Epos 12.2 Vs Monitor Audio RS6 Vs Monitor Audio BR5

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Can anybody suggest me which of the above speakers is best when it comes to sound quality ( I am not bothered about looks at all) with Roksan Kandy III, not taking into account the price of any of these. I can also afford to build a suitable sized room for any of these.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

Saurabh

 

[Anonymous]

The MA RS6s are very good, but my experience of putting them with the Kandy amp is not great. The result is very bright indeed, but it comes down to preference of course (not to mention source).

 

[Anonymous]

I'm probably not the best person to advise as I tested MA RS6's against Kef iQ7s and prefered the Kefs contrary to the ratings in WHSAV. They are now paired up with a Kandy cd Player and they sound fantastic. I was expecting them to sound too bright with the kandy but has proven to not be a problem at all.

 

[Anonymous]

The mon audio RS6 and the epos 12.2 are both better than the BR5's to my ears.Good as the Br5's are, they are not as good as the other 2.I have only heard the epos once though but they left a bigger impression than the BR5's with a clearer sound and better soundstage. As igglebert says, Mon audio can sound a little bright with kandy amplification.I think that could be controlled with careful cable choice though.Avoid silver cables! The epos have their own stands too.Not sure if you need to buy them to get best sound or whether you can buy any good quality stand.What about the Mon Audio silver 5's? they are only £50 more than the BR5's

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for the respoding

I have not tried Silver 5s yet. Infact I have just tried RS6 against BR5 and indeed RS6 were better to my ears. (the amp used was NAD, dont really remember which one). But according to the tests in What hifi BR5 should be outstanding with Kandy. More over I am all the more confused because another group test that says Epos 12.2 are better than RS6.

It has not been possible for me to test any of these with a Kandy and hence I need help.

I have also now decided that I can also buy another amp if that is going to make a remarkable difference. But then the question boils down to the fact of buying a pair of speakers, interconnects and an amp, all within a budget of $2500. Is this too tight?

Also its worth mentioning that I mostly use my laptop to play my music which is mostly in mp3 format.

Kindly advise.

 

[Anonymous]

The speaker sound is subjective. In any test, if done blindly, most people would choose a speaker that's not the costliest. Also, different people would choose different ones, never ever can all agree on one speaker that "this speaker sound the best". If have seen people preferring BR2 over RS1. These debates are endless. That's why they say - audition. And why not? If you are gonna spend 2.5 grands on a music system, why you need to buy it based on recommendations. If you spend the money, the sound should satisfy YOU.
I notice that you are trying to buy a speaker first and base rest of your system around that. Not a great method. People start with the source, laptop in your case, and then base their system around. You are going the other way round.
My advice would be work on the source first. Listening to a 2500 buck system and source being a laptop, is a tad bit sad. Work on the source. Spend 50% of your budget on the source and speakers and the rest of the Amp and the cable.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="ranjeetrain"]The speaker sound is subjective. In any test, if done blindly, most people would
choose a speaker that's not the costliest[/quote]

Thats a hell of a sweeping statement, and how could you possibly know that? So if i demo a set of mon audio gold reference 20's against a BR2 in a blind test i am more likely to choose the BR2? Cobblers. Anyone who has a decent ear will hear the difference in clarity, soundstage, realism and freedom from boxyness that a more expensive speaker will bring. The bronze range is decent but when compared directly next to the silver range it is really obvious that the internals of the silver range are higher quality and the qualities mentioned above are obvious.The epos speaker is an award winning standmounter at £500 as opposed to an award winning entry level floorstander at £450 ( and £150 of that is just for the bigger box). No contest.

 

[Cypher]

[quote user="ranjeetrain"]The speaker sound is subjective. In any test, if done blindly, most people would choose a speaker that's not the costliest. Also, different people would choose different ones, never ever can all agree on one speaker that "this speaker sound the best". If have seen people preferring BR2 over RS1. These debates are endless. That's why they say - audition. And why not? If you are gonna spend 2.5 grands on a music system, why you need to buy it based on recommendations. If you spend the money, the sound should satisfy YOU.

