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Your Quest for the perfect speakers for you

Have had to find speakers that work in a really small space. Quite early on I went with 10 inch Tannoys (from Proac 1sc's) and have messed about with how that was to be achieved. Have settled on SRM10b drivers, custom crossover in a stiff front ported box that fit right in the corners to maximise what little space I have. My challenge has been that I can't really go to a dealer and demo something because no one has a space like mine. Consequently actually DIYing a solution that worked was an economical way of doing what I needed to do. The only thing left is to get them looking the part but the hard bit has been done.
 
In the last 3 years I've tried many different speakers and although some were very good the most important thing I've learnt is matching the speakers to the room. The SBLs are highly rated but just wouldn't work in my room and sounded terrible.

I've now got a set of Shahinian Arcs and although I plan to keep them will keep an eye out for a later/newer version of them.

I think the factors for choosing speakers are in order:

1. Room size/acoustics
2. Amplifier
3. Music choice

B&W DM10
Linn Keilidh (passive/active)
Naim SBL mk1
Naim SBL mk2
Naim n-sats
Neat Elites
Neat Petite SX
PMC DB1i Gold
Linn Kans
ATC SCM7
EB Acoustics EB2
ProAc Response 1sc
 
There are no perfect speakers ... he-he!

I own ATC SCM50ASL and I'm very satisfied.

I also really liked the Focal SM9 I heard recently. So ATC or Focal actives would be my top suggestions for audition - but obviously it's all very personal.

Acoustics are a PITA and often get ignored for that reason, so I'm with those championing acoustics. But you don't have to choose, pay attention to mains, source and acoustics all three for best results with any speaker.
 
I'd have to agree with The Dude: I've attended two Linn Lounge demo evenings, and left both part-way through thinking "not a patch on my system at home, so why am I here?"
The first was in a small demo room, crammed full of people, the second in a great barn of a conference room. The speakers didn't stand a chance in either.

I'm sure my current hotch-potch wouldn't measure 'better' in a lab, but in my elongated lounge/dining room it's great. Classical or jazz piano are in the room with me, and I hear the music, not the speakers.

Maybe one day I'll splash out on electrostatics (or hybrids) but right now the itch seems to have gone away.
 
My ideal speakers would be ESL57s only with bandwidth and dynamics.

I've still got my old 57s that I've had since the early 1980s but they're in a sad state, and I don't know if I'll ever get around to getting them restored. So they gather dust in a corner.

I use Rogers LS7T speakers that I got for next to nothing on eBait when I was looking for some Spendor BC1s. I don't feel any pressing need to change them, but they could use better stands.
 
Yes.

Ino audio loudspeakers.

Next will be a dedicated room fully acoustic treated.
Will be realised next year after moving to a new house.
 
I just started my quest two or three years ago.
For space reason I'm forced to live in the "compromise" realm, both for available space and budget reasons.
For the moment being my direct experience (ie in my room) has been with Q-Acoustic 2020i, Epos Epic , Proac Studio 115 and B&W CM5.
I'm always looking at new opportunities to experiment with s/h stand mounts in the 500/100 £ range.... Any advice? :)
 
Bought some s/hand Linn Keilidh's, they sound terrible in my room but it doesn't matter as I never get a chance to use them (realising they were set up for active and converting back to passive did make a surprisingly slight improvement).
 
Have tried what funds, space and other members of the household will allow over many years.

The history has included large and small, floorstanders and standmounts, modern and old. Still many I'm sure excellent models I have not heard at home but have tried models from amongst others Shahinian, EPOS, Tannoy, PMC, Celestion, Celef, Mission, Kef and Castle.

I can see why people like Shahinians, I tried the Arc but found the presentation difficult; I loved aspects of the Tannoys, likewise Ditton 44s, they seemed to 'enhance' certain recordings with nice heavy bass but wasn't so convinced at higher frequencies. I like the first edition Mission 770 too, oh and also the AR 18 midrange, the liquidity of the EPOS 22s.

But if finances permit to maintain as will be needed and I have an adequately large space I can't imagine going back from the Quad ESL63/Gradient SW63 combination that I've recently set up.

