Neutral bookshelf speakers @ $2000?

[oivavoi]

axiom will make custom actives out of most of the speakers in their lineup.. i was considering m22 actives before i bought my first set of m80s.

Do you know how much that costs, approximately? By active, do you mean with amps and crossovers built into the speakers, or setup for an external active crossover?

 

[Ron Texas]

You are confusing anechoic measurements with in-room response.

That's possible, but still some around here have remarked ther KH120 is bright. If we are talking about studio monitors there are many more to consider from Adam, JBL, Genelec and others. My impression is the OP wants passive speakers.

 

[Ron Texas]

i _really_ dislike that KEF coaxial driver design by the way. found it boomy and tinny. not surprised at the fr graph above

Then tell me why nearly every professional reviewer loves it. The only negative review I could find was from some dude who put them on his desktop, something they are not designed for.

 

[dkinric]

Another vote here for Ascend Acoustics.
I have the Sierra 2s and they are astounding, with beautifully built bamboo cabinetry. World class components and internet direct, no money spent on middlemen, advertising, nor flashy website = high value for the customer. Dave F is the owner/designer and he participates in his own forums.

He has a new, improved bookshelf model out - the Sierra 2EX. Seriously, it should compete with or better anything in the $2k and under class - and they are $1500. Also provides measurements with the goal of flat. With my purchase was included measurements of my exact units, signed and dated by the technician. They are paired to be within +/- 1db response of each other.

Highest recommendation.
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRM2EX/srm2ex.html

 

[mkawa]

Do you know how much that costs, approximately? By active, do you mean with amps and crossovers built into the speakers, or setup for an external active crossover?

yah, amps and crossovers in the speaker box. give them a call. since they make everything in house, there is a pretty wide range of stuff they can make if your requests are reasonable.

note that it's not going to be comparable in price to mass produced competitors at, but it's also unlikely to cost nearly as much as most boutiques.

Then tell me why nearly every professional reviewer loves it. The only negative review I could find was from some dude who put them on his desktop, something they are not designed for.

i don't know. i had KEF Q300s that i tried to like for more than 30 days (unfortunately for me), but ultimately sold for pennies on ebay; they were on stands in a medium sized listening room (150sqft). the complaints i had match the FR curve, so i don't think i was just imagining things.

 

[watchnerd]

Is there any way to have these threads be more objective based?

Otherwise, it's just a laundry list of people throwing out either their faves or what they've heard.

I was going to do the same, but then thought piling on more opinions is not the same as useful data.....

 

[Blumlein 88]

Is there any way to have these threads be more objective based?

Otherwise, it's just a laundry list of people throwing out either their faves or what they've heard.

I was going to do the same, but then thought piling on more opinions is not the same as useful data.....

+1 this idea.

 

[dkinric]

Ascend Acoustics posts speaker measurements online and includes the graphs of your actual units in the box

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRM2EX/srm2exmeas.html

 

[mkawa]

achtung! i need to amend the axiom thing: emailing is the best way to determine whether custom (eg, active) speakers can be built by axiom.

i'll also note that my rec came with NRC measurements..

 

[Blumlein 88]

And how "neutral" is defined? I want to understand a little about reading this graph, too. Thanks

The people who seem to have worked out what is neutral for loudspeakers are Harman, and a few others beginning the work at the National Research Council in Canada. They did research and listening tests to find out what listeners found most neutral sounding. Floyd Toole has written a book about that work. He worked at Harman for many years. Harman makes JBL, Revel and some other speakers. Some products from other sources like PSB use a similar design guideline.

What sounds neutral is a speaker with flat on axis response in an anechoic chamber. Flat and smooth without bumps or dips in the response. Off axis you also need a similarly smooth response though one which begins to droop slightly as you get more and more off axis.

Stereophile and soundstage.net give you measurements to get an idea of what might meet these criteria.

Here is a Revel Performa 228Be speaker as measured by Stereophile.

And the smooth off axis results.

Here is an example of a speaker that has very flat on axis, but is a bit lumpy off axis, and presumably would be found less neutral. Dynaudio Confidence C1

Here is an example of something very poor on and off axis.

 

[Blumlein 88]

To answer your question, LSR 305, 306 and 308 speakers are basically neutral, and powered active speakers. Well below your budget. They also make some LSR705 and 708s near your upper budget. The Neumans some others have mentioned would appear to follow a well considered design guideline. The Revel's others have suggested would work too. If you don't mind, the lower priced Revel floorstander series are in budget and would be very nice. I'm thinking of the F35 and F36. They don't need lots of amplifier power and sound very neutral.

 

[mkawa]

the nrc experiment grants were dependent on tech transfer to canadian manufacturers, so psb, paradigm, revel, and some smaller companies like axiom took part in the experiments and used the lessons learned to directly affect their designs and r&d.

in some sense, what NRC offered manufacturers is a bit like what amir offers to manufacturers here. he offers manufacturers the direct opportunity to test their (now often pre-release) designs as long as he can publish the results. he also tests equipment that hasn't been offered by the manufacturer and publishes results, but hopefully that will shame certain types towards more truth in advertisement..

 

[Biblob]

I would take a look at the Kef R3

 

[napilopez]

Lots of good recommendations here. Just wanted to point out, however, that for among KEF speakers, you should be looking at the R3 and maybe LS50 Wireless (if active is a consideration), not the LS50. Of these two, I definitely prefer the R3. Subjectively, the LS50 Wireless has maybe a tiny edge in soundstage, but the R3 is definitely the more neutral-sounding of the two. I'd put them both within the 'neutral' ballpark though.

Here's the R3:

Here's the LS50 Wireless (note I'd only measured this up to 60 degrees off axis, as opposed to 75 for the R3):

I believe both are good measuring speakers, but I think the LS50W's notch at 1.7K is more noticeable than the two shallower bumps in the R3's midrange.

KEF aside, I've always heard good things about ascend acoustics. You'll also want to look into the Buchardt S400, another good-measuring favorite in the price range (which I'm currently enjoying a lot for review). With the KEFs, I do like that they maintain very similar vertical dispersion too.

 

[daftcombo]

Why not get Focal Aria 906 (on sale for 450$ sometimes) and you're done?

 

[Ron Texas]

Why not get Focal Aria 906 (on sale for 450$ sometimes) and you're done?

For one or a pair?
https://www.soundstagehifi.com/inde...ference-component-focal-aria-906-loudspeakers

 

[daftcombo]

For one or a pair?
https://www.soundstagehifi.com/inde...ference-component-focal-aria-906-loudspeakers

Just got a pair for 410€, thanks to @VintageFlanker notification.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Just got a pair for 410€, thanks to @VintageFlanker notification.

Unfortunately for others: These kinds of offer are strictly limited to France/EU.

PS: Speaking of which, my kitten just destroyed one of the medium/bass driver of my 906s...

 

[daftcombo]

Unfortunately for others: These kinds of offer are strictly limited to France/EU.

PS: Speaking of which, my kitten just destroyed one of the medium/bass driver of my 906s...

That's bad. What will you do know?

 

[dkinric]

New speaker time! A component breaking is just an excuse to upgrade...