I notice that you are trying to buy a speaker first and base rest of your system around that. Not a great method. People start with the source, laptop in your case, and then base their system around. You are going the other way round.

My advice would be work on the source first. Listening to a 2500 buck system and source being a laptop, is a tad bit sad. Work on the source. Spend 50% of your budget on the source and speakers and the rest of the Amp and the cable.[/quote]

I agree. It is subjective. As an example ; I like the BR2 better than the B&W 685. Most people do not agree with me but that's no problem. It's MY opinion. There's no 'better' , just different.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Cypher"]

I agree. It is subjective. As an example ; I like the BR2 better than the
B&W 685. Most people do not agree with me but that's no problem. It's MY
opinion. There's no 'better' , just different.

[/quote]

Again, this is only true to a point.It is perhaps subjective within a certain price range but once you jump up a level of course there is better.I demo'd the BR2's against the RS1 recently.The Br2's were clearly and obviously the cheapest sounding speaker with a more grainy,boxier,less realistic, less natural sound and a more vague soundstage compared to the RS1.The RS1 has better quality drivers and internals and offers a clear step up in all the aforementioned areas, as intended by the manufacturer.So of course its better. What next, a ferrari is no better than a corsa as its just subjective? Cypher, you should demo your Rs1's, once they are run in, against your BR2's and then see if you still feel the same way!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="saurabhjain"]But according to the tests in What hifi BR5 should be outstanding with Kandy.
More over I am all the more confused because another group test that says
Epos 12.2 are better than RS6[/quote]

You should never buy speakers without hearing them.You can take a risk on cd players and amps but its too risky to buy speakers without a demo. I just read there that you mostly play music from your laptop in mp3 format.If that is the case i would not spend anything like the sort of money you are talking about , or on the components you mention,as components off that quality will really show up the short comings of using mp3 and a laptop as a source.

 

[Anonymous]

...or at least get a good cable (Chord do a great mini-jack to RCA cable for about £50 - http://www.chord.co.uk/chordweb/index2.htm) and use a lossless format for your music. Mass storage devices are dirt cheap so it'd be a good few quid to spend.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Fraziel"][quote user="ranjeetrain"]The speaker sound is subjective. In any test, if done blindly, most people would
choose a speaker that's not the costliest[/quote]

Thats a hell of a sweeping statement, and how could you possibly know that? So if i demo a set of mon audio gold reference 20's against a BR2 in a blind test i am more likely to choose the BR2? Cobblers. Anyone who has a decent ear will hear the difference in clarity, soundstage, realism and freedom from boxyness that a more expensive speaker will bring. The bronze range is decent but when compared directly next to the silver range it is really obvious that the internals of the silver range are higher quality and the differences mentioned above are clearly heard.The epos speaker is an award winning standmounter at £500 as opposed to an award winning entry level floorstander at £450 ( and £150 of that is just for the bigger box). No contest.[/quote]

Fraziel, long posts and shouting tones can't help you prove anything. If you have any sensibilities, think before you post. Just because everyone wouldn't have the time to go on quoting and posting, you can't start arguing senselessly. Read what you posted. And just to give you one back to you: you would be really dumb to think someone would give you a pair of MA GR with a pair of BR2 for a blind test.

 

[Anonymous]

well to quote you "The speaker sound is subjective. In any test, if done blindly, most people would choose a speaker that's not the costliest".

