An interesting and opposing speaker choice to make.

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Esra

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With a budget around 3,5k Euro you should seriously also consider new Devialet Phantom.They are superb for that kind of money.Give them a try too if you can.
 

lindsayt

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So far RLCCM has reported remarkably similar findings to myself with his speaker auditions. It'd be interesting to find out if he detects the same major sonic limitations with the Phantoms that I found.

The thing with buying the best 2nd hand bargains. The ones that leave the biggest long term smile on your face. Is that it they don't come knocking on your door every 10 minutes. You either need a bit of patience, or a lot of luck in being in the right place at the right time, or you need to be geographically flexible.

For example, this week-end for $500 I could have bought a pair of million yen when new, 83kg speakers. No speakers are perfect, but these speakers would have had a better chance of providing the sound quality that RLCCM is after than any other speaker mentioned so far in this thread - especially with his Icon amp. Think about it: high end heavyweight professional monitoring speakers vs semi budget consumer speakers? And to sweeten the deal, this pair of speakers came with a high end million yen heavyweight amplifier that's worth about $500 now, which he could either keep or sell. So, in effect, the speakers were free!

Sounds too good to be true? Well I haven't got onto the catch yet. There are 2. The minor catch is they needed a repair, costing $30 in parts plus a couple of hours of someone's time. The bigger catch is that they were in the middle of the USA. So you'd be looking at shipping and import duty costs (at a rough guess of $1500 to $2000).

And that is the nature of 2nd hand hi-fi bargain hunting. So I can understand why anyone, including RLCCM might prefer to buy from his local dealers.
 

Electro

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Hi RLCCM ,

I have read through the whole thread twice to get an idea of what might be the best all round pair of speakers for you based on all the different posts, and I have come up with a possible candidate for you to consider . ( See link *smile* )

http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/products-auditorium-speakers.html

I don't know if they are available anywhere near you but it seems to me that they tick all your boxes so they would be well worth seeking out , just choose the model that suits your budget.

A list of distributors.

http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/distributors.html

If you don't mind buying second hand then there are plenty to choose from in the link below .

http://www.hifishark.com/search?q=living+voice

Hope this helps *smile* .
 

DocG

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Electro said:
Hi RLCCM ,

I have read through the whole thread twice to get an idea of what might be the best all round pair of speakers for you based on all the different posts, and I have come up with a possible candidate for you to consider . ( See link *smile* )

http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/products-auditorium-speakers.html

I don't know if they are available anywhere near you but it seems to me that they tick all your boxes so they would be well worth seeking out , just choose the model that suits your budget.

If you don't mind buying second hand then there are plenty to choose from in the link below .

http://www.hifishark.com/search?q=living+voice

Hope this helps *smile* .

I heard the Auditorium a couple of years ago. Amp was a Mastersound (don't recall the model). Well, I couldn't get on with it. I must add that I listened right after the Magnepan 1.7s, which probably made the Living Voice more boxy by comparison...

But an audition wouldn't hurt, obviously! *smile*
 

Electro

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DocG said:
I heard the Auditorium a couple of years ago. Amp was a Mastersound (don't recall the model). Well, I couldn't get on with it. I must add that I listened right after the Magnepan 1.7s, which probably made the Living Voice more boxy by comparison...

But an audition wouldn't hurt, obviously! *smile*

You are absolutely right the Auditorium's do have a characterful sound but reading between the lines it might be just what RLCCM is looking for .*smile*
 

drummerman

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I've posted this numerous times but a friend and ex-manager of a Movement Audio Branch (now gone) here in Bournemouth/Poole is a musician. Singer/Songwriter and guitarrist.

He used Shearne amplification (solid state but valve like) with a pair of Rogers LS3/5a for a long time despite having had a huge change of often high end equipment going through his shop.

They are far from perfect and perhaps wouldn't be my choice for full Orchestral onslaught at PA levels but with some genres/volume, pure magic.

Just thougt I'd mention those little gems even though they will be of little interest to the OP ... probably :)
 

CnoEvil

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Esra said:
Also these little speakers are capable to fill out an listening area up to 35m2 with great scale if you put them min. 2/2,5 meters apart and 0,5 meters from the walls.Just a tip if you consider to take the chance to go with the small standmount speakers.

Funnily enough, my LS50s are just under 0.5m from the back wall and fill a room 14' x 21' x 11' (a little smaller than 35m2). Ideally, I would have them 2-2.5m apart, but they sit inside my main speakers, so are closer than ideal.

In the same area, some Spendor SA1s were totally lost.
 

