Speakers for loud listening. really loud...


Hi, I own a nice little McIntosh/Totem system and I absolutely love the sound for most music, especially piano and cello stuff.

As much as I love classical music, I also listen to some heavy rock/metal music. My McIntosh MC7300 amp can output plenty of power, but according to Totem's website, my Totem Hawk loudspeakers can only handle about 120W of power. These speakers are beautiful both aesthetically and sonically, but they have pretty low sensitivity (86dB).

Whenever I want to listen to heavy music such as Tool, Incubus, Metalica, etc, I keep on reminding myself to watch the power amp's watt meter to make sure it doesn't go over 150W, although I sometimes let it go over 200W for a short time. Even at that level, the sound isn't satisfyingly loud enough for me.

I love the Totem sound, and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a good rock/metal speakers. The price range should be below $2500 used and I'd like them to have a good power handling. Oh and the speakers don't necessarily need to be produced by Totem. One last thing, my listening room's pretty small, if not tiny (10 x 13ish).

Thanks,
spacekadet
OK Sean, I'll bite! You said, "...my idea of "rocking" is probably MUCH different from that of most folks...". Care to clarify that statement?
Spacekadet, don't forget that as your volume goes up, and your bass response goes lower, you will need to increase acoustic room treatments to enjoy the sound. Also, you must increase the vibration isolation for your audio components! Listening rooms, as well as audio equipment, can have "distortion"!
Yeah you're going to have to go with much more sensitive speakers, active speakers, or do serious bass management crossed over to powered subwoofer(s)! The last is a good quick try for your. Add a subwoofer, an AV pre/pro, do bass managment, and the dynamic range of your sysetm will go up temendously! It will take the strain off your speakers, and make the active powered sub do all the hard dyanmic work down low, were it counts the most!
I suggest this last as your first step when you are "ROCKIN".