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$20-25k budget. Currently eyeing Genelec 8361A, KEF Blade One Meta, and the B&W 801D4.

I would listen to both in my own space, contemporary active speakers are designed to work in every room without much in the way of treatment and be placed anywhere because they are so adjustable.
Keith
 
A ton of votes for the KEF Blades! The room they'll be going into is roughly 21'x14' and the listening distance will be about 18-19' back. Currently no room treatment as I just moved into this new place, but I may be moving again in another 2-3 years so I don't know how much room treatment modifications I want to invest in.

I was torn between Genelecs and the KEF Blades, but I think you guys swung me over to the KEF. What do you guys recommend to power them with? I'm needing something that can run Spotify off my iPad/iPhone. Maybe even my turntable. I'd like to eventually get a dedicated subwoofer down the road after I move into a house and maybe also connect to a TV.
If at all possible, find a pair of KEF Blades or Reference 3/5 Meta to audition. Where are you located?

An easy option for the system is a WiiM or Bluesound streamer with the desired features. You don't need to spend a lot to connect a TV, turntable, and Spotify. There are people with more experience here than me with all of the options. I do have equipment from both in various secondary systems, but our main system is multichannel.

There are lots of good amps on the market. On ASR, a popular choice is class D using Hypex or Purifi modules. These provide plenty of power, outstanding performance, small size, light weight, high efficiency, and modest cost. There are lots of makers out there. Buckeye and Boxem are both active on ASR.

FWIW, our main system (multichannel) uses KEF Reference 3 Metas for the L/R and we have Hypex Nilai 500 DIY mono blocks for the LCR.

You can put together a top notch system with excellent speakers, amplification, and source equipment for a reasonable price. The amps and source do not have to be in the same price range as the speakers. This is true 100 times over for cables/wires. My choice there is Canare or Belden. A reasonable source for that is Blue Jeans cable. Our own system has DIY speakers cables using wire from Belden and Canare and interconnects are either DIY or from Markertek (another good source for ready made cables).
 
Appreciate that info! Do you think I would need two Hypex Nilai 509 DIY mono blocks for both of them? I recall reading about NAD somewhere. I want to say the amp suggested was the NAD C399. Would that be a worthy alternative? Reason I ask is because I believe that option offers sound corrections for the room.

I’ll probably also at least get a carpet to help absorb sound.
 
Appreciate that info! Do you think I would need two Hypex Nilai 509 DIY mono blocks for both of them? I recall reading about NAD somewhere. I want to say the amp suggested was the NAD C399. Would that be a worthy alternative? Reason I ask is because I believe that option offers sound corrections for the room.

I’ll probably also at least get a carpet to help absorb sound.
I mentioned the Nilai 500 because it's what we have, but just know that it's a kit and requires assembly. You only need 1 amp per speaker. I got those in large part because I wanted a small project. Another great option is to get a stereo Purifi 1ET6525SA amp. You can find them at these websites or in the dealers section here on ASR.


Room correction is great, but can require your own measuring and setup. It's rarely an auto setup and forget. FWIW, I think WiiM has some form of basic EQ or correction and Bluesound offers Dirac (although you'd need a more complex product with DLBC to properly add subs to a Dirac system). The beauty of something like a WiiM Pro Plus is that you're up and running for a little over $200. With any of the speakers you're looking at and a Hypex/Purifi amp if you get a passive speaker like the KEFs, that part of your system is sorted and done. Then as technology progresses, you just change the source (we use Apple TV, currently into an older Denon receiver).

The upstream electronics can change quickly and operational problems can pop up. I don't know anything about that NAD, but I'd read up on it. If it works well, it would be fine.
 
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C'mon, show the world what ASR is all about. :cool:

Runs these $30K speakers with a $700 Class D stereo amp that gives you 350 watts per channel into 8 ohms.

Plug in a Wiim/Bluesound streamer+DAC, with some DSP, for under $1K, connect everything with Blue Jeans or Mogami Cables, and run it all with an app. You can even hide it out of sight and run the speaker cables discreetly. 21st century.

What more do you need? ;)
 
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What do you guys recommend to power them with?
If it were my money, a WiiM Pro hooked up to a buckeye Hypex amp. WiiM has room correction capability so it's pretty compelling unless you need a feature it doesn't have.

