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M-Lores or Aon 3: bass/imaging

Ok, yet another thread along the lines of "which speakers should I buy?" (I've read a few thousand of them lately). But my question is really coming from the fact that I've never owned floor-standers before. So I'm sort of paralyzed by the fact that I like the idea of the Tekton Mini-Lores--straight-ahead good design--but I can't audition them. "Money back" -$120 total shipping isn't my idea of money back, on my salary... On the other side of the ring currently are the Golden Ear Aons, which claim the same 38Hz bass response. So, opinions and experiences from people with a deeper background with both kinds of speakers is welcome. If not experience with these models, then experience with the underlying technologies. I'm not sure whether or not conventional wisdom regarding floorstanders vs. bookshelves applies in 2013 with these designs.

Context:
1) I'm running a class-D (solid-state-sounding Icepower) amp, and like it a lot. My listening level is only about 82dB at distance, slow-weighted peaks on an SPL meter. So no need to shake the house. Still, 87dB sensitivity seems a good minimum to be safe. This makes some contenders marginal (Dynaudio, Kef, PSB, Ascend). It suggests Tekton and Golden Ear, in particular, although I'm mainly drawn to both for their bass response spec and other design features.
2) This system will be 2-channel music only. A main goal is to switch the subwoofer off for good, since I've never liked the amount of fiddling I've had to do and haven't ever been entirely comfortable with the result.
3) I'm a sucker for a vast sound stage and good imaging, not too far back (my current Axiom M2v2 speakers put the sound stage someplace way back in the neighbor's house). I also tend to be analytical in most things.
4. Low-E on a bass guitar is about 41Hz, I've read, so this is a good target for the bass freq I'm looking to nail. I want it defined and balanced, not accentuated. But I don't want it just "implied" through harmonics (or else the sub stays on).
5. I've always put on headphones when I want to hear detail, having never owned really top-shelf speakers. I can still do that if I get something really fun from the speakers as a trade off for less detail.

Questions:
1) Reading between the lines, it seems like bass response on floor-standers is reported honestly, while on bookshelves a "38Hz" rating or the like seems really to mean roll off below 60Hz. Is that basically how it goes? E.g., Mini-lores will be flat at 38Hz while Golden Ear Aon 3 would be (to make up a number) like -9dB at 38Hz? The Aons seem to rely on wall reflections to get that bass to you, which might be perfectly fine.
2) Both imaging and air-moving bass are about driver size--or so I've read, and it makes obvious sense. Aon 3 claims 7" mid-range driver; Mini-Lore = 8" wideband driver. Seems pretty close... Comments on either or both of these speakers, based either on personal experience or informed supposition? "They" say the mini-lores are "not the most resolving speaker" etc. Hedge, hedge. Do they stack up to the imaging capabilities of smaller good bookshelves or not?

Note that for the mini-lores, I would need to do vineers and/or grills, so it'll be the same price essentially as the Aon 3s.
That's the pricepoint I'm comfortable with.

I've also auditioned the Sjofn "(The Clue)" speakers, and found them to be terrific as a pro tool, but perhaps actually too detailed and too finicky for a room not furnished around them. I'm still considering them, though. Other than the Clues, I've really never heard outstanding speakers in-depth. I have the Axioms noted above, plus Boston Acoustics A40s from 1986, still in service. That's pretty much my speaker-buying history. I can audition the Golden Ears, but it will be a day trip so won't be doing it lightly. Again, no way to hear the Tektons, but I feel pretty confident about them except for the question mark about possibly lesser imaging (versus the Aons lesser bass?). Thanks in advance for opinions and experiences. I guess this post appears to lean toward the Tektons, but in fact the GEs fit the room better, so I'm still very much open, including being open to not buying anything.
adlevision
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
I have a pair of Mirage OMD-15 small floorstanders anchoring my LP-based living room stereo. They use a couple of 5-1/4" woofers in a 41" tall column, augmented by a passive radiator and a downfiring port. They have a nice tonal balance and very natural overall presentation. They originally listed at $2500 in 2007.

Last February I heard a fairly extensive demo of the GoldenEar Aon 3s at a high end audio shop's open house. They were powered by a fairly modest 60 wpc PeachTree integrated amp. Several of the listeners wanted to make sure that the system wasn't being augmented by a subwoofer. It was not. That's how good the bass on the Aon 3s is. You see these modest-sized standmounts and start looking for the subwoofer. I can state with some confidence that the Aon 3s are at least a match for many mid-sized floor standers and beat the pants off compact floor standers. Their bass equals or exceeds my Mirages in that department, and the Mirages are 41"x8"x12". They struggle to get down to 40 Hz while the Aons make it into the 30s with ease.

