Best Measuring Tower Speakers <$10K

[ludendorff]

Hi Guys,
New member, only recently began reading here. This is an incredible resource - thanks to Amir and all the posters here for their input and expertise!

Anyways, a year ago I replaced a B&W CM10 S2 basement setup with a set of GoldenEar Triton Reference. The improvement was pretty spectacular and I've been happy ever since. I still use a set of B&W CM10 S2's on the main level and I am planning on replacing them at some point - I've never been fully satisfied with the sound of the B&Ws and tend to find them a bit fatiguing in extended use.

I was expecting to replace them with a set of GE Triton 1R's until I saw the thread here on GE speakers, and the feedback from many posters on measurements was not that great. I'm still learning to read speaker measurements (eg. Soundstage, Stereophile) and want to audition alternatives to the GE speakers.

So my question is, which speakers measure well in that price range? Based on Kal's recommendation I checked out the measurements of the Revel F208 and it looked very impressive. Any other recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[pierre]

What’s your room dimension? How far are you from the speakers? how much bass do you want? Active or passive?

 

[ludendorff]

Room dimensions are 16' x 18' with an 18' cathedral ceiling. Unfortunately, for aesthetic (and wife!) considerations speakers are ALL the way in the corners of the room (so 16' or so apart). Distance to listener is ~14'.

I would say moderate bass, and I have a small-ish Paradigm subwoofer to assist with that. Looking for passive speakers to use with 200W (or 350W) per channel Rotel amplifier.

The room conditions are far from ideal, so maybe that's the controlling factor and I should stick with the B&Ws. But my thought is to look for more dynamic speakers capable of higher volume and dynamic range. I assume an accurate, neutral speaker would be advantageous regardless of the room.

 

[Purité Audio]

Do they have to be ‘tower’ loudspeakers,if they are going to be in the corners it would be useful to have something with boundary filters.
Keith

 

[ludendorff]

No, they don't have to be tower loudspeakers....just assumed they would be best fit to provide volume and dynamic range I'm looking for (can't do in-wall speakers for aesthetic reasons).

What are boundary filters?

 

[Laserjock]

Revel F228Be at a discount from MSRP

F208 at about half that if you don’t have to have the latest

 

[ludendorff]

Also FYI, I've had to replace two blown woofers (under warranty) with the CM10's. I don't think in general I listen extremely loud in that room, but....

 

[Sancus]

Not sure that tower speakers are the best under $10K, purely because there aren't that many active tower speakers, and actives seem to handily beat passive speakers at every price range.

Genelec 8351As are around $3900/ea and look like they beat the F208 in on-axis measurements(although this is always a bit hard to discern given the various different graphs involved) and almost certainly beat them on directivity as well with incredible even directivity down to 250hz.

The only area they're slightly insufficient is bass extension, but arguably the F208 themselves are also insufficient in bass extension for someone who genuinely wants 20hz-20khz flat, and you won't get that without subs unless you go even larger and more expensive than this.

Of course, if your budget is $10K, I would argue the D&D 8c are very tempting even at $2500 over budget, because they are some of the best speakers on the planet, and of any of the speakers mentioned here you're most likely to be able to get away without subs with them.

 

[Laserjock]

Just noticed your response on room size etc.

F208 have a boundary switch which the 228 don’t have.
The other thing that might help is they are front ported since placement is another restriction.

 

[Ron Texas]

Revel F228Be at a discount from MSRP

F208 at about half that if you don’t have to have the latest

Where were you planning getting a discount? Please share that information.

 

[pierre]

Not sure that tower speakers are the best under $10K, purely because there aren't that many active tower speakers, and actives seem to handily beat passive speakers at every price range.

Genelec 8351As are around $3900/ea and look like they beat the F208 in on-axis measurements(although this is always a bit hard to discern given the various different graphs involved) and almost certainly beat them on directivity as well with incredible even directivity down to 250hz.

The only area they're slightly insufficient is bass extension, but arguably the F208 themselves are also insufficient in bass extension for someone who genuinely wants 20hz-20khz flat, and you won't get that without subs unless you go even larger and more expensive than this.

Of course, if your budget is $10K, I would argue the D&D 8c are very tempting even at $2500 over budget, because they are some of the best speakers on the planet, and of any of the speakers mentioned here you're most likely to be able to get away without subs with them.

Other speakers that are cheaper and may work (if your wife doesn't like the look of the Genelec)
- focal trio : the color may or may not work
- Adam S3V
- devialet phantom (better looking)
- JBL series 7 which are easier to find in the states.

Sorry this sets are active, you can always resell your amp.

 

[Laserjock]

Where were you planning getting a discount? Please share that information.

Any dealer pretty much. I shopped local (Texas) and in Rocky Mountain Region.

Both had a nice discount and are authorized dealers.
Obviously I don’t want to put specifics but can tell you one is in our Capitol and one has a Peak....

 

[Ron Texas]

Any dealer pretty much. I shopped local (Texas) and in Rocky Mountain Region.

Both had a nice discount and are authorized dealers.
Obviously I don’t want to put specifics but can tell you one is in our Capitol and one has a Peak....