Esra

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CnoEvil said:
Esra said:
Also these little speakers are capable to fill out an listening area up to 35m2 with great scale if you put them min. 2/2,5 meters apart and 0,5 meters from the walls.Just a tip if you consider to take the chance to go with the small standmount speakers.

Funnily enough, my LS50s are just under 0.5m from the back wall and fill a room 14' x 21' x 11' (a little smaller than 35m2). Ideally, I would have them 2-2.5m apart, but they sit inside my main speakers, so are closer than ideal.

In the same area, some Spendor SA1s were totally lost.

thumbs_up.gif


Yes get them as far apart as possible (up to 3 meters) and toe in fully to your listening position and tilt right on axis to your ears (I use dynaudio stands 6/ tilted plate).Fantastic and unbelievable scale and absolutely clean if you leave them space around.

You pay a lot of money to get a bigger screen with flatscreens, get the speakers apart as far as possible to get great scale,it´s free, but leave enough space to the walls,especially to the side walls,so sound reflections have approx. >1,7 meter longer distance to travel to your ears as the direct way from the speaker .Fits to most speakers in general.
 

RLCCM

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I shall add both Phantoms and Living Voice speakers to the now very long list! though I did check through the links for LV, and no dealers/distributors in range. I really hope I get to try at least some of this vast list!

What I will also say about 2nd hand though, is that I'd love to find a bargain, but wont raise my hopes too much, partly because honestly I don't think I have enough Hi-fi buff knowledge to be able to go "ooo that's a great deal" and buy them with reasonably confidence. Obviously my knowledge is growing somewhat, with this thread amongst other things, but I won't even pretend I have anything near the experience of most of the posters who've replied here!
 

FennerMachine

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You have a FANTASTIC amp!
The Icon Audio ST 60 is a very well made powerful amp.
If you had a low powered, cheap or badly engineered amp then change it.
But why change what ain't broke?
Speakers make a massive difference.
Try many speakers, as many as you need until you find what you need.
 

RLCCM

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drummerman said:
I've posted this numerous times but a friend and ex-manager of a Movement Audio Branch (now gone) here in Bournemouth/Poole is a musician. Singer/Songwriter and guitarrist.

He used Shearne amplification (solid state but valve like) with a pair of Rogers LS3/5a for a long time despite having had a huge change of often high end equipment going through his shop.

They are far from perfect and perhaps wouldn't be my choice for full Orchestral onslaught at PA levels but with some genres/volume, pure magic.

Just thougt I'd mention those little gems even though they will be of little interest to the OP ... probably :)

Rogers are old school LS3/5a monitors right? What sort of genres do you think they woudl suit? I've no idea how they might sound at all
 

FennerMachine

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LS3/5A were used by the BBC. Maybe comisioned by them?
Good for natural voices.
Spendor and Harbeth make modern versions as well as other BBC comisioned speakers up to large 3-way speakers.
 

RLCCM

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Thanks for reassurung me on the Amp FennerMachine!

Right, yesterday I promised a little experiment with regards to my KEF R300's in my large open spaces, with the Valves/AVR alternative. So, only had time for a quick experiment in the end but here are the results:

Firstly upstairs which is somewhat large, open and barren for furniture, and thus a bit echoey, the R300's connected to my Pioneer AVR felt a bit lost in the room tbh. The large open space (its not just got a large floorspace but also a very high open roof, making it a huge air volume), with hard surfaces of course creates some reverb, but also highlights where a speaker is not clear sounding, all detail becomes obvious, almost too obvious - because it really draws your attention to any failings the speakers have for clarity (in the case of my KEF 2005 eggs, its horrow-show, poor little things are just completely inadequate in there). Here a clear but laid-back speaker suits, and the R300's actually sound very good in here, however either the room needs some dampening or the speaker is just not big enough as you get a sense of listenning to the band at the other end of a large concert hall. It's not at all immediate. I have to say, the AVR suits the KEF's down to the ground, being designed for punchy movie soundtracks, it tightens and controls the KEF's, bass particularly, in a way the Valves just cant, and so with the AVR the KEF's show noticeably more detail and accuracy.

Back downstairs in the more broken-up and furnished livingroom, which is a bit easier on the speaker, after listenning upstairs again it's become apparent that the speaker is not quite big enough here either, though its not so hugely noticeable, and one quickly gets used to it. The Valves give the R300's a touch of extra warmth and lushness compared to the AVR, but not with quite the same taughtness and definition, in all ranges, though noticeable mostly in the midrange and bass (which all of a sudden feel as if want the half-bungs pulled back out). This is hardly surprising, but considering these KEF's are generelly a relatively less controlled speaker I think they don't much suit a valve amp. The Amp doesn't make them sing honestly in the way that it can for more sensitive and balanced/controlled speakers like the PM1 (for this speaker size).

