sfdoddsy

I’ve owned both SF and Dynaudio, as well as many others. Often great speakers. As are my current KEF R3s. But if I had just slightly more than your $3k budget I’d try and do a deal with West Coast HiFi on the Pioneer S2ex they had listed on SN. Basically they are the $40k TAD Evolution for $3.5k. Same drivers. Same crossover. Slightly different box.

Surely the obvious question then is whether there is any advantage to having an all-ribbon speaker? I used to own Duetta SIgnatures and loved them (more so than the Maggies and Martin-Logans I've owned), but the compromises required to make true or quasi ribbons play low were what lead me to dynamic dipoles.

Price drop. These need to go. The cheapest pair ever on SNA!

Item: Sonus Faber Grand Piano floorstanding speakers Location: Surry Hills, Sydney Price: $1700 $1600 or non silly offer Item Condition: Excellent Reason for selling: Wife hates leather Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: I bought these a month ago from Audio Connection, thinking my better half might like the beautiful curvy black gloss cabinets, leather surfaces and copper highlights. Who knew she has a thing against leather? They sound great and to my eyes they are best looking speaker Sonus Faber has made. Cool from the front, cool from any angle. The speakers are in excellent condition. They were checked out carefully by and have a three month warranty from Audio Connection. You should buy them. I don't have boxes so pick up only from Surry Hills. Photos: Advertisements without photos of the actual item will not be approved.

Item: Martin Logan Fresco i Location: Surry Hills Sydney Price: 350 or non-silly offer Item Condition: Good Reason for selling: Orders Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: I've owned these longer than any piece of audio equipment except my trusty sub. I had two pairs, but sold one here recently. This are the updated model with gloss black cabinet and upgraded drivers. The Fresco was Martin Logan's first non-electrostatic speaker. What makes them special is that they use (although M-L didn't admit it) the superb Bohlender Graebener Neo 8 and Neo 3 planar drivers along with very good regular dynamic drivers. They are a great match for ESLs as surrounds, and excellent as main speakers in their own right. They can be used horizontally or vertically, and include the wall mounts. Retail was $3K for the pair. You should buy them. Mine have slight signs of use and one has a small paint thing on the back from a lazy painter. Easily removed I suspect. They are sonically excellent. I no longer have the box so it is pickup only from Surry Hills Sydney.

After extensive testing, I've finally decided on my next speaker. I'll be repurposing drivers I have (BG Neo 3, BG Neo 10, Peerless SLS 10) into a 3 way stepped open baffle with a slot-loaded bass section. Previously I've gone fully active with my DIY OBs, but this time I'm going to see what happens if I use a generic 3 way passive crossover and DSP to do both speaker EQ and room EQ.

Obviously the poster child for a single coax commercial speaker is the LS50. And a lovely speaker it is. I've had sets off and on for years. But not so good with bass. In the DIY area I've been using a superb coax for the past 5 years or so, namely the Seas C18. This is the same driver VAF use solo in their i25, i35 & i45 Signature. I'm dubious about their use of it full range in a box (I use it in an open baffle crossed at 300Hz), but it is a great driver.

Double post, sorry.

Panel speakers and monopole drivers don't play well together. But panel speakers and dynamic dipole drivers do. Something like the Gradient Quad sub from times past. https://www.stereophile.com/subwoofers/gradient_sw-57_subwoofer/index.html I've used something similar with my Maggies and Apogees when I had them, and my long-term Linkwitz dipoles. It works very well. A smaller LRS on top of a long-throw 12" dipole bass driver would give similar scale to the 3.7 in a much smaller package. An LRS width speaker with seperate dipole subs would match the 30.7.

I think the smaller active monitors like a Neumann KH80 are more accurate than the LS50 out of the box. And cheaper and more reliable than the LS50W. Were I buying new, (and didn't care about aesthetics) I'd pay the $1600 for the KH80. No amps needed, built-in DSP, built-in room EQ. Measures as flat as decent amps. But I don't think the difference is massive, especially if you EQ the LS50. Pro monitors tend to have a narrower dispersion, which may help in some rooms. But again, minor differences. The bigger and vastly more expensive pro monitors will play louder and deeper (just like the bigger and more expensive KEFs/TADs/Revels will) and should have audibly less distortion when played loud, but if you don't listen at concert volumes and use (ideally stereo) subs, this becomes moot. IMHO, you'd have to jump all the way up to something like the Dutch & Dutch 8C or Kii Threes which use technology to adjust their response and interaction with the room to find good speakers which notably improve on the performance of cheaper good speakers like the LS50/R3/Revels with subs and room EQ. And even then, you'll get awfully close. You should, however, be aware of my biases. I also used to own very expensive amps, turntables, DACs etc until listening tests showed me that I couldn't tell the difference between them and their cheaper brethren. Obviously many other audiophiles disagree, hence this website and the sales of expensive speakers, amps, DACs and cables.

