SVS Speakers... I am not happy, can anyone help (1 Viewer)

[Ralph B]

I bought into SVS early on, I love my 25_31PC+ and wouldn't trade it for anything.


but the big mistake here is buying a 5.1 system for 2-ch music. I own Paradigm Monitor 7's (V.3), CC-370, Sapphire Surrounds and of course the SVS. its great for movies and SACD/DVD-A.

but when it comes to stereo music, nothing comes close to my Vintage amp and a pair of Original Large Advent speakers. my Paradigms just dont cut it for stereo music with or without the sub, not even close.

 

[urjo]

Okay, finally... Removing all the speakers and cables, I reconnected them precisely, aligned them with Denon at 6 different positions and played a DVD for with 5.1 options and it was great for the price. Then I played a classical CD with just the Stereo (2 speakers) on and the sound was great. I am still saying great with some hesitance. Yet, the sound is far better than before. I changed the set up well and obtained a great sound. Sounds better than my friend's B&W speakers for sure...

At this moment, I worked enough and spent enough; yet I am still willing to spent about 2k more which I have saved just for speakers. SVS Sub is awesome, and speakers are good; however, I am open to other options for speakers; I guess I could be weird to say this but I still would like more in quality as far as the speakers are concerned.
Few friends of mine already said enough is enough to me, but how can I explain that all this is not enough and I still need more…

If anyone can recommend a pair of good bookshelf speakers or Mid-size Main speakers that can be under 3k will be great...( May be B&W CM 9 can be an option? )

Many thanks for all the help, without this forum, I can’t imagine getting any help in such way..

~urjo

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Why bother spending 3K on speakers, to listen to MP3's????

 

[Rakie]

Oh, I must have missed something, I didn't hear anything about mp3's !

 

[Ralph B]

why do you assume bookshelf is what you want ? mabybe in your room a full range speaker is what you need.


if music is really what you want, I don't care what anyone says. nothing beats a full range loudspeaker.

my Paradigms are no slouch for towers either, they go very low and are large speakers and even those don't cut it. (unless you like what cd's sound like today and the mastering)

I have heard some nice bookshelf speakers, some nice vintage too. but music sounds best to me on a large full range loudspeaker. I still don't understand why you bought a 5.1 setup for 2-ch sound.

 

[Rakie]

I think he's going through the learning process, it seems that he assumed more speakers = better fuller sound that would "Surround" the room.

Which we know isn't quite the case.

A nice full range speaker is what will do it for you. The average listener CAN be fooled bye those itty bitty Home Theater in a Box speakers for music like Rock, metal, or what have you..

But the moment you put something REALLY dynamic on there, or something recorded from the 60's and 70's (Thats NOT re-mastered) or symphonic music you will hear just how much they lack.

Music now is limited pretty harshly (Think of Limiting as you would think of Compression, squishing the signal thus raising the volume of everything, squashing dynamics).

Basically what im saying is a nice powerful receiver and nice big full range speakers (With or without sub, thats up to you) will really give you the sound you desire for the music you listen to. Think of subs as an accent, you don't have to have it shaking the house like an explosion, just set it up to get the nice full body resonance of the double bass, and cello. A nice sub dialed in right for your room makes *WONDERS* out of Pizzicato playing.

 

[Doug_H]

Urjo

I think the SVS are very good speakers, especially for movies. If you wish to set up with a music priority and have the space, which it sound like you do, consider going to magnepan. These magneplaner speakers address the issues you are voicing.

I have a full 5.1 setup with the maggies and for music they are hard to beat at any price.

 

[urjo]

Yes, i am going through the learning process. I saved this money to gear a very good system and i know that after this purchase, i will not make much purchase to it for a while and therefore, i don't want to adjust for little when i can get more.

I am open to Full Range speakers too... to answer the recent post, i don't listen to MP3 or hookup IPOD in that way. Buying the appropriate music cd is my way to go... However, once in a while i do play MP3 through computer...

What can i say, things are a little difficult for me when there are so many choices, so much various technology and little knowledge and experience that i have.

So, yes, i am open to Full range speakers that would be around 3k. Any suggestions will do...

Thank you
~urjo

 

[David Willow]

Why not replace the SVS bookshelves with MTS-01 Tower Speakers (also from SVS).

If you must stay with bookshelves, then you must include the sub when listening in stereo. Those little speakers cannot go low enough without lots of help.

 

[Rakie]

Very true

But he said in his last post he's open to suggestions for full range speakers so he might go for those SVS towers you suggested.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

I have a Bookshelf + Sub setup in my bed room and full range floor standers + sub in the living room. While my bookshelf setup sounds very good, I will always prefer full range or near full range mains for 2channel.

 

[Ralph B]

right on, bro!

listen to any cd up until the mid 80's and most of it was mastered pretty flat and sounds really good. the late 80's and on is when it started getting bad, still even the late 80's cd's weren't too bad.


no speaker in the world will make todays cd's sound good. hoepfully this trend will end soon, it has gone on way to long.

if you are a fan of old music that was mastered correctly, then yes, treat yourself to some nice full range speakers. but I wouldn't try and chase nice sound today if you are listening to cd's of today.

 

[Ralph B]

oh boy, would I like to try a pair of those. eventually.......

 

[Ralph B]

you don't have to put a price tag on it, good sound doesn't have to cost alot.

