HELP!!! Choosing a suitable speaker with a budget of USD$800-$1200

[BigH]

I heard the Tannoy 6.1, I liked them but felt they were pleasant and easy listening not sure they were really for rock. Also think they would be out of his price range as £900 here. I did actual hear them just after some active speakers and they were a bit lacking in clarity and attack.

The dual concentric arrangement is slightly different from your usual tweeter/woofer separate setup. It of course might be that the actives that you heard were a tad on the overly bright side. No issues with clarity with the DC4 so I would be surprised if the same wasn't held for the other two models I mentioned.

No certainly not bright just clearer, the Dyn X12 were slightly brighter.

 

[Chaloff]

Raymond,

I think we forgot about ID's advise reference DACs in post No.6. A great one by the way. If you do not have a good sound card in your PC and you are not willing to change it, then you will need external DAC. If you want to use your TV as transport, you anyway will need external DAC. I for instance use Cambridge Audio DacMagic to stream sound from my TV. Sounds quite ok. Many people love this device. It's one among entry level DACs.

There are also integrated amps which have built in DACs. But they are not very cheep. In your case you need an amp with spdif in (either coaxial or optical) to connect to your TV (dependin which spdif out your TV has) and USB type B in to stream from your PC. But the latter not necessarily if your PC has spdif out. For example my PC is connected to Onkyo reciever via optical cable.

One of the examples of relatively cheep amps with all three ins is TEAC A-H01.

Another important thing is if you want to listen to music from your sofa. Most of the amps have remote controls. But I am not sure about active speakers. Maybe some have. I do not know much about them. Just keep it in mind.

Regards,

Andrew

 

[ID.]

I would advise B&W 686

I wouldn't. Poor value for money, low sensistivity, hard to drive. The B&W 685s are good.

If it were me I'd want to check out speakers like the KEF R100s with Arcam amplification if available (probably over budget even if it is available in Singapore).

B&W CM1s with the Marantz M-CR603 or its replacement te M-CR610 is a surprisingly good combo.

The suggestions for integrated amps with a DAC like those from TEAC or the new Marantz PM6005 are also good ideas if you want to run passive speakers.

Not at all true that active speakers are no good for heavy music. As mentioned, the lack of a passive crossover makes them more efficient and they can be very dynamic and powerful. You can get good deals by checking out what is available at your local pro music shop (as many of them are built for studio use).

 

[davedotco]

If you want a reasonably priced active speaker to play 'heavy' music, look no further than the Mackie HR624 and HR824.

Priced (in the UK) at around £600-700 for the smaller and just over £1k for the larger, these speakers will literally rock your world. The fully active configuration will give clarity at lower levels and at higher levels will cause both you family and neighbours to move to a quieter area, near the airport perhaps.

Not the most refined speakers you can buy, but fun with a capital F. If, as has been the case in the past, I could have a 'second system' to play some 'rock and roll' and use at parties, these would be my choice....... :twisted:

 

[Chaloff]

If you want a reasonably priced active speaker to play 'heavy' music, look no further than the Mackie HR624 and HR824.

Priced (in the UK) at around £600-700 for the smaller and just over £1k for the larger, these speakers will literally rock your world. The fully active configuration will give clarity at lower levels and at higher levels will cause both you family and neighbours to move to a quieter area, near the airport perhaps.

Not the most refined speakers you can buy, but fun with a capital F. If, as has been the case in the past, I could have a 'second system' to play some 'rock and roll' and use at parties, these would be my choice....... :twisted:

Hi Daved,

How would you compare their SQ to Cerwin Vega passive speakers? Many people describe the latter the way you spoke about Mackie,