Phono stage is your call, I have the Schiit Mani 2 but at this level maybe go for the Waxwing?
I'd like to eventually get a dedicated subwoofer
Good plan, ideally 2+ ... ;)


may be moving again in another 2-3 years so I don't know how much room treatment modifications I want to invest in
Life is too short to listen to worse sound than you could... I'd say you might be able to find some treatments secondhand, but people tend to sell them with inadequate descriptions of what they are, so it's a bit of a crapshoot. But if you're willing to do measurements with a mic then I'd say try and get some treatments even if you consider them temporary.
 
A ton of votes for the KEF Blades! The room they'll be going into is roughly 21'x14' and the listening distance will be about 18-19' back.
That makes it seem as if you will be sitting very close to the back wall. That is unfortunate. SBIR applies to the listen position, too. LBIR? :cool:
 
That makes it seem as if you will be sitting very close to the back wall. That is unfortunate. SBIR applies to the listen position, too. LBIR? :cool:
One option would be to put thick full-range sound absorption directly behind the seating position. When I was in grad school, I put the sofa cushions behind my head on the back edge of the sofa to cover some wall.

 
One option would be to put thick full-range sound absorption directly behind the seating position. When I was in grad school, I put the sofa cushions behind my head on the back edge of the sofa to cover some wall.

Not a terrible idea but I would also go with some BAD diffusion that close to the wall...
 
One option would be to put thick full-range sound absorption directly behind the seating position. When I was in grad school, I put the sofa cushions behind my head on the back edge of the sofa to cover some wall.
Not a "bad" suggestion but moving the seat forward a couple of feet will be more effective. Doing both is best.
 
Looking to buy some nice speakers and I've been eyeing the used market. It seems that all of these options are in my budget if I'm willing to go used. I don't have any places near me to demo them, but I was curious if anyone's been able to compare these options previously. The wallet certainly says Genelec 8361A considering they're less than half the cost of the other 2 options. I definitely appreciate the aesthetics of the Blade One Metas and the B&W 801D4 more and was curious if there's also a big aural difference.

Musical genres I tend to listen to the most are techno, edm, pop, and R&B. Would greatly appreciate any input on this!
you can totally afford magico speakers. do it. you may have left over room for a rel 212sx or a s812.
if you like the 801d4 youll like the magico A series, they are very very close but the d4 is like 40 some thousand. if you want to stay under 26k you can find a deal on new magicos. ive spent last 9 months listening to speakers, and i made a jump from revel to magico because the rest barely made a cut by a marginal amount. the revel 328be sound great, but for a few sheckles more the magicos come in at a monstrous quality jump.
 
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Used. How about Revel Salon 2’s. 8 to 14g. Leaves plenty for a couple of nice subs. Not much better made.
the price is decent now since they are now discontinued, not bad at all but ive heard the performas sound better, maybe thats just hearsay.
 
I'm not familiar with them. Do they work at a close distance?
check these guys out. seriously good results. their corner traps, and separate bass wall connection traps are amazing. no joke. best part is you can order in large roll out. i used t pin, sewing style pins and went into the sheet rock at a 45 degree angle and they hold huge roll outs on the ceiling, walls and everything, no tape or glue. very easy cleanup and removal if you need to move them or remove them.

 
Dedicate a portion of the budget to some room treatments that could also function as pieces of art ? Not too many pieces so that they won't become a burden when you decide to move. I think that you cannot escape SBIR effects with DSP/PEQ or by simply buying an expensive speaker.

Two pieces for primary reflection points.
Two pieces for secondary reflection points.
Thick absorption behind the listening space.
 
A ton of votes for the KEF Blades! The room they'll be going into is roughly 21'x14' and the listening distance will be about 18-19' back. Currently no room treatment as I just moved into this new place, but I may be moving again in another 2-3 years so I don't know how much room treatment modifications I want to invest in.

I was torn between Genelecs and the KEF Blades, but I think you guys swung me over to the KEF. What do you guys recommend to power them with? I'm needing something that can run Spotify off my iPad/iPhone. Maybe even my turntable. I'd like to eventually get a dedicated subwoofer down the road after I move into a house and maybe also connect to a TV.

I would recommend NAD M66 as pre-amplifier, it should cover all your needs. For amplifier I will recommend either Bryston 4B3 or Parasound JC5. This will be the excellent setup.

But as other said above - add some room treatment. Start with acoustic panels. Generally the more you add (up to a point) - the better. Here is a good brand https://www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-art-panels/
 
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