 

[Rakie]

Well, one of the reasons for this is younger people like their music louder and louder, and it's much easier getting sound "Loud" with heavy limiting if they can't afford an amp that really pushes some signal.

The fundamentals of mixing music hasn't changed much, and a lot of that good old analog gear is still HEAVILY in use, namely those beautiful compressors that add all that nice pretty full rich tone like, the Universal Audio 1176LN Black Face, Silver Face (Different sound) the LA-2A and LA-3A. All these great tools and add amazing sound.

you still dial in EQ's in the same frequencies to pull the slap out of the kick drum, and the "metal" out of a guitar, or the nice smooth lows on a piano.

But man, that hard limiting... It just sounds like everybody is turned up to 11 the whole time, all that dynamic range gets squashed (Which works for pretty much Metal, and Rap / Hip hop / RnB) Thats really the main thing that changed.

Keep in mind, the average consumer can't distinguish the difference between 176.4kHz on $12,000 studio monitors, or 128kbps mp3 on iPod earbuds.

 

[Ralph B]

I truly don't believe young people REALLY like it, just thats what the industry has pushed to "stand out" and alot of kids only know what they have grown up listening to.

I have shown some young ones the difference and when they realize it, they really are amazed.

I believe there has been alot of good music that had a short life span because of this. it really is a shame cause although the music can be great, if your ears can't take it, you aren't gonna listen again and again.

I tell people..... ever wonder why you are really in the mood to listen to a cd only to realize 10min in , you really were not in the mood to listen to it and shut it off ? ya, thats mastering today.


eventually this will come to an end, it has to. It's like watching HDTV then trying to watch standard definition. eventually people have to be educated or realize it. people take pride in what their eyes see buying HDTV's, but yet ignore what the ears tell them when it comes to music.

 

[Ralph B]

to touch a but more.......

my nephew who is an ipod freak heard me playing a great old sounding cd on my Large Advents. he shocked me by saying he thinks those speakers sound "GREAT", he said it again and again. he couldn't believe it when I told them how old they were (and how ugly the drivers are). right there I knew young people really didn't like what they have been trained to hear.

he was truly amazed how great music can sound and thats when I knew there is hope. he now buys old cd's (he likes the old music anyway) but he searches out old cd's for great sound and asks me whats the best pressing for certain artists. I never thought in a million years he would ever notice.

but he did and on his own.

 

[urjo]

I never knew the difference in recording thats happening now days but i love the recordings of the 80's. Sounds so beautiful and flat yet i hate how the bass is mixed up in the latest R&B, Pop and all that...

Most of the kids are listening to the trash; they always keep their ipods plugged while they are walking, talking, int he subway and they keep the ipod on random selection. I can't imagine to do that to myself. I have specific number in mind when i want to listen something and i listen about 10-12 songs a day but precisely selected. It just gives a different approach and appreciation to music and the energy as well.

So, i am going out now to 83rd & Lexington ave (NYC) to check out the Magnepan speakers. The B&W CM9 have not arrived and will arrive in showroom in a week time. I will wait on that one as well. I have a great feeling about SVS full range and i think i will settle with that but before i do that, i will go around the world at least twice. Will i ever give up... not so fast i guess...

 

[Ralph B]

very smart my man.

go demo for yourself and see what you like, the best way to do it.


I am glad to hear you listen to quality music. I can never understand when I hear a young person today say old cd's are too quiet. yet with todays cd's I can barely get the volume past 1/4 the way up on my 50WAC amp. but an old cd I can crank past halfway and the more you crank those old cd's or better yet old vinyl the better they sound. you can really hear the depth in the music and really get into it.

but todays music is ruined by todays mastering. I still buy new music I "have to have" but it doesn't get the repeated play it would have if mastered correctly.

even the old artists that release new music let their music be ruined. that really shocks me and I cannot understand it. I swear some cd's are so bad you would think they had a built in amp. its truly is terrible and I cannot understand how an artist can live with their music being ruined or not know its going on, or worse, ask for it or know/let it happen.

good luck on your search, I will be interested to see what you come up with. my towers go low and have great bass, but are a bit bright for my tastes but was the best I could find for my budget when I was looking for a 5.1 system. I wish SVS was making speakers when I was looking, when I got my sub from them thats all they made at that time

 

[Rakie]

Well thats because of the limiting as I said. The old CD's ARE a lot quieter, in their own way. One thing I think you're not counting on is you have a nice system... People who DON'T have a nice system, can't really get the sound out of those old LP's and Original recordings, thats why the signals are crushed so hard, to take advantage of POS speakers.

When we mix down crucial tests are POS computer speakers and stock car stereo's. Because thats where the majority of the music will be heard, so thats how it's made. And with POS speakers a really crushed signal is going to sound loud, and kids want loud most the time, as they get older they appreciate the sound quality more.

Ooh, also. The artist has little say in what happens, unless a band member is also the producer. Producer calls the shot, thats more or less end of story. Kinda sad, but it's all about the money man, find what works, get everything that sounds like it, every flavor of the month, do it till nobody can stand it anymore then find somethin' new. "Boy Bands" was the longest lasting gimmick, I think.




Urjo, one last suggestion. You might want to look into a nice 2 channel EQ so you can really dial in the sound you want *AFTER* you're used to w/e speakers you settle with.