutral land. Keep in mind, that when some of the old timers here say something may be neutral, they probably lost their high frequency hearing decades ago. ;) you definitely need to hear them for yourself. |
