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Can you get "bookshelf sound" from a floorstander?

Listened to B&W's 6 series and much prefered the 686 and 685 to the more expensive floorstanders. I'm a junkie for clear and coherent vocals and the floorstanders seemed to muddy the sound.
Listened to Dynaudio Focus 110s and loved them. Compared them to the Contour 5.4s and I loved the top end of them even more than the Focus' but was again bothered by what I want to call an incoherence... lack of focus... integration... with the low end.

Owned Totem Arros and Dreamcatcher monitors with Dreamcatcher sub and prefered the dreamcatcher monitors over the Arros and without the sub, too.

Am I just a bookshelf guy? Was it my choice of floorstanders? Setup? Anyone have better words to describe what I'm trying to say? I certainly love the low end and dynamic grunt of the big ones but not at such expense.
eyediver
eyediver's avatar
eyediver OP
10 posts
 
It is my hope to respond more fully and individually in the next few days to this thread. I went ahead and posted another thread with (a lot more! ;) information about what I've heard and liked/didn't like. I think this info might help steer your recommendations a bit more.
Once again, thanks for all of your responses.
eyediver's avatar
eyediver OP
10 posts
 
Oops! Forgot the link.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1242945815
"The great speaker quest"
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Having read your latest thread, and learning that you have owned 16 pairs of
loudspeakers and that you are still unsatisfied, my first reaction is that there
have been many responses here, and there will undoubtedly be many
responses in your new thread, but I wonder if anything suggested will
ultimately be 100% satisfactory.

My second reaction is to wonder if you have matched any of the 16 pairs of
speakers with an optimal amplifier. Some of the qualities you describe as
unsatisfactory (brightness, for example) can often be attributed to tonal
imbalance due to the speaker being driven by an amplifier that does not
produce midrange and bass decibel levels in balance with the highs.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
Agree with TVAD.

You've had some good speaks. Sounds like maybe they were not matched to amp well or there was some other poor synergy going on.
9rw's avatar
9rw
278 posts
 
Bobby: Aren't your speakers using the same drivers -- or drivers that are extremely similar -- to the ones I had in the late 1990s? If not, how are they different? And aren't the cabinets pretty much identical? If not, how are they different?

Also, when I purchased a pair of VSM SE's from one of your dealers, you both knew what preamp and amp (ARC -- hardly garbage) I was using and didn't bother to tell me that it wouldn't sound good. I'm not sure who you're referring to when you say "mean spirited comments." It certainly isn't me, and none of this is personal.
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