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hdi-3800 VS r11 VS , Any experiences?

lookstoomuch

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Back story: Started with Dynaudio Contour 1.8MKII, until recently a friend gave me some B&W 801 Matrix S2. The B&W were a big enough improvement with controlled big bass that I sold the Dyn's BUT, the 801's have history with after market crossovers (loudspeakerchef.com), tweeters replaced with the LPG, 26NA car audio, and one of the woofers rebuilt. A Frankenspeaker and....they are uglyy

I currently am trying some HDI-3800's which are fun / lively. Bass is much more accurate and clean than the BW's and imaging also much improved. The caveat I think I'm experiencing however is the very directional nature, i.e. a "pocket" which once you get in but which quickly falls off.

Listening Room: 50/50 audio / HT, MLP 9.5 feet away. Sidewalls are almost non-existent for initial reflections. It is a big basement room so want to fill it with sound.

Scored a pair of R11's open box for pretty cheap from Big Box store. Are these even worth trying vs the HDI-3800? Any other recommendations? I believe Revel F-208 would be a nice choice but can't seem to find any at a good price locally and the F-206 I don't think would fill the space.

TIA for your feedback.

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lookstoomuch

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Thanks both, saw the first shootout....did not see the second. Looks like the 3800's are no slouch.

Since I had the R11 on hand, in somewhat of a rush went ahead and hooked them up yesterday evening and was about to report back how much I disliked them, that they were lacking a fullness to the sound, etc. , however today I thought, no way KEF would make a speaker that poorly performing and double checked things and see I reversed the polarity on one of them. DOH!

I'll do a bit more listening tonight to see if anything really grabs me about them one way or the other.
 
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lookstoomuch

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Without going into too much details, the R11 have been returned. The 3800 at least to my ears, sounded more integrated top to bottom.

Wish I could find some Revels to try as a compare / contrast to the JBL's before the return window is up.

Can get some F206 from a local supplier open box but those I don't think will give me the SPL's I'm looking for.
 

norman bates

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You may prefer the jbl's 2.5 way design (basically an 8" 2-way with a 12" baffle step woofer) over the 3-way revel's midbass crossover point.
 

jhaider

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lookstoomuch

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That’s interesting, given Erin’s observation about different instruments imaging at different heights, which echoed some comments by Dr. David Rich about an Infinity 3-way with relatively high woofer-mid crossover.

I think it’s entirely possible that some people hear height better than others.

I should have been more clear, what I meant was in frequency response, which perhaps is more to the 2.5 way design as mentioned by norman. With the R11 I seemed to be able to localize the UniQ drivers.
 
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