So my conclusion is that:
1. These speakers are not a great match with my amp, merely an acceptable one
2. I should be VERY wary of buying bookshelves or smaller standmounters in here at the moment
3. I need to do a little more furnishing for better sound (I did plan to put some rugs down at least anyway!)
 

RLCCM

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FennerMachine said:
Worth trying Harbeth and Spendor Classic. They are from the same pedigree but are different. Worth trying both even if to eliminate them.

I had a long demo on a shop with some SHL5+ in London a little while ago, I think I talked about them somewhere earlier, so wont go into detail here again. Pretty good but didnt quite do it for me, particularly when price was taken into account. If there was a pair 2nd hand at a very good price though, I would be temptable!

I've also heard a couple of quite old Spendors in an accoustically muddy shop, they didnt grab me... thouh I dare say in that shop, very little would! (oterwise its an amazing shop!), so probably Spendor needs a revisit.
 

FennerMachine

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I am using small floostanders in a small room.
With accoustics sorted they sound great!
I could probably use much larger speakers due to how good my room acoustics are.
Room accoustics are very important to get right as you have experienced.
If you have a large room get floostanders, they take up about the same space as standmounts, but have better bass, and overall sound more natural.
Exception is a large standmount speaker as they potentilly give the best of both designs.
 

FennerMachine

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Harbeth didn't really do it for me either.
Spendor are nice, really liked SA1 that I owned for a while. A bit small though.
The classic range has about 5 models varying in price and size.
 

RLCCM

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FennerMachine said:
Harbeth didn't really do it for me either. Spendor are nice, really liked SA1 that I owned for a while. A bit small though. The classic range has about 5 models varying in price and size.

noted thanks. They certainly look as if they come from the same family as Harbeth, I'll certainly try to demo if I get a chance
 

Rethep

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If you spend that kind of money you could also audition these Dutch speakers (built on request!):

http://www.hifi.nl/artikel/23698/Hay-End-Audio-Peitho-403---405-luidsprekers.html

This is a fine but also critical review! I have the smaller speaker (303), and use a valve-amp too!.
 

Burnsie

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Not that I can add much to what has been already been said but I had the Spendor SA-1 with the Abrahamsen V2 amp and a Audiolab 8200CD, I had sibilance problems. I was pointed to listen to different sources from the posters on this forum. I did not believe the difference that changing my source made. I ended up with a Linn Majik DS and am delighted with it.

My next change was my speakers, although I really liked the sound of the SA-1s they were a wee bit lost in my room. I listened to a lot of speakers, mostly standmounts from a variety of makes. I bought the Harbeth Montor 30.1s and to my ears they are fantastic speakers, I preferred them to the SL5s.

It has taken me a while to get to where I am but was worth the time. My room is nowhere near the size of yours but my biggest problem was with my source and I think if you are auditioning speakers make sure it is with the source you will be using.
 

Macspur

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Burnsie said:
Not that I can add much to what has been already been said but I had the Spendor SA-1 with the Abrahamsen V2 amp and a Audiolab 8200CD, I had sibilance problems. I was pointed to listen to different sources from the posters on this forum. I did not believe the difference that changing my source made. I ended up with a Linn Majik DS and am delighted with it.

My next change was my speakers, although I really liked the sound of the SA-1s they were a wee bit lost in my room. I listened to a lot of speakers, mostly standmounts from a variety of makes. I bought the Harbeth Montor 30.1s and to my ears they are fantastic speakers, I preferred them to the SL5s.

It has taken me a while to get to where I am but was worth the time. My room is nowhere near the size of yours but my biggest problem was with my source and I think if you are auditioning speakers make sure it is with the source you will be using.

I heard a pair of the 30.1 last weekend for the first time... very impressed, but they were joined by a small quod sub and an Audio Research tube amp was at the heart.

Mac

www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net
 

RLCCM

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Hi all, so after a few weeks waiting with no progress I've today finally made the next big step/test forward - the big one that I've been waiting for infact. I got a chance to plug a pir of Tannoy Turnberry GR's with the same Icon Audio amp as mine (though with a different set of valves admittedly, KT150's instead of my KT120's). The CD player used however was something that gives less detail and clarity than my audiolab.

