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Best Sounding L/R Speakers for DVD/BD Movie Sound? > $4K/pair

If you're a vintage DVD/BD movie collector like me you're likely to have been less than thrilled by the audio quality of lots of discs in your collection. I'm especially talking about movies from the mid 1940s through the mid 90s. Of course, there are a small handful of blessed exceptions, all BD editions: “Double Indemnity” (1944); “Whirlpool” (1949); "North by Northwest" (1959); “Collector” (1965); "PJ" (1967); “Colossus: The Forbin Project” (1972); “Conversation” (1974); “Love & Death on Long Island” (1996)
 

But if you do own such titles produced between those five decades don't many sound compressed-and possibly with a somewhat noisy high end, if there is much HF response at all? Any other aspects about the sound which you often find troublesome?

So, if you have spent at least $4K or more on L/R speakers-and maybe also $1K or so on a center speaker-then on a scale of 3 to 10, with 10 being most satisfied, how do most of your oldest or most of your DVD and BD movie titles sound to you?

Please share make/model of those speakers.

ajant
james633
1,023 posts
 

Speakers from Harman are real easy to listen to due to them having a drop of about 5db from bass to treble. They are detailed still but just an easy listen. I had a pair of 228be and while not by favorite speaker I owned they were outstanding for movies, they were clear with zero harshness. They need subs for sure. As a whole the the brand is super smooth and never harsh. Classic rock on the em was 100% enjoyable and should translate to older movies fine. 
 

used or sale 226be should be in your price range. The 208F would be a good buy too and cheap used. 
 

note the estimated in room chart toward the bottom and the even dispersion. They play nice… no oddities.  
 

https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/revel_f226be/

 

ajant OP
76 posts
 

Speakers from Harman are real easy to listen to due to them having a drop of about 5db from bass to treble. They are detailed still but just an easy listen. I had a pair of 228be and while not by favorite speaker I owned they were outstanding for movies, they were clear with zero harshness. They need subs for sure. As a whole the the brand is super smooth and never harsh. Classic rock on the em was 100% enjoyable and should translate to older movies fine.

Yes, I knew that someone visiting this thread would recommend Revel speakers for this somewhat sorry application for sub-hi-fi quality movie sound. I am especially lucky that you were a prior owner of one of that brand’s best models. https://www.revelspeakers.com/products/types/floorstanding/F228BE-.html?dwvar_F228BE-_color=Black-GLOBAL-Current&cgid=floorstanding

https://www.stereophile.com/content/revel-performa-f228be-loudspeaker-measurements

Insufficient bass from the mains is no problem; I have four Rythmik F12 subs. But I was surprised that a beryllium tweeter-known to be as resolving as ESLs-would be forgiving of less than pristine source material-like lots of movies-and deliver a very smooth sound. Is that because of the 5db dip in the HF response?

But what was it about this speaker which did not completely satisfy you? The size of the 3D sound stage, dispersion, imaging, midrange tonality, lack of air in the highs and mids, weak midbass, vocal clarity and authority, off-axis response, musical instrument timbre?

Did you find all of those desired qualities in another speaker?

BUT would it be too resolving for movie quality sound?

If no, which make/model?

james633
1,023 posts
 

I think beryllium gets a bad rap because the tweeters are often elevated to highlight them. But really the material self damps and has far less ringing than other materials. Revel’s tweeter/tuning is super smooth and a hair rolled off if anything. They are easy to listen to at any volume. There are lots of measurement around of them that show they are lower distortion. The details are always there but never forced.

I sold them simply because I found a speaker I like better (the JBL 4367) which is tuned similar (a touch more rolled off in the highs and a bit warmer in the 90-100hz range). I found the JBL to be more dynamic, detailed and generally sound more like real instruments but this is not fault of the very good revels (direct A/B comparison in my own room). The 4367 is just special. The downside is the sound stage is much smaller on the JBL due to much less room interaction (narrow dispersion both horizontally and vertically) and it is the ugliest speaker ever created.

the revels really do no wrong, they have no fault but they don’t really stand out either. I could not listen to revels without subs. Highpass at 60hz makes them super enjoyable. The sounds stage is very wide or as wide as the room will allow. It is not as deep as some speakers but not bad either. It is very stable even when moving around the room with a wide sweet spot. They do all the technicalities well. Compare to cost no object stuff the revels could use better front baffles and crossover parts in the sub network. The fit and finish is so so and they look a little tacky to me (picture of my system in my profile).

I am sure there are other speakers that meet your requirements, the Revel be line is just one I have heard. For example I found even the Sonus Fabor Olympica 3 brighter in the treble (also a touch scooped out in the upper mids) and more round in the mid bass.

the short version is I would own the revels again. I could to talked into a pair of 328be or Salons pretty easily. I would have a hard time over looking Revel in general if price is an issue. The F208 gets pretty close to what can be done for a very modest price. The 226be or 228be on sale/used is a good buy too. To better them I think more specialty speaker with associated prices are required (think Vivid, magico, etc).

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