2. speakers
  3. 1404080914

Audiophile Active Speakers?

Bracing for a flame war on this one - but are there any really seriously good sounding active floor standers? The new Dynaudio XEO 6's intrigued me.

Here's why I'm interested. I recently acquired some great Verity Audio speakers that I realized my entire cabling, amps, preamps etc were too warm for. Problem is I'm getting past the point where I see this as a hobby and am just looking for good music reproduction without tons of system matching experimentation etc.

One interesting option would be selling all my electronics, cables, etc on A-gon and just purchasing a good DAC and good sounding Active floor standers. I could therefore afford decent speakers (up to $7K or so), pocket some cash, simply the system (and save lots of time and grief shopping for matching components).

Am I expecting something that would sound as good as the Verity's with appropriately good electronics? No - not even close.

But a quality audiophile sound I could live with and possible tweak with the right sounding DAC that could make me more or less satisfied is the goal. The don't have to be magical like the Verity's. Any thoughts?
larrybou
macrojack
1,292 posts
 
I am frankly surprised there isn't much more interest in this topic. After all, it would appear that a high percentage of us ask questions reflecting an inability to overcome many of the difficulties one can encounter trying to match speakers, cables and amplifiers. All of that is bypassed by selecting a good quality self-powered studio monitor. Yes, they appear to be expensive at first blush but, in reality, you can buy a $5000 pair of compact studio monitors that will outperform any combination of amp, speakers and cables that you could find for that much money. Think about it!

Spending $3000 for and amp, $500 for speaker cables and $3500 for speakers does not move you into the stratosphere with conventional home audio. But with studio monitors you can move into the lower levels of the world class studio monitor range. The biggest problem is finding the models I'm mentioning properly demoed anywhere. Let me know if you find a good place for that..
Post removed 
chrshanl37
622 posts
 
I have actives now after trying quite a few audiophile monitors. Actually mine are only part active but I can't imagine getting better sound out of a pair of monitors for 5x the price I paid.
macrojack
1,292 posts
 
Bob - What are you using as a preamp with your Neumann 310A? I've been considering the Grace Design M920 which has 2 analog inputs, and a host of digital inputs to the new Sabre DAC which has garnered enormous praise everywhere. It's a professional audio product so I'm sure it would play nice with the Neumanns. Check it out and let me know if it looks like a perfect match to you. Added bonus is a state of the art headphone amp and a very good remote.
Post removed 
More to discover