How would you spend $10k on an LCR?

[AnonymousAudio]

Hi everyone! So im looking to rebuild my Home Theater. I plan to replace my Paradigm Studio 60's (L+R) & CC-690 (C). So it's a tall order to find something even better, but that's my goal.I will be driving the Front soundstage with an Emotiva XPA-3 Amp (200w@8ohms/300W@4ohms).
I personally follow the (Harman Target Curve) when it comes to my final tuning. So for these reasons I need an LCR with amazing bass capabilities & crystal highs. I require a full range tower and an intellegible Center with great horizontal off-axis performance. The system will be used for 75% movies/show & 25% Music. Some choices i've heavily considered so far include Golden Ear and B&W products, because of their great lows and highs from both.So how would you spend $10k if you had my criteria in mind???

 

[Ellebob]

A lot of brands available and based off what you are considering I would add Paradigm Founder series to the list as well. Revel and Kef if you want something a little more accurate. I would go listen to a number of speakers and see which you prefer. It is tough for anyone to know what you prefer. I have seen so many people I give recommendations to listen to certain speakers and then they choose something different. And that's fine my preferences are just different than theirs.

 

[Doodski]

Speakers are a very personal choice. If you want flat frequency response and then use that as a foundation for PEQing to the final result then that will give you a basic for starting out on your choices. As per what those choices are I can't say much because I have not been in the market for new speakers for some time.

 

[AnonymousAudio]

A lot of brands available and based off what you are considering I would add Paradigm Founder series to the list as well. Revel and Kef if you want something a little more accurate. I would go listen to a number of speakers and see which you prefer. It is tough for anyone to know what you prefer. I have seen so many people I give recommendations to listen to certain speakers and then they choose something different. And that's fine my preferences are just different than theirs.

I've looked at the Paradigm Founder series first thing as im s current owner of the Paradigms for the past 20yrs...However the only floorstander that suits my needs are the Founder 120H but st $9k a pair that puts them out of my reach to then afford a Center channel.

So im looking for a Full-range tower that can play at least to 30Hz without a huge dropoff. This is why im currently looking closely at the GoldenEar Triton One.R which is rated at 13Hz but in reality will play 30Hz with ease.

One would think with $8k of a budget just for the L+R that I should be able to find such a speaker.

 

[AnonymousAudio]

Speakers are a very personal choice. If you want flat frequency response and then use that as a foundation for PEQing to the final result then that will give you a basic for starting out on your choices. As per what those choices are I can't say much because I have not been in the market for new speakers for some time.

To give you an idea of what im talking about The Harman Target Curve which was originally designed for Headphones was a massive Worldwide acoustical study to try and determine what people preferred for a sound profile. Several profiles emerged. By far the most popular with 64% of the concensus was the one I liked as well. Adapted for Loudspeakers looks like this: (+3dB@40Hz / +5dB@3khz)
So basically a bump up in Bass & Treble. I hope this helps you understand my end goal better. Thnx

 

[Doodski]

To give you an idea of what im talking about The Harman Target Curve which was originally designed for Headphones was a massive Worldwide acoustical study to try and determine what people preferred for a sound profile. Several profiles emerged. By far the most popular with 64% of the concensus was the one I liked as well. Adapted for Loudspeakers looks like this: (+3dB@40Hz / +5dB@3khz)
So basically a bump up in Bass & Treble. I hope this helps you understand my end goal better. Thnx

Speakers, headphones and room acoustics are all wild cards when the gear is installed in the listening environment. So a flatter speaker response will ensure the swings will not be too large and then PEQ can clean up any variations and unwanted curves. I am a strong proponent of EQ/PEQ as can be seen here.>>>

EQ Software for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS/iPadOS and Android.

Any suggestions are welcome. Post suggestions here. I will gather the details and add them. Thanks. :D This will be organized as results come in. @sweetchaos made a guide for PEQ filter data input and operation. For crossover software go here. Windows: AutoEQ four easy steps to make your...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Mort]

A pair of Philharmonic Audio HTs and center will run you about $6k. With a sub or two it would be $8k. That's end game for me.

 

[AnonymousAudio]

Speakers, headphones and room acoustics are all wild cards when the gear is installed in the listening environment. So a flatter speaker response will ensure the swings will not be too large and then PEQ can clean up any variations and unwanted curves. I am a strong proponent of EQ/PEQ as can be seen here.>>>

EQ Software for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS/iPadOS and Android.

Any suggestions are welcome. Post suggestions here. I will gather the details and add them. Thanks. :D This will be organized as results come in. @sweetchaos made a guide for PEQ filter data input and operation. For crossover software go here. Windows: AutoEQ four easy steps to make your...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I appreciate your response...however other than using Audessey just to dial in phase alignnent, timing & volume lvl im not a fan of it's flatness as described previously.

 

[drodgers]

other than using Audessey just to dial in phase alignnent, timing & volume lvl im not a fan of it's flatness

If you get the app you can put in arbitrary target curves (via an admittedly annoying ipad interface). You can adjust for preference quite easily that way as long as your speakers have a flat, distortion-free, well dispersed response to work with as a baseline.

