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Deciding on the right huge speaker

Say you had decided that it was time to buy the speakers of your dreams, that you were willing to spend $30K for a pair and that you were going to utilize the full services of a dealer if necessary (ie, you're willing to pay list, more or less).

We all say it's essential to listen to your potential purchases before committing, preferably in your own setting. If you were choosing between, say, the Dynaudio Temptations, the Dunlavy SC-VI, the new Snell XA (in this months Stereophile), the Krell LAT-1 and a pair of Wisdom Audio's, how would go about getting an evaluation of this field? All of these speakers are huge, both in terms of dimensions and in terms of weight. How do you go through the process with some sense that you're going to make the "right" choice? -Kirk

kthomas
natalie
404 posts
 
We still need to know the size of your room to see of any of the speakers you chose would be appropriate.
kthomas OP
911 posts
 
My room is 14x18x7.5 and would clearly not be appropriate for any of the speakers I (or anyone else) has mentioned. Again, I'm asking out of curiousity for the process, not because I'm going to go do this right now.

Phantom1 - you're absolutely right that you should start with looking for what you like, not by deciding how much to spend. You raise an interesting variable which is how would you evaluate a really big, vintage speaker. All of the excellent advice about visiting shows and travelling (even by plane) to dealers wouldn't work if you were trying to buy a 300lb. vintage speaker (obviously) used. -Kirk

audiokinesis
2,754 posts
 
Kirk -

Thanks for your kind words above! I appreciate your taking the time to post them. You really made my day!

Should the time arrive that you embark on that quest for your last pair of speakers, you'll run into a sobering reality - even at price ranges as high as 30 grand ballpark, you'll still have to make tradeoffs! The thing to do is figure out what qualities matter the most to you, and what you're willing to trade off to get them. As far as I know there is no speaker that really "does it all", but some speakers to some things extremely well.

As far as your present room size goes, several of the speakers mentioned would work well in your room, assuming you could position them properly. I know the big Maggies and Sound Labs would work well in that size room, and more than likely the Audio Artistry Beethovens would as well. Note that these all use dipole bass loading, which significantly minimizes the room's influence on the bottom end. Disclaimer - I peddle Sound Labs.

There are probably four general types of loudspeakers one might consider: High efficiency systems; full-range dipole systems; omnidirectional or polydirectional systems; and conventional systems. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and would be worth experiencing if you haven't already done so.

Best wishes to you.
stehno
1,453 posts
 
To answer your first question only. Based on my reading the reviews only on the speakers you mention, I would select the Dynaudio Temptations. Not to mention that the Temptation's sonic characteristics are about 90% of the Masters which sell for $80k.

All the others (not sure about the Wisdoms) appear to have 1 or more serious shortcomings when compared to the Temptations.

The Temptation is the best looking of the bunch also.
blackie
221 posts
 
I agree with Stehno. I have heard the Temptations and they are awesome, they really are about %90 of the performance of the Masters at less then half the price. IMHO they are way more natural then the Krell LAT1 or the Wilson Maxx.
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