So that's MOST people and ANY test. So that could be GR against a BR2 then? My post was not shouty only slightly irritated.I think its perfectly reasonable to be mildly irritated when you read arbitrary nonsense, which has absolutely no basis in fact, like the above comment. As for arguing senselessly, the points i made were perfectly sensible and logical, unlike some. I also don't get the point you are trying to make with regard to having time to " go on quoting and posting". Er, so what if anyone has more time than anyone else to post? what's your point? So to quote you again " If you have any sensibilities, think before you post"

 

[Anonymous]

WOW. So much for the innocence.
Well, learn to read dude. You read something perfect with some irritation that you carry from some place else. And then something perfectly sensible starts seeming "arbitrary nonsense" to you. Who are you to decide it was arbitrary nonsense anyways? I guess my post was to the asker, not quoting anybody and directly addressing the asker's question). It seems it made perfect sense to other readers and possibly to the asker. You know why, because they'd read the whole post and then interpreted the message rather than start reading it to find a word which they could pick for starting an argument.
This forum could do with people helping askers by constructive suggestions rather than nitpicking on others and needless arguments.

 

[Anonymous]

i was not nit picking.You clearly stated MOST people and ANY test. I think what i said was helpful as what you said was arbitrary nonsense and just like any post on any topic, if people write things which are clearly not true or is their subjective opinion passed as fact, then someone is going to make a comment on it. And i think you will find that you escalated this, not me. How do i know your comment was arbitrary? Because i can think rationally and i can read and understand the meaning of what people write.Sorry "dude" but what you wrote was not only a complete generalisation but also not true. And what is wrong with reading something "perfect"? whatever that means.Should i read it imperfect? you say it like its a bad thing.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Ranjeetrain.

How can you tell someone to learn to read when your grammar is so poor?

I agree with Fraziel. You were speaking on behalf of the hifi world with your comments. Obviously blind tests can give results that do not follow price range. However, what Fraziel was trying to explain to you was that he agreed to a point. However, obvious leaps in quality would be heard and noted. The RS6s (my choice of speaker), sound superb to me. I haven't heard the BR5s but if did and they sounded better, I would buy them. The fact is that why would they sound better?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Thanks again for the response.

I really feel sorry that my post brought up arguements between Fraziel and Ranjeetrain. I am still not sure if Fraziel was irritated with my questions. Please understand that am new to Audio stuff and hence my questions can be stupid.

All in all I wanted to reinstate that I gathered a lot of stuff from the discussion, like the importance of using lossless formats (though it will mean getting all my current pile of music in another format) and also the need to test the speakers with my own ears.

But I still need some suggestions on amps and speakers tht are within my range and from there I can go and test thm myself.

Thanks all once again.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="saurabhjain"]
Hi all,

Thanks again for the response.

I really feel sorry that my post brought up arguements between Fraziel and Ranjeetrain. I am still not sure if Fraziel was irritated with my questions. Please understand that am new to Audio stuff and hence my questions can be stupid.

All in all I wanted to reinstate that I gathered a lot of stuff from the discussion, like the importance of using lossless formats (though it will mean getting all my current pile of music in another format) and also the need to test the speakers with my own ears.

But I still need some suggestions on amps and speakers tht are within my range and from there I can go and test thm myself.

Thanks all once again.
[/quote]

Of course i wasn't irritated with your question.It was a good one and one i enjoyed trying to answer.I have been in hi fi shops and the staff have been v condescending and i didnt like it so i would try not to take the same attitude with newbies.Not that i know anything like as much as some of the shop experts.It just bugs me when people make such obviously subjective arbitrary comments and pass them off as factual.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Gerrardasnails"]Ranjeetrain.

How can you tell someone to learn to read when your grammar is so poor?[/quote]

Talking of grammar, I thought your very first sentence opens with errors. Is English your first language? Doesn't seem so. Even as secondary language my grammar in English is better than yours and overall command over the language too. Perhaps you bunked the grammar lessons in your school days, didn't you?
Go back and read again, I didn't ask him to learn to read because of bad grammar, but because of the way he misinterpreted my post.
About the blind test, a blind test doesn't necessarily mean a test between "no contest" speakers. You are forcing an extreme scenario. An ideal blind test would be done amongst comparable speakers, falling in the same price bracket. Does that make sense?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Fraziel"]It just bugs me when people make such obviously subjective arbitrary comments and pass them off as factual.[/quote]

It bugs others just as much when someone with such poor understanding of language comes forth to pass a judgment on others' posts, without having read the post properly.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

"Who are you to decide it was arbitrary nonsense anyways?" - anyways?
"I guess my post was to the asker" - asker?
"I guess my post was to the asker, not quoting anybody and directly addressing the asker's question)." Where is the opening bracket?
"You know why, because they'd read the whole post and then interpreted the message rather than start reading it to find a word which they could pick for starting an argument." Should have written "started reading".

