Give Paradigm Founders series a look. I recently went on an exhaustive speaker search. I listened to B&W 702s side by side to a pair of Founders 100Fs. I had in my my that I was going to buy the B&W s but the Paradigms were much better in my opinion. Alot less bright. Better low end. I wasn't looking at Founders at the time, they just happened to be at the dealer I went to to check out the B&Ws. I then thought I better do some more looking. I checked out sonus faber, dali, kef, etc in the 7k price range at different dealers. I brought home a pair of golden ear triton 1s that were on clearance. They were nice but a bit bright to me. I too listen mainly to classic rock and metal. I delve into rap, jazz and about anything else on occasion so I like bass to be solid, smooth mids and not too bright highs. I ended up with the Paradigm 100f s, which I quickly traded in when the Paradigm 120Hs were marked down 15 or 20 % around new years. I got them for about 7.5k. They now retail around 10. They are amazing. Check out there specs. Solid build. Made in Canada. They have 3-8" active woofers each. 1000w internal amps. And have ARC room correction. Which did wonders for my less than perfect room. They fill a large room nicely. Sound good wherever you sit. My chair is obviously the sweet spot but I find that off axis listening is good too. Paradigm also has the Pesrona series which look better and cost more. I have not heard them though. Anyway....worth a look. Good luck!
Non-fatiguing speakers in $10K range?
Some years ago I downsized to headphones only. Now I have access to a dedicated room again, so getting my absorption panels and ASC Tube traps back from storage... :-) The amp is going to be Accuphase E-800. I like class A, and I owned fair share of Pass gear but Pass integrated (and lower preamps) no longer have tape loop. I also like my gear to look the way I enjoy and Pass went too industrial for me.
Anyway, long story short. Speakers. I prefer relaxed, non-fatiguing sound. My headphones are Meze Elites and I love them. I also own Focal Utopia, but rarely listen to them, too forward for me.
Now, music-wise I do not listen to jazz or classical or vocals, sorry. Classic rock, hard rock, 80s new wave, punk, pop (classic and modern) and African blues like Tinariwen. People tend to insta-suggest forward sounding speakers - you like metal, right???. But I don't like piercing sound and I rarely go to concerts exactly because of this. I listen to AC/DC but NOT at 'realistic' revels. I like rhythm, melody, but I don't care about 120 Db.
The budget is about $10K, give or take, most probably second hand, but I can buy new, if I really like it. Unfortunately, there are not that many high end shops around Seattle with gear I like. Some went selling vintage and some went up selling only $100K+ systems. So most probably will be getting something blind.
It seems I should be looking for ribbon tweeters, I spent hours at youtube - it is definitely not listening in person, but some recordings are pretty decent and many show differences between speaker models.
I also compare frequency response measurements - I can easily tell that I won't like the speaker by looking at the chart. Ex, bump around 2-6K is a no-no since this is what "bright" is. Dip is actually good since this is what makes sound less "in your face/ear".
So far I more-or-less narrowed my search down to Legacy (Signature or Focus), Dali 8, ProAc (D48 or K) and - maybe - Magico A3? Legacy is huge, I am not sure I really need 20Hz extension. Magico has beryllium tweeters which may be bright....
I purchased Tannoy D700 many years ago, still own them, they are part of my TV set up. They sound good, but not as good as I would like it. My desktop speakers are ribbons too - AirPulse, I like them quite a bit.
Anything else I am missing?
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- 179 posts total
- 179 posts total