"High Quality" 2 channel systems and HT (2 Viewers)

[Charles Gurganus]

Shara, I'd like to know what you found lacking in the Stage One? Music, movies?

 

[Roger_Martinez]

how in the hell am i supposed to make a decision here? revel, b&w, m&k, aci, aerial, nht, paradigm, gr research, rosebud, jm lab, spendor, kef, i mean wtf?

i do know that i like to listen to reference level music in both 2 and 4 channel, and i like the idea of being able to play dvd's at reference levels. ok, we've got that idea taken care of.

i like hip hop to chamber music ok, and my room is about 17x20x8 with one side of the ceiling tapered down (roof angle). alright?

now , i think i want to get rid of my ml aerius speaks as they are not very forgiving off axis and i can't realistically spend more than 5k for the front left and right speaker pair. i live in nowhereville, sc so its not easy to demo speakers but i do think the b&w's tweeter is not for me, and that some other speaks are just not very nice to look at. curb appeal is a consideration i guess.

any ideas for this hopeless wanderer?

 

[Roger_Martinez]

i'm sorry , i'm way off topic here, unless of course you have free advice

 

[EarlR]

Roger,
Get a pair of Aerial Acoustics Model 7B. These are great looking, sound fantastic, and can handle anything you want to throw at them. The Aerial’s are not fatiguing, unlike some speakers, you can listen for hours and still want to hear more. They retail for about $5,000, so they fit in your budget.

Earl

 

[Scott Oliver]

Personally don't think you are off topic at all.

My free advice is as follows:

There are a ton of different speaker brands out there as you pointed out, what you need to decide is what type of speaker you are lookng for. What qualities of all those so often mentioned speaker descriptive terms are most important to you. You mention that you don't like speakers that have narrow sweet spots or poor off-axis performance. That will eliminate some choices, such as Martin Logan and Magneplanar and most other bipolar designs. Poor aesthetics will eliminate some others, etc.

Do a lot of research on the web and in print magazines, find the speakers brands that in reviews over and over have the qualities that you desire mentioned in the review as their strengths. If you need a list of good websites for reviews online then email me. Personally, I have found a lot of the online magazines to have better reviews then most of the print magazines. But a mixture of user feedback, amateur reviews, print reviews and online reviews will typically give you a good feel for the qualities of something. Of course you always have to have your BS detector on, and of course it is always better to hear them in person. I actually bought my last speakers unheard, because they weren't carried locally. But before rushing in to this I had researched various speakers for over a year and had listenend to everything locally and just didn't find something locally that had everything I wanted to my ears. So ended up taking the leap of faith and ordered them from a place in Atlanta, but even before this I had conversations witht the current distributor, old distributor, speaker designer, dealer, and privately emailed some owners with specific questions.

Speaking of Atlanta, there is a lot of A/V specialty stores there, and I think it would be greatly beneficial for you to take a day trip there. Do some research for what stores there are and set some appointments ahead of time, then get down there and listen. Of course, it would be a good idea to try and narrow your list a bit so you can a spend a good amount of time with only the speakers you believe to be a good match with your preferences.

Now with that out of the way some speakers that I would suggest you look into outside of Aerial would be Totem Hawks, Dynaudio Special 25, JM Reynaud Offrande, ATC SCM 20, Spendor S100, Harbeth Monitor 30, Revel M20, and Joseph Audio 22Si. I think this list is inclusive of all sorts of presentation styles and I believe all are good looking and would perform better off-axis then the Martin Logans. Do some research for not only those speakers but other designs by the same speaker manufacturer and I think researching these will help you find out what kind of speaker style you are looking for.

 

[Roger_Martinez]

yes, thanks for the detailed reply scott.

upon indulging in some extracurricular activities yesterday afternoon....and doing some more critical listening to my setup, i've come to realize some of the things i want my system to do better. it seems overwhelming at first but the more and more i listen, the more i have a better idea as to what makes me happy. midrange is definitely lacking in my setup and i can't decide whether it is due to my smallish amp or cuz of the ML's themselves. i remember reading somewhere about the midrange capabilities being somewhat weak.

that being said, i passed it by the wife, (and child) , yesterday, and she ok'd the whole deal of starting over with a totally new setup. we just bought a house and i think i am finally going to have a room solely dedicated to 2 channel.

that's the way i'm leaning for now, start with the sweet 2 channel setup and when the funds permit, dive into home theater. i want to do 2 channel the right way before i get in to 5 speakers.

thanks for the input and i'll do some research into those speakers you all have mentioned. happy hunting boys, and girls . roger

 

[Scott Oliver]

Nice wife!

 

[Cary P]

listening primarily to 2 channel music but want the capabilities to do 5.1 surround for movies and dvd-a. i heard that they will re-release dark side of the moon on dvd-a soon, and so i want to have a pretty sweet system to listen to it on.

Roger,

The upcoming Denon 2900 universal SACD/DVD-A player might be a good match for your Denon AVR-3300 receiver, if your receiver has 5.1 analog inputs. This would allow you to do 5.1 surround for movies, and SACD/DVD-A for music listening.

Oh, and by the way, Dark Side of Moon was just released in hybrid multichannel SACD format on March 25th.

Cary

 

[Roger_Martinez]

so here's my next question after doing some more reading...

it seems in the high end arena of speakers, the deciding factor might just come down crossover materials and design. i mean, how else can a 2 way design from joseph audio compete (and cost more!!) than , say , a 3 or 4 way speaker from aerial or someone else??? does this make sense?

i guess i really need to hear a really good 2 way speaker to be convinced that it will sound as good as a 3 way. and so this brings out the question , who makes the best crossovers?? anyone can build a beautiful cabinet and put their own "proprietary" drivers in and tweak until the specs come out pretty , but it seems that the crossover is somewhat less understood by me, the consumer....

i could be way off here, of course.

 

[BruceD]

Roger,

Yea, If I were you I'd go listen to the Dynaudio Special 25 for a 2-way design that is about as good as it gets.

 

[Chris Elm]

Hi guys. I have a few questions for you concerning this type of setup:

Right now I am running an old Carver amp (225 wpc)/Luxman preamp setup with Klipsch RF 3II towers. I just ordered a 22-31 PCi (on-borad amp) from SVS. My dad now needs his equipment back, so I am looking to replace the system. For the time being, I am looking for a system solely for audio music (no TV).

2 questions:
Could I use an old receiver as a preamp in this case, or would I need to go purchase a seperate preamp, for use with a new amplifier.

Where does the sub come into play, assuming you guys use one for two channel stereo. Can you connect one to a Preamp somehow, or am I out of luck?

Thanks for your input.