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What budget speakers you like to see reviewed?

hardisj

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Funny enough, I have a set of the F328be and F226Be en route as soon as some shipping stuff gets worked out. It's been in the works for about a month now. This COVID stuff is causing delays, otherwise I would have tested them weeks ago. Didn't think to share because I didn't think anyone was waiting to see the results. Could have saved Amir a lot of money. Oh well. You guys will get two sets of data now. :)
 

Zed

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Unfortunately I doubt you'll find much with better bass at the same or lower price.

True, but I'm willing to spend a little more. Maybe the Elac DBR-62. The speakers are also on a shelf, close to the wall, so the front port, and Amir's comment about the Elac's not being too fussy helps. The issue is that I'm running a Fisher tube with only 35WPC, so I'm not sure the 86db of the Elac will work for me. Sometimes I like to crank it just a bit...nothing crazy, but I never want to be second-guessing SQ, based on compromising sensitivity. I like to be in the 90db+ range. So my ideal is front port, 90db+, $700/pr max, decent low end specs, in white. Decisions, decisions.
 

bobbooo

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Q Acoustics 3050i

They're more than $700 a pair, a bit over the $200 budget :D The closest proper standmounters by Q Acoustics to that budget would be the 3020 model, at $229 a pair.
 

MZKM

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Funny enough, I have a set of the F328be and F226Be en route as soon as some shipping stuff gets worked out. It's been in the works for about a month now. This COVID stuff is causing delays, otherwise I would have tested them weeks ago. Didn't think to share because I didn't think anyone was waiting to see the results. Could have saved Amir a lot of money. Oh well. You guys will get two sets of data now. :)
It’s always good to see production consistency. At least companies like Neumann are upfront & state this.
 

hardisj

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I did order the Micca $89 speaker MB42X. Just haven't gotten around to testing it. I wanted to compare it against the Neumi $89/pair speakers. For sure the Micca is smaller. Feels more like a toy, too. Interested to see how it performs.
 

bobbooo

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True, but I'm willing to spend a little more. Maybe the Elac DBR-62. The speakers are also on a shelf, close to the wall, so the front port, and Amir's comment about the Elac's not being too fussy helps. The issue is that I'm running a Fisher tube with only 35WPC, so I'm not sure the 86db of the Elac will work for me. Sometimes I like to crank it just a bit...nothing crazy, but I never want to be second-guessing SQ, based on compromising sensitivity. I like to be in the 90db+ range. So my ideal is front port, 90db+, $700/pr max, decent low end specs, in white. Decisions, decisions.

Yeah I don't think you'll do much better than the Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 at that price, seems like a good choice. Amir did say this about it though:
Impedance is high at about 8 ohms but the phase angle is quite acute at nearly 50 degrees. This means the speaker will ask for current when the output voltage is very low. So you better have a beefy amplifier to drive this speaker.

Might be a good time to upgrade your amp...
 

preload

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While those B&W's aren't benchmark quality, they don't appear to be especially terrible either. They actually look pretty good aside from a couple trouble regions. I would guess this reviewer has room modes destroying his response up to around 700Hz or so, might suggest he could have some level of high frequency hearing damage, or these tracks he's using may have have been mastered/colored to fit B&W's house signature better. I've seen a lot of making of videos where studios and audio departments have B&W diamond speakers.

Let me get this straight. You're saying that because the Soundstage reviewer preferred the B&W 705S2 over the Revel M106, you suspect his room has destructive nodes up to 700Hz, and the reviewer himself might have high frequency hearing damage!?
 

Haint

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Let me get this straight. You're saying that because the Soundstage reviewer preferred the B&W 705S2 over the Revel M106, you suspect his room has destructive nodes up to 700Hz, and the reviewer himself might have high frequency hearing damage!?

You seemed to be looking for theories on why he might prefer the B&W, which I provided. I don't think these were in any way outrageous or controversial. The trough from ~100-700hz and the rise at ~8kHz are the most obvious issues in the B&W measurements. Yes, it is possible he has modal/transition issues masking performance differences in that bass region, and yes high frequency hearing degradation is very common and I would not be surprised if those people preferred excess treble energy to varying degrees. If the B&W's trough is taming a problematic peak in his room (e.g. Amirm's 102Hz filter he uses in all his listening tests), it is not surprising he could prefer the B&W.
 
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Martin

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Not budget but I'd love to see Fritzspeakers Carbon 7's tested. I used to own a pair and they sounded really nice to my ears. If I still had them I'd send them in. Fritz sends speakers out for audition - he may want them measured - no harm in asking...

Martin
 

andrewch

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Hi @amirm. I am considering buying the Neumann KH310. I live in Europe so I thought maybe I can order one from Sweetwater to your address, but that looks expensive.

