Big Stupid Warm Speakers


I'm getting ready for a speaker change. I've owned B&W 804 matrix speakers for about 12 years now. While I've enjoyed the refinement of them there's always been something missing.

Yes that's right, and that something might be BIG STUPID WOOFERS. Some of my favorite speakers ever were a pair of Infinity's I paid $300 for in 1979. They had 15 inch woofers, tweeters that were harsh and not the greatest, but these things roared like an angry lion even when no music was playing. When it was playing, about anything from Oingo Boingo to Mozart was a visceral experience.

Now with upper end speakers, you don't know there's bass until there's supposed to be, the tweeters are refined and realistic sounding, there's some wonderful imaging etc. But it's somehow too polite - I want to get back some of the warmth from the big woofer days. And no, using a sub isn't the same thing.

I remember being in a high end store about 10 years ago when a Polk Rep was there showing this huge new Polk speaker that was just incredible sounding. Big warm, realistic, detailed -awesome. I asked the store owner when he'd be getting them. He rolled his eyes and said, "Our customers are too discriminating for this type of speaker. The bottom end was way out of control."

So maybe I want out of control instead of polite. Can anyone put me in the direction of some BIG STUPID WARM SPEAKERS that still have some refined and high end attributes? The rest of my system is all Cary HT that retails for around $10K.

Cary Cinema 6 Preamp Processor
Cary Cinema 5 Multichannel amp (200 WPC)
Cary Cinema DVD 6 (incredible with CD's)

Even though the system is HT, the electronics do very well with music. And even the they're Cary components, they're solid state - but easy on the ears. I listen to Classical, Jazz, Electronic, Bluegrass, etc.
Oh yeah, and looking to spend under $3K/pair.

Has anyone else gone through this? Any speaker recommendations? Thanks.
larryb
Actually I heard some Martin Logans today. Maybe they weren't warmed up or something, but the bass sounded very tubby and ill defined.

I've also heard the Legacy and Dunlavy might be good candidates elsewhere. Now that I have good electronics, I'm not really looking for high efficiency, especially if it hides or colors the electronics.

The Vandersteens I heard and were unimpressed with were the 2 series. I'll keep a lookout for the 3's or 5's going used. Thanks again for all the suggestions.
More money than you planned on,but the Vienna acoustic Mahlers would fit the bill.
Your description matches the sound of a favorite speaker of mine.

If you don't mind buying used, a pair of Alon IVs would give you big, warm sound with lotsa bass and still be open, unboxy and refined on top. The have a huge soundstage, are very coherent top to bottom, and very dynamic. They're heavy, and they need to be tri-wired, but they are much loved by their owners. They usually go for around $1100-1400 here on A-gon. They can overwhelm a small room but are highly effective in medium to large rooms. They'reone of the best kept secrets in audio.

I have the Alon Vs (which has better controlled woofers and more balanced sound - the IVs are on the warmish side) and have used Cary equipment with them. (Currently using Herron electronics) and I think your Cary gear would be a great match.

Alon by Accarion is now Nola Speakers - they don't really have anything comparable in the present line-up. But go to their website nolaspeakers.com and look up the reviews for the Alon IVs. They sound just like what you're looking for. (Not that it matters, but the IVs were Class B in Stereophile years ago. Don't hold that against them.)
Great thread
I feel the same way. I would suggest a pair of the old Boston Acoustics A400's. Two eight inch woofers, one 6.6 inch midrange, one 1 inch ferro filled dowm tweeter. The A400's weigh about 70 pounds each. The have plenty of bottom end and great mids and highs, with a nearly ideal frequency response. If you find a nice pair they'll be well worth it.

Cheers,
Nocaster.