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Best Floorstander Under 10K?

This thread is prompted by another that started to head in this direction. I've been looking for over a year for an attractive floorstanding speaker with outstanding musicality in a two channel application. Much of what I've heard has been pretty disappointing--barely or not at all bettering my Harbeth Compact 7's at $2500. I'm interested in hearing from folks who are passionate about their floorstanders. These could be current production or something from past years that provides excellent sound and value. Perhaps I've missed the diamond in the rough. My listening room has grown to 26 X 14 X 9 and I really would like to find something the wife will find attractive/unobtrusive and provide a fuller sound but preserving the "rightness" of the Harbeths. Any thoughts?
128x128dodgealum
theaudiotweak
2,801 posts
 
That profit is applied to the advertising budget making that product's perceived value to be much greater than the total sum of all its parts..After all the end user bought the product based on perception often conceived by someone else.The end user's purhcase is fuel for the next product cycle.And so life goes on..Tom
lrsky
1,118 posts
 
Good thought Tom, the mystique however misplaced, is perpetuated by the marketing.
"Is it better than Bose.?" I could have vomited, but he was completely serious.
How can anyone look at their particle board cabinets and pseudo zoomy looks and not see through that "Captain Midnight" technology.
This, is the premise, and I am not exaggerating, of the Bose 901.
Since 89% of all sound we hear (presumably musical) is reflected, their design pointed 9 of the 10 drivers in the 901, away from the listener. Now, I don't think that one has to be an MIT Grad to figure out that we have just INCREASED the amount of reflected sound, by making what should be direct sound, reflected, by doing this.
This is meathead physics, and Amar Bose has made this into a Billion dollar company. Oh well, as Adolph Hitler said, (paraphrasing as my memory, as well as other body issues has become shorter these days) "The bigger the lie, the easier it is to pass off."
If only someone with Bose's resources would actually pursue audio perfection. It actually staggers my mind that I can, in my very first attempt, build a speaker better than almost everyone out there. Not a commercial, just disgusted.
classikaudio's avatar
classikaudio
16 posts
 
go for the proac d38, it is great and sounds much more expensive than 8000.
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum OP
1,405 posts
 
Thanks, Classicaudio. I am interested in the D38. I heard the 3.8 once and liked it very much. How does the new series D38 compare? There hasen't really been much out there about the new series.
laurenceusa
10 posts
 
I hope you have the opportunity to audition the Ruark Solstice before making a decision. All I have to say about them is that they they sound like music. Unfortunately they're out of production because the components became too expensive for the price point they were selling at. I'm very happy with my Ruark Equinox, ($4K retail) which was the model below the Solstice. I would take them over a shrill, beamy sound of a B&W or the hi-fi sound of a Wilson Watt (at 20X the cost) any day.
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