What are other more approachable ways to get this speaker to you? Rent it maybe or if someone on this forum has it, I can cover shipping both ways? Not sure how this could be done, but willing to donate and see how the Neumann KH310 compares to others.
 
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amirm

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Hi @amirm. I am considering buying the Neumann KH310. I live in Europe so I thought maybe I can order one from Sweetwater to your address, but that looks expensive.

What are other more approachable ways to get this speaker to you? Rent it maybe or if someone on this forum has it, I can cover shipping both ways? Not sure how this could be done, but willing to donate and see how the Neumann KH310 compares to others.
That's very kind of you. I am interested in measuring it as well. Maybe @GuyLayfield can get a loan unit from their US distributor?

Anyone in US interested in this speaker?
 

MZKM

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That's very kind of you. I am interested in measuring it as well. Maybe @GuyLayfield can get a loan unit from their US distributor?

Anyone in US interested in this speaker?
The horizontal polar is pretty interesting:
1596149488450.gif

I am assuming that widened directivity is from the midrange unit. I wonder their reasoning for not going with a smaller midrange.
 

NDC

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preload

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You seemed to be looking for theories on why he might prefer the B&W, which I provided. I don't think these were in any way outrageous or controversial. The trough from ~100-700hz and the rise at ~8kHz are the most obvious issues in the B&W measurements. Yes, it is possible he has modal/transition issues masking performance differences in that bass region, and yes high frequency hearing degradation is very common and I would not be surprised if those people preferred excess treble energy to varying degrees. If the B&W's trough is taming a problematic peak in his room (e.g. Amirm's 102Hz filter he uses in all his listening tests), it is not surprising he could prefer the B&W.

Thanks for clarifying. My first thought, personally, would not have been that an audio reviewer for Soundstage would have high frequency hearing loss or be auditioning loudspeakers in a room with unmitigated standing wave issues.

Rather, it could very well be that the 705s2 did, in fact, sound better on the test tracks than the M106. It might also mean that loudspeaker measurements do not completely predict loudspeaker preferences, or that one's ability to interpret the FR curves isn't as good as one would think.
 

Haint

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Thanks for clarifying. My first thought, personally, would not have been that an audio reviewer for Soundstage would have high frequency hearing loss or be auditioning loudspeakers in a room with unmitigated standing wave issues.

Rather, it could very well be that the 705s2 did, in fact, sound better on the test tracks than the M106. It might also mean that loudspeaker measurements do not completely predict loudspeaker preferences, or that one's ability to interpret the FR curves isn't as good as one would think.

My understanding is most (all?) speaker reviewers don't use correction/EQ in evaluations. Otherwise the claim would be they're not hearing the speaker, they're hearing their processor. A probable majority of their readers don't use it either, many diehard audiophile's are against DSP. Hearing damage is cumulative, and high frequency is always the first to go. Anyone who has spent a lot of time around high SPL's is likely to have greatly reduced sensitivity (worsening exponentially with age), speaker reviewers are definitely a very high risk profession in that regard. Perhaps the most important point to make is that this was a sighted comparison, bias is a helluva drug and impossible to ignore even if you're aware of your propensities.
 
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thewas

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The horizontal polar is pretty interesting:
View attachment 75905
I am assuming that widened directivity is from the midrange unit. I wonder their reasoning for not going with a smaller midrange.
Its rather an artefact from its horizontal orientation with the woofer side by side to the mid and tweeter, on the other hand its vertical polar is better than on a vertical placement:
1596180538365.png
 

preload

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My understanding is most (all?) speaker reviewers don't use correction/EQ in evaluations. Otherwise the claim would be they're not hearing the speaker, they're hearing their processor. A probable majority of their readers don't use it either, many diehard audiophile's are against DSP. Hearing damage is cumulative, and high frequency is always the first to go. Anyone who has spent a lot of time around high SPL's is likely to have greatly reduced sensitivity (worsening exponentially with age), speaker reviewers are definitely a very high risk profession in that regard. Perhaps the most important point to make is that this was a sighted comparison, bias is a helluva drug and impossible to ignore even if you're aware of your propensities.

Very interesting. So you're unwilling to believe the results of a published loudspeaker comparison because the reviewer did not eq his room, you think it's likely that he has high frequency hearing loss by virtue of him being employed as a reviewer, and the fact that he didn't do a blinded comparison.

Hey you seem like an intelligent person, so let me just take a guess at what's going on - you're under the belief that all B&W speakers are overly bright and poorly designed so there's no way the 705s2 could have sounded better than a Revel speaker. Hence the list of "more likely" reasons, like the reviewer has a hearing loss.
 
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