The Aons are 89dB efficient on 1w input, but they have so much more going for them. The bass is not only strong and extended, it is fast and articulate. The midrange is a marvelous driver and their motion transformer folded ribbon tweeter is totally high end--extension out to 35 Khz and not a hint of the ringing and overshoot so common to dome tweeters. If you judge them purely on sound without considering form factor, they are a stone cold bargain at $999/pair.

The small enclosure with all non-parallel surfaces makes for a clean and quiet enclosure and a small front baffle making for holographic imaging and soundstage. Larger speakers at this price will have cabinet resonances that the Aons simply don't have.

Then there's the fact that GoldenEar has an extensive dealer network, so you will probably be able to audition them without a lot of driving. They even have a couple of dealers in Hawaii. They are easy to drive and sound great with a quality integrated such as the Peachtree or Marantz PM8004, but they are so resolving they will reward high grade electronics upstream.
mikirob
955 posts
 
I'm with Holley on this one and I'm also "mystified" by
Bigshutterbug's statement regarding the Tektons, even tough I greatly
respect Bigshutterbug's opinions. My Tekton Lores have wonderful bass in
my 16x14x9 room. It also has good detail, wide, deep soundstage. Wall-to-
wall with great height as well. Male and female voices are right there front
and center. They sound live. Timbre and color saturations are spot on. The
Lore is dynamic, toe tapping PRAT. And when you factor in their cost, one
of the high end bargains.

My brother owns the M-lore connected to a Leben CS600. The bass is not
as deep as the Lore obviously, but it gets down below the Low-E string on
an electric bass guitar with aplomb. In every other respect it is similar to the
Lore.
Good luck!
tonyangel
309 posts
 
I have to admit that all of the buzz going around with the mLores also sparked my interest, which led to a bit of reading up on them.

A poster above mentioned tilting the speakers back to get it so that the listener is in the sweet spot. I've seen this mentioned several times in my research and it bothers me a bit.

Is it to say that you have to be sitting in a sweet spot to enjoy these speakers at their best? How narrow is this sweet spot? Is there so much phase shift (I think that's the term) that you are compelled to tilt the speaker back.

If this is so, it seems to me that there is a fundamental design flaw in that the speakers should have been made a bit taller.
magnumpi205
504 posts
 
Just got back from Newport show and heard many monitors again.
The Goldenears are great little monitors. Don't dicount the bass, very well tuned passive raditor.
I have the Silverline Minuet Supreme +s and would say the voicing of the GE and SMS are very similar with the large edge to the GEs in the bass.
5-Pioneer 22
4-Music Hall Marimba
3-Silverline Minuet Supreme +
2-Goldenear 2&3
1-KEF LS50
adlevision OP
11 posts
 
Thanks for all the great feedback. And the winner IS::: Both are great speakers! 'Course, I knew that, but I'm very glad to hear more first-hand accounts and it does seem like I would be satisfied bass-wise with either, since my goal is, to put it stupidly, for the bass note to be a solid "dommm" instead of a "hrmmmmm" (subwoofer off) or "blrrrf" (subwoofer on). My current sub is a Klipsch RW-8--inexpensive, but I really resisted investing $$ in a sub. I'll probably go with the Golden Ears because they will fit the room better than the M-Lores and I am sort of a detail freak. I might get the M-Lores later for the larger front room, next time I get the upgrade bug.

Regarding TonyAngel's comment, I agree, and wonder if people may be listening under the influence of conventional wisdom by thinking they need to raise the Mini-Lores. Seems like Eric knows what he is doing and designed them to be floor-standers. I've read that, especially with wide-band drivers, it's not about leveling the tweater, but the sonic center of the speaker, which on the M-Lores would be the 8" wideband driver. But of course it's about individual ears and rooms, and I ain't heard'em.

Good to know that bass freq response figures on floorstanders reflect roll-off the same way the specs on bookshelf speakers do.

I also like this comment and need to think more about it: "Even though a floor stander may be capable of delivering better bass, you may not be able to realize
the benefits of the added bass. This is because putting the speakers where the bass response is best is likely not going to be the position where the
speakers image the best, and placing the speakers where they image the best is unlikely to produce the best bass response."
...this seems to make sense and will have something to do with wall proximity and room size, but I'd have to experiment to figure it out fully. In my specific listening room, the speakers would need to be a maximum of 1 foot from side walls. I wonder if this would be even enough to avoid boominess/boxiness in a small floorstander (it does fine for my small bookshelf speakers, but an inch closer to the wall or too close to the back wall and they become terrible).
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