Warm and accurate bookshelves that can handle volume
Hi and thanks for your help. I have been collecting and trying vintage speakers and ended up with B &.W 803 matrix series II, and also Celestion ls700 Se. The latter are bookshelves and I use them with an NHT SW2 subwoofer. I like them both but prefer the 700s because they more accurately bring out the timbre of orchestral instruments and can be less fatiguing. Troubke is I have a pretty big room and I can’t play full orchestra at realistic volumes on the Celestions without distorting the sound. Are there bookshelves that will be warm, musical and accurate like the Celestions, but can handle volume? Rest of the system is Qutest DAC, RA LS25 II pre, Adcom GSA555 II speakers. Thanks for feedback on which speakers to try. My reading etc suggests Harbeth Spendor Sonus Faber. Locally have tried kef and paradigm, but can’t get to much else. Will travel to try your recommendations. Seems that satellite and sub will be more flexible and cost effective than tower.
@laddy ‘s 2nd posting seems like a winner to me. I recently heard the new MoFi speaker Source Point 10 at Michael Klein’s STEREO Stereo in Pittsburg where they were positively addictive being driven by an ARC I/50 integrated. A modern interpretation of the Original Large Advent on steroids 👍 |
The Dynaudios I linked to earlier play loud. I have the passive version and the maximum SPL per pair at 1 metre spec is 127dB. This is over twice as loud max SPL as Klipsch Heresys. Not too many floor-standing speakers will even play that loud. They are discontinued and hard to find now but the active version’s SPL at 1 meter spec is 124dB per pair and they still make them. I think if you want any louder than that you would probably need JBL Cinema series. |
Outside of the M40s, Harbeths do not handle high SPLs so well. The 8” midwoofers have weak motors not designed for long term high power handling. Search around the web and you’ll find quite a few reports of blown drivers, even cracked cones. The Stirling Broadcast LS3/6 can produce much higher SPL (107dB @ 2m) before significant compression sets in, but it is less sensitive so requires higher power amps. Spendor output capability falls somewhat between those two brands IME. The Larger ATC speakers can probably outdo any of the aforementioned speakers because they have the required motor structures. High power handling with low distortion requires beefy driver motors and suspensions. There’s really no getting around that without adding greater surface area, i.e. larger drivers or more drivers. Even then, a 7” driver with a beefy motor can outperform two mediocre 6” woofers in some cases.
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Same experience here. They sound nice at moderate volume. Even with high current amps they struggle with high SPL. Those who allege they can play clean and loud obviously haven’t compared them to something like ATCs in a large room. In a small room and sitting less than 10’ away they are fine for most music. But this notion that they can handle large scale orchestra at near live levels is laughable—“NFW.” This shouldn’t be surprising when you look at the size and mass of their motor structure. Most drivers of that type can handle about 30 watts continuous power and 70 watts for very short duration. The typical 8” pro audio driver from the likes of Eminence can handle way more power and play far louder, but pick one up and it becomes obvious as to why. The unfortunate truth about many audiophile “loudspeakers,” even rather expensive ones, is they simply aren’t built for high SPL. If anyone wants to bring their M30/C7/SHL5 Harbeths over to my place to compare to perform a high volume shoutout between them and my 2-way Tektons or Stirlings they are more than welcome. Just send me a PM.
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