Recommend speakers for me

[slayers]

Originally Posted by Superfrg

On rare occasions, I think about what I would do if I had to start all over Again, with a more limited budget.

For me, I would grab a pair of KEF LS50 or other great Bookshelf speakers, a Parasound Integrated (great sub management with high/low pass for seamless sub integration), the entry lumin streamer without a DAC (excellent software), a good REL sub and the rest of the Cash spent on acoustic treatments.
The list Price here would be around 9K before discounts.

Add CD player, more speakers&receiver for 5.1, or some vinyl if needed.

Yeah i'm really excited about the parasound HINT I'm sure i'll end up getting that

[Randy Myers]

The Parasound sounds very nice. Two worth researching because of their overwhelming ratings as giant killers are the Wyred 4 Sound products and the new Goldmund Job Integrated.

Goldmund is an ultra high end brand out of Switzerland. They make this second brand at similar quality with no advertising, distribution network, dealerships, etc. Instead selling only directly from the company. Very industrial looking (as opposed to the Goldmund brand which is ultra modern ultra exclusive clientele) but sharing parts and same technicians, assembly, etc. The real difference is that Goldmund sells their Job products at about 1/10th the price of similar Goldmund branded equipment. Worth researching....

Wyred 4 Sound is a newer company. They were started by a primary engineer from Cullen Electronics who were the OEM producer for PS Audio among others. When these companies moved their OEM production to China the main engineer started his own company. They are hand made in the United State (Atascadero California). Very highly rated as a true giant killer. They have won awards from all over the industry including The Absolute Sound awards for 5-6 years in a row now. Again worthy of considering if sound and build quality is your main concern.

Just a couple that you might want to look in to. Both offer amps, pre-amps and highly rated integrated amps.

If you can't tell, I am very into giant killer brands; companies that give the sound and quality without paying top dollar for the privilege of owning certain brands...

Example:
The LS50s are one of three models that KEF list as their flagships. The other models are $225k and $35k price range while the LS50 are the model they released to celebrate their 50th anniversary and are generally rated as comparing against other speakers at 5+ times their price....

The Goldmund Job and W4S are detailed above....

Teac is the owner of the extreme high end brand Esoteric. They do "trickle down" some of the technology from Esoteric into the Teac models. As one reviewer stated, you could slap the Esoteric brand on the Teac DAC and sell it for 5 times the price....

[Mikado463]

Assuming your budget is to include everything (source, cabling, amplification, speakers) and also assuming your source will be digital in nature, I'd allocate at least half of your budget for speakers. You can look at the used market for amplification , perhaps an integrated so as to save a few $$(so long as synergy with your speakers is there), used cabling and then your source.

take your time in auditioning speakers for they are the most important in the chain.

[Randy Myers]

I can't disagree, however I would also add that all pieces play important roles. I have seen people in the past put everything into speakers and just pick up an amp to get by and wonder why their expensive speakers sound like dog doo doo.

I would personally say get the right speakers... if you find ones that cost less than half your budget but perform how you like then so be it. There are value speakers out there also.

I have found that each piece has dramatically affected the sound of my system. When I added the Goldmund amp my whole soundstage just opened up. Now that the new pre-amp is starting to break in the system is once again sounding on an entirely new level. Each of these piece have made the amazing KEFs sound even better. The only thing I would add is that I have read many reviews and research papers that state that other components affect the final sound more than some people realize... several actually stated that the pre-amp played probably the biggest part in a high end systems sound quality. Speakers are important, but not always the single most important thing in the final output.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Randy Myers

I can't disagree, however I would also add that all pieces play important roles.

agreed as well Randy, thus my comment with regards to 'synergy' ……….

[Randy Myers]

Exactly.... and price is not always the determining factor.... when I add the price of the KEF and the REL together they were more than each of the other components, but no not by much ... it is all about the synergy... therefore I would say to determine what is most important for you first... and then build your system around that.

To me it is all about sound stage and smoothness... what used to be referred to as the British sound back in my old audiophile days.... so each component I have added are known for those performance leanings ... if that makes sense....

For example, I would never buy a Klipsch, because I am not a fan of horns with the brash knock the walls down sound.... I sold them for years and they were built great, but definitely not my preference... just using Klipsch as an example...

[Superfrg]

I think the best feature of the parasound integrated is the sub integration.
Beeing able to cut off and integrate the speakers and sub seamless is gold.

Im not sure it can be done much cheaper.

[Randy Myers]

Are you talking about a subwoofer pre-amp output? Many Integrated and Pre-amps have that (W4S has 2 sets of RCA outputs and a set of Balanced XLR outputs on their pre-amp). But that depends on the subwoofer. For example, even though the REL has low level inputs, they HIGHLY recommend using high level inputs. They provide a connector that taps into your speaker outputs along with your full range speakers.

[Superfrg]

Im talking about you are able to cut of the mains at a given frequency as well as adding the sub at a given frequency (almost all subs has this built in).

So you could cut off the mains at say 80 hz and add the sub at 80 hz, instead of having the mains playing to their lowest roll of spec and making the sub play from there.
Or even worse, having the sub and mains to double duty at a range.

Like a JL CR-1 crossover.

Another great thing is sharing sub for stereo and HT with different configs.

[Randy Myers]

When auditioning speakers there are some serious factors to consider. Source of course, which you can control by simply taking your own music with you.

Things that are harder to control are which amplifier is being used, is it broken in or was it freshly opened. The same goes for the speakers, have then been out and used or were they just opened. A huge factor.

Equipment all has break in periods, this makes a huge difference on some equipment and to a lesser extent on others. I have noticed all of the pieces sounding better after a couple hundred hours. The pre-amp has been probably the biggest. They even talk about this in their manual. They say that a full 200 hours on playing in needed. I noticed that the pre-amp sounded very bright and kind of harsh for the first 20-30 hours. Now that I am at about 100 hours it is really smoothing out and sounding amazing. Can't wait to hear how good it is after 200 hours!