 

[Blumlein 88]

You can have any preference you wish of course. Do you realize those Harman curves for headphones were developed to make headphones sound like the better speakers according to Harman criteria for speakers? Using that for speakers is not at all what they were developed to do. Again, if you have found you like that no problem. A good bit of what makes speakers sound good is the right kind of dispersion and directivity. That is why others have suggested a speaker that measures with the right kind of slope and directivity after which you use EQ/PEQ to give it the frequency balance you want. A speaker which naturally has that balance without EQ will have a less good directivity and likely not be as easy to get it working at its best within a room as one that had a good spin o rama given EQ to suit.

 

[ZolaIII]

To give you an idea of what im talking about The Harman Target Curve which was originally designed for Headphones was a massive Worldwide acoustical study to try and determine what people preferred for a sound profile. Several profiles emerged. By far the most popular with 64% of the concensus was the one I liked as well. Adapted for Loudspeakers looks like this: (+3dB@40Hz / +5dB@3khz)
So basically a bump up in Bass & Treble. I hope this helps you understand my end goal better. Thnx

Not even close. Biggest reserch whose tiny one on one location with half of reserch subjects having formal ties or training from Harman and there is no curve just preference based on what people diald in with tone alike controls on fixed SPL. That should represent how should neutral speakers behave in test room on headphones and not other way around.
If you want to improve sound improve; room by acoustic treatment and fine tuning the placement, processing of it with better DSP and physics regarding speakers (sub's, horn loaded tweeters or multiple tweaters or ribbons or super tweaters [to improve coverage of axis] and so that you improve capacity and lower THD there). I can get there regarding speakers, power amplifiers and DSP for 2K in basic setup that will do far field to calibration so you have a lot of extra money to do it as you like. Use equal loudness compensation to SPL for that there is more than 100 studies so far and all do they are small they all have coherent results.
I won't tell you what to buy, what I will ask you is to explore possibilities with towers you already have (which are more than fine) and see how that goes.
If you want to go real THX certification (and experience) you will nead a very big speakers and sub's capable doing mid 20 Hz peeks and main bass one's in 24 DR materials on far feald and beyond talk to @Andysu. They won't be pretty but they will kick. He can help you with advices where you could find such and perhaps a mid chenel one that doesn't succk (extremely difficult to do).

 

[Ellebob]

If you liked the Founders try some other dealer and try some of the custom installers dealers they don't have showrooms but can order them and maybe discount enough to be in budget. They were just in sale recently and maybe some dealers bought at the same price.

Others to consider are Focal, Sonus Faber, Wharfedale, Dali

 

[kyuu]

2x Revel F226Be
1x Revel C426Be

 

[AnonymousAudio]

You can have any preference you wish of course. Do you realize those Harman curves for headphones were developed to make headphones sound like the better speakers according to Harman criteria for speakers? Using that for speakers is not at all what they were developed to do. Again, if you have found you like that no problem. A good bit of what makes speakers sound good is the right kind of dispersion and directivity. That is why others have suggested a speaker that measures with the right kind of slope and directivity after which you use EQ/PEQ to give it the frequency balance you want. A speaker which naturally has that balance without EQ will have a less good directivity and likely not be as easy to get it working at its best within a room as one that had a good spin o rama given EQ to suit.

Okay...so is there a set of Floorstanding Speakers out there that can play say +/-3dB from 30Hz-20khz? As for Center since most are lacking I was thinking of using a Bookshelf as "most" Centers are horribly designed messes with horizontal off-axis responses. And figure at least a vertically aligned center bookshelf would do better in that regard.

 

[AnonymousAudio]

If you liked the Founders try some other dealer and try some of the custom installers dealers they don't have showrooms but can order them and maybe discount enough to be in budget. They were just in sale recently and maybe some dealers bought at the same price.

Others to consider are Focal, Sonus Faber, Wharfedale, Dali

I know the Brands...i was looking for Models. Thanks for suggestion thou.

 

[AnonymousAudio]

2x Revel F226Be
1x Revel C426Be

Thats a $16k LCR set way outside my budget...and the Center channel is the configuration with the most off-axis issues.

 

[mj30250]

Thats a $16k LCR set way outside my budget...and the Center channel is the configuration with the most off-axis issues.

If you are in the USA (or possibly some other countries with a strong Harman distribution network), you could easily pick up that combination at below your budget by contacting a reputable dealer. And the C426Be is a properly designed 3-way center, it won't exhibit the off-axis lobing issues of a 2-way MTM or similar.

 

[Oddball]

Before jumping into the vortex - why do you really need such capable LCR? What are your bass management capabilityies/preferences and subs you run?

$10k is admittedly not much nowadays but could still get you to some point close where you apparently want to be.

 

[anotherhobby]

Thats a $16k LCR set way outside my budget...and the Center channel is the configuration with the most off-axis issues.

No, that Revel center channel is not the configuration with the most off-axis issues. You want the tweeter/mid vertically aligned (so this layout or coaxial). Look at the measurements, as that Revel is one of the better centers you can get.

That aside, the Philharmonic's mentioned above are what I recently ordered for my theater (HT Towers and HT Center). The center channel also has vertical tweeter/mid alignment and excellent/wide off-axis like the Revel. They are under your budget and fantastic, with the only missing being your 30 Hz requirement since the towers roll off at 38 Hz.

 

[Battlebeast]

1528 Series

arendalsound.com