The Turnberry's are the slightly bigger brothers of the Stirlings I have my eye on - they are more or less the same speaker in a bigger cabinet, and despite being on the smaller end of the prestige range, I can say they were pretty freakin' huge! Much bigger than I expected. And given that the Stirlings are not all that much smaller - I would say the Stirling is pretty much bang on the size I am looking for - if not even potentially still a bit big - the living room will easily take it!

They also are a very nice looking set of furniture, which is a plus. They'll go very well with my furniture, so on that note, the one minor worry is put aside.

More importantly, the sound - well firstly they were tested at a favourite shop of mine "Audio Gold" in london. Great friendly shop, selling mostly antique hi-fi equipment and Vinyl, and a bit of an aladdins cave. They have a brilliant friendly service, with no push to sell. It's a somewhat imperfect listenning room however, as there is a great deal of clutter, and so many passive speaker cones, grilles, cabinets, and just about everything else about to soak up and flatten and deaden the sound in there, so it's a very poor approximation comparative to my living room, which will undoubtedly be livelier, as well as larger.

The Turnberry's however were frankly.... admirable! They produce a lush, big sound, whilst being remarkably easy to drive (we didnt turn the amp over roughly 1/4 volume - i needed much more for the PM1). The detail and clarity was fantastic, the balance really good with the big band horns still having a full punch that others have missed. In a better room I would feel as if I was right there... these seriously blew away the PM1 (or frankly any others I've heard) for detail which remains with a cohesive presentation. Classical instruments and the full orchestra equally sounded fully detailed and lush, it was quite an experience, except for the accoustic deadenning of the room sitting on the shoulders like a ton of bricks to weigh it down - the room didnt quite let the speakers sing at the top end quite as I'd hoped, but to be fair, that really is splitting hairs because in any better and more open space, I think the treble would have a fantastic realism.

Also splitting hairs would be the bass, perhaps a touch large for my taste - it was certainly more than ample and full in scale, and with a valve amp, perhaps could have had slightly better control, but to be fair again - they have all the colour and feel of the instrument that most speakers lack, really hearing the wood of the double bass. The assistant at the shop said that the Stirlings (which they did have in before) are VERY similar to the turnberry in sound and presentation, but for the Turnberry's having that bit bigger bass due to the larger cabinet. This seems to make sense, and therefore again points me towards the Stirlings over the Turnberry.

The Turnberry's to my ears, and despite this awful room, were instantly clearer and more likeable than the Harbeth SuperHL5+ which in many ways was the most similar presentation I've heard to date, and far more engaging than the CM9, CM10 or 805D.

SO, knowing that I've punched holes in every speaker I've heard to date - where did these fall down? That's so far the most difficult question to answer of any I've tested, I perhaps wanted them to sing just a touch more in the treble, but really think that is likely the room and positioning of them (though they dont seem picky in placement). Otherwise, I would say for Parov Stelar or Woodkid, i.e modern music didnt quite have the edge it wants, again though, that's very difficult to reach with the valve amp, and a relatively unimportant test. With Pearl Jam, I initially felt it a bit warm, also losing a bit of edge, but then after some moments my ears attuned and I was quite happy - and overwhelmed if turning the volume up at all! Seriously... they can ROCK with volume!

Also, we plugged in some vintage Celestion DItton 44 (i think) speakers to compare to. A bit damaged, but only £550 due to age, these gave a great performance, in terms of lush warm waves of sound coming out, they were hugely enjoyable, an absolute bargain for the money. However they really lacked detail in comparison to the Tannoy's. The shop owner said he has a pair at home so he can effectively relax as they are so warm and easy to listen to. Very much worth a listen, though I am not sure I want to see them in my living room!

Lastly, as someone mentioned somewhere above to try alternative sources - another customer tried the same Icon Audio/Tannoy set-up with a vintage turntable rather than my CD's and... wow! It was a match made in heaven on a Ray Charles disc! So silky and rich... that really was a joy to the ears. So yes, at some point I will have to get a turntable!

But for now, the Turnberry's have been the best speaker I've heard to date, to the extent I think it's time to buy, bearing in mind the slightly cheaper and smaller cabinets of the Stirlings may just reign in the bass a little in my favour!

So... I'm going to mull it over for a couple of days, but I'm very likely to buy the Stirlings at the cut-down £2600. At this price, they even feel like good value comparatively!
 

CnoEvil

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Great insight. It would appear you are getting very close to your ideal.

The way this system sounds may well change when put in a different room and set up differently.

It was probably me that went on about the Source...brands like Chord and Cyrus should give more "attack" to the sound.
It may be controversial, but IME you can get more "bite" with certain cables...but this should be the last tweak, after you have lived with the system for a while...and the cables should be returnable if unsuitable.
 

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