It didn't work as well as I had hoped until I followed the advice to circumvent the Gradient crossover for the supply to the ELS63 and instead use a capacitor of the suitable value in series. The bass supply is still from the Gradient crossover. It is wonderful, certainly the best I've heard at home: fabulous detail and musicality, ample heft, tuneful bass and timbral insight.

This is in the context of unremarkable power amps - an Audiolab 8000p for the SW63s and an Audiolab 8000px for the ELS63s.
 
Started with one sh1t pioneer speaker I found in a skip in the 70s that I connected to a portable cassette player. Sounded amazing.

Ended with ATC100s connected to an iPad.
 
Loudspeakers are the bottleneck in most modern systems - or more precisely the loudspeaker and room are the bottleneck.

The smaller the loudspeaker and room the larger the bottleneck.
 
I'd describe my quest as ongoing - I'm certainly still on the learning curve as there are so many interesting speakers I've yet to hear. I've spent time with quite a few of the legends of the past such as BBC LS3/5As, BC1s, LS5/8s, Quad ESLs, vintage Tannoys, Lowthers and large Klipsch horn speakers etc to know I love aspects of all of them, though none appear to be all things to everything.

At the moment I have three pairs of speakers set up in three different systems / rooms: 15" Tannoy Monitor Golds, Klipsch La Scalas and JR149s, so two really big 'us and a little 'un. To be honest I'd not even be able to tell you which I prefer as they each do things the others don't. If I was forced to choose between these I suspect the room context would select rather than me as they all like to be in different locations and listened to at different distances: the Klipsch love corners, which is great for smallish UK homes as it makes for the widest listening triangle possible, the 149s work best in extreme near-field to my ears, and the Tannoys seem to like being somewhere between the two.

I suspect the above is telling me that I'll never be happy with one set of speakers. I love being able to get a different perspective on a piece of music by playing it via one of the other systems. I think I could get away with two, i.e. a near-field presentation and a more distant full-range monitor, I really understand why so many Japanese audiophiles have a set of LS3/5As to supplement their huge Altecs or Tannoys. I think I'll aways do that from now on, though the JR149s are my LS3/5As!
 
I built these six months ago a troels gravesen design transmission line speaker, the cabinets are made from Baltic birch 40mm , the bass is weighty and controlled , the mid and tweeter smooth and natural sounding , vocals
sound crisp and clear and never grainy , these have taken months to sound there best though and I think still improving , I cant see me ever wanting to buy another pair of speakers. phil.


 
Having been locked in some weird spiral requiring me to sell and buy back Epos 11s and 14s several times on account of never being fully content with their replacements. Spent years and thousands trying to make Briks work and failing. I now use neat Vitos with ultimatum drivers and an SE crossover which allowed me to escape the 14s vortex! (mind you I still keep a pair in a box just in case) I also tried Quad 57s for about a year, in the end the Vitos sounded better to me. Toyed with Kans and found them not to my taste. Really interested in big old Tannoys, ATC actives or Opals. As a virtually vinyl only fellow I would welcome comments from Mr Jesmond Tutu on his speaker 'journey'
 
I have nearly the opposite extremes, a pair of £10k ART Alnico, and a pair of Neat Motive2, as good as the ARTs are, there is something about the pesky Neats which means I can't part with them! They are just fun, and give so much more than their size should allow.
 
oceanobsession said:
I built these six months ago a troels gravesen design transmission line speaker, the cabinets are made from Baltic birch 40mm , the bass is weighty and controlled , the mid and tweeter smooth and natural sounding , vocals
sound crisp and clear and never grainy , these have taken months to sound there best though and I think still improving , I cant see me ever wanting to buy another pair of speakers. phil.
Click to expand...

Let me know if you ever think about selling the Arcs in the background ;)
 
merlin said:
Loudspeakers are the bottleneck in most modern systems - or more precisely the loudspeaker and room are the bottleneck.

The smaller the loudspeaker and room the larger the bottleneck.
Click to expand...

I see your point but sometimes I'm surprised at how even some modest speakers can reveal and benefit from improvements upstream.
 
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