@krabbypantz trust me Audionote AN/E will crush your Snells and corner placement isn't mandatory. If you have a chance to give them a listen you should my next pair of speakers will be Audio Notes for sure.
Honing down the speaker shortlist ~$5K
After 20+ years, it's time to replace my restored and very we'll-loved pair of Snell Type Es with something new. Aiming for a budget cap of ~$5k (likely used) I've narrowed it down to a short-list:
Harbeth Super HL5
Harbeth M30.1
Acoustic Zen Adagio
Vandersten 2ce signature
I've been able to audition the Harbeths at a dealer, but haven't heard them yet at home.
As for the others, I'll need to travel a bit to hear them so any input would be welcome.
My room is woody and old. It's 12x16x9 but opens through large archways on three sides to other rooms, each about 12' across. The speakers are currently at the closed end of the room, 3' from the side walls, 4' out from the back walls and 8' feet from the seating position. I listen to jazz, folk, alternative and a little classical. Primarily vinyl. Nothing that requires floor shaking bass. I live in a multi-family building and try to keep the neighbors happy.
For power I'm using a Creek 5350se integrated at 80w per channel. This is prime for a future upgrade, but one thing at a time. The rest of my system should be visible in my profile.
I'm looking for something that resolves well without being overly analytical, yet retains the openness that I've always enjoyed with the Snells. The Harbeths seem to fit that bill, though the 30.1s sounded a little closed-in at the dealer audition. The 5s were much better in that regard, though struck me as a bit recessed.
Thanks for the advice.
It's a wonderful resource to have the collected wisdom exhibited on this forum!
Harbeth Super HL5
Harbeth M30.1
Acoustic Zen Adagio
Vandersten 2ce signature
I've been able to audition the Harbeths at a dealer, but haven't heard them yet at home.
As for the others, I'll need to travel a bit to hear them so any input would be welcome.
My room is woody and old. It's 12x16x9 but opens through large archways on three sides to other rooms, each about 12' across. The speakers are currently at the closed end of the room, 3' from the side walls, 4' out from the back walls and 8' feet from the seating position. I listen to jazz, folk, alternative and a little classical. Primarily vinyl. Nothing that requires floor shaking bass. I live in a multi-family building and try to keep the neighbors happy.
For power I'm using a Creek 5350se integrated at 80w per channel. This is prime for a future upgrade, but one thing at a time. The rest of my system should be visible in my profile.
I'm looking for something that resolves well without being overly analytical, yet retains the openness that I've always enjoyed with the Snells. The Harbeths seem to fit that bill, though the 30.1s sounded a little closed-in at the dealer audition. The 5s were much better in that regard, though struck me as a bit recessed.
Thanks for the advice.
It's a wonderful resource to have the collected wisdom exhibited on this forum!
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- 32 posts total
Without any hesitation the Jim Salk Designed Bud Fried Towers. Please note the Review Dick Olsher did was in stock form- Crossover Solen capacitors.I bought the Upgraded option, much better Mundorf Supreme caps This 2nd order transmission line speaker 45H X 8.5W X14D The drivers are all very do is quality midbass drivers Peerless-Denmark And tweeter the Excellent Hiquphon ex Scan speak designer These tweeters are pair matched to under 1/2 dB per pair Very musical and accurate. The key here is getting the best Capacitors you can afford it us a very Easy load only 3 capacitors in the signal path. Upgrading to the Mundorf Silver gold oil for the midrange tweeter, and Munforf Supreme for the Bass transforms This speaker will easily go toe to toe with any $8k speaker. Great realism and Pratt and solid bass to 35hz if you need lower buy a JL aufio definition 10 sub for $1k then you havd a full range speaker. On its own very good for $4500 With this capacitor upgrade is a no Brainer and comes with outriggers. BTW ,the rest of this series Xover has the Excellent Jantzen Copper inductors And Mils or Mundorf Supreme resistors. With these caps get the Supreme resistors for the extra $1k upgrade Transformation is the only way to describe this .read the review and add 15% across the board in detail and refinement . I have been doing this for over 35 years and have done many mods Trust me on this one .it blew my Revel F-208 speakers away.sold and gone !! |
I will second the mention of Vandersteen Quatro's. I owned them for 5 years, running them in my 11.25' x 15' x 8' room, and when I spent the time to dial them in using their powered subwoofer 11 band equalizer (huge advantage IME), they worked extremely well. Yes, as the previous poster noted, they will tempt you to upgrade your amp (and will reward you for it!). Under $5k used, for sure. |
Build the Linkwitz LX521 or Orion systems. You can readily do it within your budget. You'll get a loudspeaker system to rival ANYTHING. Absolutely killer. Great imaging. AND it's a LOT more fun than just wandering down to the audio salon and listen to some droid play on your ego while he tries to get you to spend $10k instead of $5k. And you'll learn a lot more too. http://www.linkwitzlab.com/ |
- 32 posts total