Yeah, Houston is an audio desert compared to our Capitol. I go up there a lot and stay at my daughter's house.

 

[MZKM]

Having them in the corners is really a huge disservice. Assuming you have no DSP, you’ll want speakers that are not that bass heavy (or boundary gain) due to the boundary gain from being in a corner.

If you take the amp out of the equation and use that to boost the speaker budget, the Dutch & Dutch 8C is an amazing powered speaker with DSP and wireless capabilities.
Measurements (valid >100Hz).

Bryston Model T ($9000?): Measurements

Joseph Audio Pulsar ($7000): Measurements

KEF Reference 1 ($7000): Measurements

 

[DonH56]

There are B-stock Revels available at a substantial discount from MSRP. My local dealer can have them drop-shipped anywhere but if you are interested contact @amirm as he is a dealer. I have almost all B-stock (only way I could afford what I've got!) and I'll just say good luck finding any blemishes on them.

Edit: As my dealer keeps reminding me, what I have are mostly "blems", not B-stock. Blems have full warranty and "minor cosmetic defects". I think in the half-dozen-plus blems I've gotten I have managed to find the blemishes on one or two; they are tiny and invisible in normal use.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Just found (excellent) measurements of the AudioSolutions Figaro M. I didn't even know the existence of this brand...

This is a very massive and heavy tower (41Kg). Price starts at 4900€/pair or $7,500 (more depending of finish). Build and finish seem top notch with plenty of custom colors (17, for now). Availability is questionable, though. Found only one reseller in Paris, but no way to listen to it anywhere yet...

To Soundstage standards, these have an extremely flat FR, and very good off-axis performance.

 

[Eurasian]

I don't consider anything a "tower" unless it's taller than me! If you can find a pair, Dunlavy SC-V and SC-VI are measurably the most accurate passive loudspeakers ever made and are certainly "towers" by my definition.

V would probably be in your budget, not sure about the VI.

 

[q3cpma]

If passive, probably Revel. But since passive is always a compromise (especially if you have more than 2 ways), I'll recommend some active ones:
- Neumann KH420: specs at https://en-de.neumann.com/kh-420#technical-data, full-range (-3 dB at 26 Hz) and pretty much perfect, as always for recent K+H stuff. 2 years warranty
- Genelec 1237: few specs in the manual (FR and directivity), has the supposedly wonderful GLM option for DRC. 3 years warranty + 2 extra years for parts.

Some smaller box format speakers:
- D&D 8c: don't have to present them anymore. 3 years warranty.
- JBL 708p: one of the best 2-ways (https://www.sausalitoaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/JBL-708P-Charts.pdf), dubbed the mini M2 for reasons. 5(!) years warranty.
- Any of the ME Geithain 3-ways K(ardioid) speakers (the newest ones are the ML 811K1, RL 921K and RL 934K. Specs here: https://www.me-geithain.de/en/aktiv-lautsprecher.html, FR and polars given; 3rd party test of the RL944K1: https://www.soundandrecording.de/eq...-nahfeldmonitor-mit-koaxialem-aufbau-im-test/. Unline the D&D, these are actually cardioid down to 30 Hz. Also, these are E X T R A R A R E. Only 1 year warranty from what I've understood, though.

Seeing your room dimensions and speaker placement, you NEED to avoid rear porting and should value cardioid response very much.


By the way, does anyone have measurements for the Focal Trio6 or Trio11? I find them very interesting but some stuff like the lack of measurements, lack of waveguide and diffraction inducing screws are worrying.

 

[MZKM]

Just found (excellent) measurements of the AudioSolutions Figaro M. I didn't even know the existence of this brand...

This is a very massive and heavy tower (41Kg). Price starts at 4900€/pair or $7,500 (more depending of finish). Build and finish seem top notch with plenty of custom colors (17, for now). Availability is questionable, though. Found only one reseller in Paris, but no way to listen to it anywhere yet...

View attachment 40113
View attachment 40114

To Soundstage standards, these have an extremely flat FR, and very good off-axis performance.

View attachment 40115

Those measurements are pretty good, the low impedance may make it a bit hard to power. Also, why are the measurements for Dec 1st 2019?

 

[MarcT]

Just found (excellent) measurements of the AudioSolutions Figaro M. I didn't even know the existence of this brand...

This is a very massive and heavy tower (41Kg). Price starts at 4900€/pair or $7,500 (more depending of finish). Build and finish seem top notch with plenty of custom colors (17, for now). Availability is questionable, though. Found only one reseller in Paris, but no way to listen to it anywhere yet...

View attachment 40113
View attachment 40114

To Soundstage standards, these have an extremely flat FR, and very good off-axis performance.

View attachment 40115

Yes, I'm lusting after the Figaro L. I had hoped to hear the Figaro at RMAF, but they only demoed the higher level Virtuoso speakers, in a pretty big room. Their source was a nice reel to reel tape deck. I can see how these speakers might measure well because nothing jumped out about the sound, very smooth and even, neutral, I'd say. They did produce a big, open sound, which is what I'm looking for.