There was nothing wrong with my opening line. Even if English was not my first language, which it is, I would be comfortable with my grammar. Anyway (not anyways), this is a forum for hifi and we have gone off from the subject.

 

[Anonymous]

Why aren't the webmasters supervising this? I think we may have a domestic incident on our hands. Lets hope I am not about to make things worse......... I have just read this post with fresh eyes from top to bottom. I think it is time for Ranjeetrain to withdraw from this debate. Fraziel has pointed out valid flaws in Ranjeetrains original post where personal opinion has been stated as widely accepted fact. However, Fraziel should know better than to engage in a quoting battle with an individual who is unarmed yet desperate to have the last word.

 

[Anonymous]

tom83cat, I checked your post history. It is highly unlikely that you read the post with fresh eyes. Otherwise, who would just pop into the middle of something like this out of nowhere.
But I must thank you for emphasizing my point. My whole point is that off late people are indulging more in off-topic arguments than posting constructively. You must have seen a growing number of threads having off-topic content. I am the one to actually stay out of them.
As for your suggestion regarding me withdrawing, thanks for the suggestion but I think not. Let people come here and talk about various things. I know why someone talks about grammar and stuff. They run of ideas!
As for your suggestions to Fraziel - LOL, that's my answer. Look back at various threads Fraziel has participated in. If I get down to, I can find a number of places where he posted content that was outright incorrect. I read them and let them pass, as I believe this is a public forum and everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if wrong. Even if I try to correct someone, it is always after due consideration. And not the way Fraziel jumped the gun.
I also suggest you that instead of interpreting someone in your own way and them picking up an argument based on that, try to read others better. Specifically passing judgment on others is only acceptable when you yourself are perfect. Avoid preaching mate, unless you yourself are perfect.

 

[Anonymous]

To ALL,

Guys every time I log in with a hope to find answers to my concern, but everytime I see new arguments cropping up between you people.

I did not know my post would raise such serious discontent amongst the participants. I really feel sorry for that. And in the end, I still dont have any answers to my questions.

Anyway, I thank you all for whatever I could gather from the discussion.

Regards

Saurabh

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="ranjeetrain"][quote user="Fraziel"]It just bugs me when people make such obviously subjective arbitrary comments and pass them off as factual.[/quote] It bugs others just as much when someone with such poor understanding of language comes forth to pass a judgment on others' posts, without having read the post properly.[/quote]

lol. i liked this one. Part of my job at work at work is to reply to letters from members of parliament and solicitors.You don't get that job unless your grammar and your command of English is pretty solid.Even if i do say so myself. You appear to be somewhat deluded ranjeetrain and i really don't understand why you went off on one just because someone was critical, justifiable or not, of something you said. I suspect that i may have made factually incorrect statements, but if someone pointed it out i would be ok at being told i had got it wrong, pleased i had been enlightened even, unless it was a silly comment about cable upgrades being useless! I certainly would not start ranting in appalling written English about how the person can't read properly! Just how do you know "most" people choose cheaper speakers in any test? tell me, how?The very fact that you made that statement ,and appear to be mystified as to why it is nonsense, suggests that your understanding of English is suspect, as is your understanding of the average persons ability to appreciate better quality products. You even criticised me for reading your post " perfect". Perhaps i should make a special effort not to understand things properly, just for you? And by the way, your grammar is very poor bordering atrocious and your sentence construction is childlike.Get that right before you start criticising my reading ability. I would also point out that the reason my posts can be long is that i type them in paragraphs, but every time i post them all the paragraphs have been joined together.There is obviously something technical about posting that i have missed.