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Best speakers for a vivid sound at low volume

mattgbell said:
Like you, I thought the new SF Olympicas were excellent. Too much of an investment for me ATM though, as my wife has decided she wants to move house. How about a pair of ex-dem SF Cremona Auditor Ms? The SF dealers are letting their demo models go now that production is being wound up.
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This was just my thinking and I went to hear some Cremona Auditor Ms a week or two ago. I liked them very much in some ways, but I had some issues. Saxophones, but not voices, seemed strangely recessed. Due to a lost demo cd, I only had one Coltrane recording with me and it wasn't right. Later, when I tried the Olympica II, almost as an afterthought, the saxophone was back in the right place. But there were other fundamental changes. Where I had been reaching for the volume and adjusting during dynamic passages with the Cremona Ms, the Olympicas just seemed to track the dynamics without being at all pushy. Perhaps they were just a better size for the room, but I think it's more likely that they have a very clever crossover design and supreme driver integration.

I listened to a lot of soprano/piano recordings on the Olympicas - mainly Debussy and Faure, and I found them so completely absorbing. Yet at the same time I played a minimal techno mix by Robert Hood and they nailed it. This was not what I was expecting at all from SF, but they got the brutality of the 909 kick drum. I think that's quite an achievement; for a speaker to do French art song and minimal techno equally well. However I would need to hear them more extensively with jazz. I wouldn't say they were a vividly coloured speaker from this audition (and I see vivid coloration as a virtue), but other amps might bring this out a bit more. I heard them at O' Briens with a rather impressive Copland integrated (405?) that used a quad of KT88's, I seem to remember.

The trouble is that I have been corrupted by the forums and find myself incapable of buying new, even if I were to raise the money.
 
I was always told that ATC came on song best at higher volumes.

I was interested in demoing a pair of your 25's, Raj, but I think it would be trickier for me as a vinyl user. I met a guy with 50s and he said that its not so that easy to find a pre that will drive them. You've found an elegant solution with the Resonescence (sp.?), but I fear it would be messier for me.
 
The 25's are very different to my previous 50's which were driven by a DAC1-HDR back then. The Resonessence MIRUS doesn't have analog inputs so in a system for a TT, perhaps a DAC2-HGC. AndyU uses one with his 25's and rates it highly. Also has analog inputs.
 
ATC definitely do not excel at low volumes. Nor sadly to Proacs.

Of the speakers I have heard and lived with, Tannoy DC's sounded far better to my ears at low volumes as of course do Quads. The Merlin TSM was also an impressive performer when partnered with the right amplifier.

Most studio monitors are designed to preserve timbre from around 85db upwards so the truth is there are better options.

If you can pull the speakers well into the room and listen more in the nearfield that would helps substantially with whatever you choose.
 
merlin said:
ATC definitely do not excel at low volumes. Nor sadly to Proacs.

Of the speakers I have heard and lived with, Tannoy DC's sounded far better to my ears at low volumes as of course do Quads. The Merlin TSM was also an impressive performer when partnered with the right amplifier.

Most studio monitors are designed to preserve timbre from around 85db upwards so the truth is there are better options.

If you can pull the speakers well into the room and listen more in the nearfield that would helps substantially with whatever you choose.
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Bit of a generalisation that, have you heard 25s or 25s driven by decent active pre? They surprised me too. I sold my 50's exactly for the reason that they didn't come to life till loud. I even gave up on SCMs speakers and moved to ADAM Tensor Deltas. The 25s are different, more domestic and human sounding.
 
I would have thought that if you want bass at lower volume levels, standmounts, or any smaller speakers are counter intuitive. Regardless of speaker design progress, the laws of physics still apply.

As you're firing across the room, ported (esp. rear ported) speakers are a compromise if close to a wall; likewise electrostatics and hybrids.

How about horns, which I've not seen mentioned. High efficiency; don't have to be massive; positioning close to walls; don't need powerful amplification. I remember being knocked out by Impulse H6s a couple of decades ago; they were very dynamic indeed for their relatively diminutive size.
 
..thinking of which, Killie is selling a pair of Impulse H2s in pfm classifieds right now; they also do the low-volume-presence thing in spades.
 
Elephantears said:
This was just my thinking and I went to hear some Cremona Auditor Ms a week or two ago. I liked them very much in some ways, but I had some issues. Saxophones, but not voices, seemed strangely recessed. Due to a lost demo cd, I only had one Coltrane recording with me and it wasn't right. Later, when I tried the Olympica II, almost as an afterthought, the saxophone was back in the right place. But there were other fundamental changes. Where I had been reaching for the volume and adjusting during dynamic passages with the Cremona Ms, the Olympicas just seemed to track the dynamics without being at all pushy. Perhaps they were just a better size for the room, but I think it's more likely that they have a very clever crossover design and supreme driver integration.

I listened to a lot of soprano/piano recordings on the Olympicas - mainly Debussy and Faure, and I found them so completely absorbing. Yet at the same time I played a minimal techno mix by Robert Hood and they nailed it. This was not what I was expecting at all from SF, but they got the brutality of the 909 kick drum. I think that's quite an achievement; for a speaker to do French art song and minimal techno equally well. However I would need to hear them more extensively with jazz. I wouldn't say they were a vividly coloured speaker for this audition (and I mean that as a virtue), but other amps might bring this out a bit more. I heard them at O' Briens with a rather impressive Copland integrated (405?) that used a quad of KT88's, I seem to remember.

The trouble is that I have been corrupted by the forums and find myself incapable of buying new, even if I were to raise the money.
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I agree the Olympica IIs are superb and clearly superior to the Cremona Auditor Ms. If I had the space ...
 
Cereal Killer said:
Bit of a generalisation that, have you heard 25s or 25s driven by decent active pre?
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Yes I have. And no they do not dine at the top table when the levels are low - sorry. I suspect it's partially the amp packs. They are remarkable however in their ability to play loud with lower distortion artifacts than many domestic alternatives.
 
Well they do when I'm eating :), maybe we have different levels of quite! I had a friend over the other day listening to Jeff Mills new album, it was low enough for us both to talk to another friend on the phone, yet the bass lines was still very listenable, wub-wubs n'all.
 
=Mike Reed;2137316
As you're firing across the room, ported (esp. rear ported) speakers are a compromise if close to a wall; likewise electrostatics and hybrids.

How about horns, which I've not seen mentioned. High efficiency; don't have to be massive; positioning close to walls; don't need powerful amplification. I remember being knocked out by Impulse H6s a couple of decades ago; they were very dynamic indeed for their relatively diminutive size.
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I'm firing down the room from the short wall, so ported speakers aren't really a problem. I can use them fairly far into the room because it's a dedicated listening room.

I had horns, and they are amazing, but now they are in Tony's TV room!
 
Elephantears said:
I'm firing down the room from the short wall, so ported speakers aren't really a problem. I can use them fairly far into the room because it's a dedicated listening room.

I had horns, and they are amazing, but now they are in Tony's TV room!
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You may well find the H2 a lot more normal / domestically acceptable than the La Scalas. They are a three-way, so plenty of sax presence, and IIRC a back-loaded folded-horn / transmission-line for bass, so they actually dig down pretty deep in the bass. Rob had a pair several years ago, they sounded good in many respects (crisp, lively, punchy), but set a node off in his room so boomed rather badly on a bass note or two.
 
I've a feeling my Gibbon friend (the Devore owner) had some H2s. At least he had something by Impulse and always mentions them with a hushed sense of horror. He doesn't even utter their name now; they are just 'the horn disasters', or something like that.
 
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