Thanks for continuing the thread chaps. Cuteness aside, I've now auditioned at home a bunch of very good speakers. Obviously the LS50s. But also KEF R3s, GoldenEar Triton 3s, Revel M20s, Sonus Faber Grand Pianos. And previously I've owned vastly expensive speakers like Wilson WATTs, Genesis Vs, Martin Logans, Apogees, Maggies and others too numerous to mention. And I have also listened to the Dynaudio Special 40s. A fine speaker. The thing that stands out is that all the well-designed, accurate, good measuring speakers sound pretty much the same. There are variations in bass and in the treble. But the use of subs (which I believe in) and Room EQ for bass (which I also believe in) makes them sound even more alike. This is, of course, what one should expect. Just as well-designed amps should sound the same, well-designed speakers also should. Exotic tweeters like ribbons and AMTs tease, but they aren't that different. The speakers that stand out are the outliers. Those with idiosyncratic frequency response (notably single driver speakers), deliberately inaccurate response (B&W and PMC) and unusual radiation patterns (my beloved dipoles). In other words, poorly designed speakers. They may be very enjoyable, but they are not 'good' speakers. They are acoustic tone controls. The Boenike is too inaccurate to be a good speaker, although it is obviously an enjoyably expensive one. I can't imagine why you'd pick them over Kii or Dutch&Dutch if you want accuracy, or Davone if you want pretty, but that's just me. I've not heard the Contrasts, but have built something similar. Also enjoyable on its own terms, but wildly inaccurate. There is a reason most speakers have crossovers. Sure crossovers may restrict the freedom of your drivers, but they also stop your ears having to listen to cone breakup and distorting tweeters. I'd be flabbergasted if they measured well and sounded accurate. However, as alluded to above, the open baffles I've been enamoured with for the past 20 years also fail the good speaker test. The fact that they sound so different from regular monkey coffins indicates either that those who love them (like me) are deluded, or that the 99% of the speaker industry who are obsessed with making the most of drivers in boxes, and those who buy them, are deluded. I suspect it is me. Alas, I'm not allowed to move my DIY active open baffles into the family lounge. Because they are ugly. But I have finally set them up in my Lair. They are the only speakers I've tried recently that sound obviously 'better' to my ears than the LS50s (and all the others). So I've sold the LS50s. I'm (currently) keeping the KEF R3s for the family area because they sound somewhat better than the other sensible speakers I've tried (at the afore-mentioned extremes) and because my wife likes the look more. Even if I were prepared to spend the silly money I used to spend on speakers, I'm struggling to see an upgrade path from them short of Pioneer/TAD monitors, or active monitors like Neumann, Genelec or JBL. And all those are ugly as sin. Sorry, just saw the post above. I really like the look of Focal Kantas. I don't think they'd sound any better to justify their price, but I would pay more just for the aesthetics.

Item: Sonus Faber Concerto Grand Piano floorstanding speakers Location: Surry Hills, Sydney Price: $1800 Item Condition: Excellent Reason for selling: Wife hates leather Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: I bought these a few weeks ago from Audio Connection, thinking my better half might like the beautiful curvy black gloss cabinets, leather surfaces and copper highlights. Who knew she has a thing against leather? They sound great and to my eyes they are best looking speaker Sonus Faber has made. Cool from the front, cool from any angle. The speakers are in excellent condition. They were checked out carefully by and have a three month warranty from Audio Connection. You should buy them. I don't have boxes so pick up only from Surry Hills. Photos: Advertisements without photos of the actual item will not be approved.

How will they sound with EDM? I don’t listen to EDM (although my wife does), but I do listen to lots of reggae and have a weakness for organ music at high volumes. I’m a bass nut. And that’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan of open baffles. Dipole bass usually has much less room interaction than sealed/ported bass. You start with what you get after EQ with sealed subs. The LX521s will plum the depths of EDM. It may feel like there is less ‘oomph’ than you are used to. But that is accuracy. If you need to feel the in-your-gut bass thump, you’d want to add sealed subs below 40hz. I had a pair of Rythmik F12s with my Orions which worked brilliantly, but if I’m honest the single Velodyne HGS worked just as well. I don’t think there is any ‘full range’ speaker which isn’t improved by a proper sub.

It’s not so much the budget (although there is that too), but when I showed her the pics and the drool from subsequent posters she shook her head like we are all insane. She’s undoubtedly right. But equally undoubtedly, these will be sonically the best speakers for the price currently on Stereonet. I’ve just rebuilt and refired-up my Linkwitz-inspired open baffles in my semi-dedicated Lair (they aren’t allowed down in the public living room). I’d almost forgotten just how unique a good OB sounds. The box speakers I’ve been flirting with all sound very good, but they also sound very similar except for bass extension. A good dynamic dipole has the dynamics and accuracy of a well-designed box speaker, but adds naturalness and spaciousness no box speaker can match. I recently read a review on Stereophile of a $200,000 speaker which cost cost that because of the overkill required to bludgeon drivers in a box into shape. A smarter way is to have no box.

It certainly is. Unfortunately when I showed my wife the pics there was an emphatic shake of the head.