Selah Audio,possibly the Gallos (3 or Ultimate).
Need help generating a short list
Greetings,
Well, I'm parting with my original VR-4's, which have served me well for many years. In some ways, I wonder if I'm making a mistake selling them, as they're still a wonderful loudspeaker even by today's standards.
At this point, I'd like to consider a more "lively" loudspeaker. The VR-4's are very "warm" sounding, and easy to listen to. The downside to this presentation is a lack of dynamics and impact. Bass extension is not an issue with the VR-4's, but the slam of a kick drum, the pluck of a bass, or the crack of a rim shot just isn't there. Having played the drums for many years, I yearn for a system that can recreate the dynamic impact of a drum kit!
I've tried many speaker technologies over the years; Horn (Altec 19's), Planar (Maggie's), Electrostatic (Martin Logans), and Conventional (Legacy Convergence, Thiel 2 2, Thiel 3.6, VR-4, others), and for some reason, have always come back to conventional designs. Of all the speakers I've owned, the Altec 19's were the most visceral, but they lacked detail and imaged poorly. The live event was there, but it was all mixed together. The most dynamic conventional speaker I've owned was the Legacy Convergence (similar to the Focus), but the presentation was too "hi-fi," and very fatiguing.
I realize it would be impossible to find a loudspeaker with the dynamics of a horn, midrange of a planar or electrostatic, and top to bottom detail of a superior conventional design, but I would imagine some speakers come close. I'm not talking $50K+ speakers, but speakers in the $5K range.
I've seen many a reference to the Aerial 10T and Talon Khorus as being very dynamic, yet detailed and extended, but what other speakers might be considered, particularly current models? I have a very large room, and need a speaker than can play loudly without compression. I realize horns are ideal, but I cannot afford the entry price for even a mediocre horn system.
With hundreds of manufacturers out there, I'm trying to develop a short list so I can limit my search/research. We don't have many "high-end" shops in my neck of the woods (Tampa Bay area), so it's likely I'll have to seek some of the products out during my business travel. Any help would be most appreciated.
By the way, I am intrigued by the "Waveguide" technology, that seems to offer the benefits of a conventional design, with some of the properties of a horn. I've been away from this hobby for 12+ years, so I'm very wet behind the ears. To my chagrin, there are still no shortage of companies trying to stack drivers in a tower configuration (ala Legacy), but it's certainly possible that this configuration has improved over the years.
Any help would be most appreciated!
Well, I'm parting with my original VR-4's, which have served me well for many years. In some ways, I wonder if I'm making a mistake selling them, as they're still a wonderful loudspeaker even by today's standards.
At this point, I'd like to consider a more "lively" loudspeaker. The VR-4's are very "warm" sounding, and easy to listen to. The downside to this presentation is a lack of dynamics and impact. Bass extension is not an issue with the VR-4's, but the slam of a kick drum, the pluck of a bass, or the crack of a rim shot just isn't there. Having played the drums for many years, I yearn for a system that can recreate the dynamic impact of a drum kit!
I've tried many speaker technologies over the years; Horn (Altec 19's), Planar (Maggie's), Electrostatic (Martin Logans), and Conventional (Legacy Convergence, Thiel 2 2, Thiel 3.6, VR-4, others), and for some reason, have always come back to conventional designs. Of all the speakers I've owned, the Altec 19's were the most visceral, but they lacked detail and imaged poorly. The live event was there, but it was all mixed together. The most dynamic conventional speaker I've owned was the Legacy Convergence (similar to the Focus), but the presentation was too "hi-fi," and very fatiguing.
I realize it would be impossible to find a loudspeaker with the dynamics of a horn, midrange of a planar or electrostatic, and top to bottom detail of a superior conventional design, but I would imagine some speakers come close. I'm not talking $50K+ speakers, but speakers in the $5K range.
I've seen many a reference to the Aerial 10T and Talon Khorus as being very dynamic, yet detailed and extended, but what other speakers might be considered, particularly current models? I have a very large room, and need a speaker than can play loudly without compression. I realize horns are ideal, but I cannot afford the entry price for even a mediocre horn system.
With hundreds of manufacturers out there, I'm trying to develop a short list so I can limit my search/research. We don't have many "high-end" shops in my neck of the woods (Tampa Bay area), so it's likely I'll have to seek some of the products out during my business travel. Any help would be most appreciated.
By the way, I am intrigued by the "Waveguide" technology, that seems to offer the benefits of a conventional design, with some of the properties of a horn. I've been away from this hobby for 12+ years, so I'm very wet behind the ears. To my chagrin, there are still no shortage of companies trying to stack drivers in a tower configuration (ala Legacy), but it's certainly possible that this configuration has improved over the years.
Any help would be most appreciated!
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- 22 posts total
Isn't this essentially the same question you asked in an earlier thread? It'd be helpful for those of us who contributed to that thread to know which suggestions you are considering and which you are dismissing. It'll keep the repeat suggestions to a minimum. I'm going to once again recommend the VR4 Gen III HSE. I recently played a drum track for a friend (Steve Smith's Vital Tech Tones). He is a film production sound mixer in LA who also does work in sound studios. He said my system sounded more real than most studios he's been in. If you are not considering them, then please say so and I'll stop suggesting them in your threads. It's no problem either way, and I won't be offended. Have you thought of auditioning the Zu Druids or Definitions? They are both very dynamic and would potentially suit your criteria. The Definitions are the most live sounding of the two, but they're twice your budget. |
Sorry, I guess this is a similar question, and I apologize for not clarifying my intentions with this new post, as I had intended to take a different direction with this. Specifically, I'm interested in getting away from the typical, conventional designs. My first step back into this hobby since 1995 was at the 2006 CES show, where I visited Thiel, Von Schweikert, Vandersteen, Montana, etc.), and aside from different voicing, very few of the speakers clearly bested my original VR-4's in overall performance. Sure, there were $20K+ systems that were impressive, but only in scale. It could be argued that the newer designs had more detail, but each had its good and bad attributes, as all speakers do. What I realized was that something was missing in all of these conventional designs, but I couldnt put my finger on it. It seems theres no shortage of companies putting SEAS, Scan Speak, Focal, Dynaudio and other high quality drivers in furniture quality cabinets, and with good cross-over designs, obtain excellent detail, sound staging, and spooky imaging. As Ive mentioned before, how many Legacy, Avalon and Wilson knock-offs are there???? At the risk of being objectionable, Im really put off by the price of many of these speaker systems. Incredibly, my $50 PC speaker system with subwoofer offers similar attributes, albeit on a lesser scale. When nothing I could afford impressed at the CES show, I decided just to keep my system intact. In the meantime, I had the opportunity to attend several concerts of varying music types. After attending the concerts, I finally pin-pointed what was missing when I listened to my VR-4s; excitement. Yes they have spooky imaging, yes they throw a nice sound stage, yes they have great detail; but theyre boring. A friend of mine is an old school audiophile, that raves about the 70s designs, particularly those from Altec and JBL. He brought my attention to a speaker called the Iconic Stonehenge, that evidently utilizes what is regarded as the pinnacle of Altecs coaxial designs. Interestingly, most of the recent fanfare seems to surround these single point source designs, from the simple Iconic Stonehenge to the ultra-expensive Cabasse and other horn based designs with a single, multi-function driver. Tannoy has been well respected for decades, and their primary technology remains unchanged, big drivers with coincident source tweeters. What is the opinion of this type of speaker, such as the Iconic Stonehenge, Klipsch LaScala, Tannoys or Gedlees? Has anyone heard these speakers, and how would you compare them to they typical Legacy-type speaker? From what I understand, they provide dynamics well beyond what a conventional stack of cones design can, even though the drivers date back to the 70s. |
Thanks for the clarification. Considering you want to try something other than conventional dynamic designs, I'll retiterate the Zu Audio products, which can be auditioned in-home. Also, the single driver designs from Omega Speaker Systems which utilize Fostex and Alnico drivers might be interesting for you to investigate. |
- 22 posts total