Passive Speaker Recommendations for USA (by @sweetchaos)

[HighFutility]

Changelog:



Will update my tables with the recent speaker reviews, shortly.

Are the distortion plots limiting the recomendation of the Polk R500 for the tower speakers?

 

[sweetchaos]

Update:
2024-04-15:
- Updated spins for Kef Blade 2 Meta (Erin), Kef R11 Meta (Amir)
- Added Polk Audio Reserve R500 tower (Erin)
- We now have 3 Klippel NFS scans for Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 V2. First is by vendor with PS of 6.7, then Erin reviewed it with PS of 6.4, then Amir reviewed it with PS of 5.9. Seeing how much variation there is, I decided to take the average of these 3, which is PS of 6.4. There is still some variability with Klippel NFS, but I think the average of 3 makes the most sense.

 

[elsonido]

The LX is hard to beat! They truly sound fantastic.

 

[sweetchaos]

Are the distortion plots limiting the recomendation of the Polk R500 for the tower speakers?

No. I just haven't gotten around to adding those yet. They're added now.

 

[ampguy]

I own a few of those under 1k. Ironically, imho, the m lores sound better than the others I own in the specific room they are in. I believe measurements are great, but musical preferences and reproduction of such is subjective.

 

[sweetchaos]

I own a few of those under 1k. Ironically, imho, the m lores sound better than the others I own in the specific room they are in. I believe measurements are great, but musical preferences and reproduction of such is subjective.

Sounds like an idea for a new thread. Post your impressions and preference of speakers there.

 

[dweeeeb2]

Changelog:



Will update my tables with the recent speaker reviews, shortly.

Hey @sweetchaos love your work, absolute ripper. Just wondering if the “Never buy these” category is a bit…. much. Your lists and recommendations are all based on measured performance, ie if the speakers no good it doesn’t get recommended. As we have seen though customer service and retailer integrity needs to be considered. I was thinking maybe a “Retailers to be weary of”? then you can list what they have done.
Im just nit picking and providing another perspective, feel free to ignore me

 

[sweetchaos]

The previous disclaimer I’ve added on this thread was for March Audio Souituva (1st gen). It was a link to an ASR thread, discussing some quality issues. The speaker was highly rated, but a newcomer to the market, so I wanted to let people know about this. A disclaimer like that lets people know about a potential issue they need to be aware of. I haven’t seen any issues with March Audio since, that’s because the owner got the feedback and fixed any outstanding issues. Kudos to March Audio.

Tekton, on the other hand, is a different story isn’t it?
So, this brand gets my strongest disclaimer, which is to avoid buying.

 

[Randy Bessinger]

^^Just a footnote, I bought the 1st generation and it was the second sample Erin measured. I have had absolutely no trouble with it QR or soundwise. I did read the thread on the “issues” and personally was very dubious of the claims in that thread but didn’t comment.

 

[pseudoid]

We now have 3 Klippel NFS scans for Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 V2.

@amirm's review of the Ascend Sierra1V2 makes me wish I didn't already have 1-active and 3-passive speaker pairs around the house.

I thought I'd be hip - via ASR peer-pressure - and bought my mate her very own (active) KEF LSX2s for Christmas.

The LSXs should be heard and seen but no speaker should ever be high-maintenance.
imo: Actives are like that!

ADD: In the case of the LSX2s: *The remote-control is worth about $5 and unresponsive, *Control via mobile app but no Windows app, *The front-panel LED 'status' indicator-ring stops status'ing and *When the PC goes to S1 sleep, the KEFs emit a low-level squeak (bzzzk, bzzzk...), every few seconds.
If a pair of passive speakers ever had such problems, they'd be taken out in the back of the farm and shot to death!

 

[PortalKeeper]

It would be nice if you could add a max spl at 1m measurement for each speaker to the right of LFX. But thanks anyway for all this awesome work!

 

[thewas]

 

[FreakWentSea]

I'm thinking about getting the Ascend Acoustics ELX Tower Speakers and Ascend Acoustics ELX Horizon Center, but with the Titan Dome tweeter instead of the Ribbon tweeter. Just seems like a safer bet for me personally considering some of the pros and cons between the two tweeter types.

Since the table only mentions the Ribbon tweeter version of the ELX speakers, would the Preference Score, Preference Score w/ Sub, and LFX still all be the same for the Titan Dome tweeter version of the ELX speakers?

Thanks!

Edit: Oh, and just in case, since I've read this thread completely: No, I'm not making my buying decision solely based on these scores, so worry not.

 

[paulgyro]

I'm thinking about getting the Ascend Acoustics ELX Tower Speakers and Ascend Acoustics ELX Horizon Center, but with the Titan Dome tweeter instead of the Ribbon tweeter. Just seems like a safer bet for me personally considering some of the pros and cons between the two tweeter types.

Since the table only mentions the Ribbon tweeter version of the ELX speakers, would the Preference Score, Preference Score w/ Sub, and LFX still all be the same for the Titan Dome tweeter version of the ELX speakers?

Thanks!

Edit: Oh, and just in case, since I've read this thread completely: No, I'm not making my buying decision solely based on these scores, so worry not.

It really depends on the design execution. My guess is it would change slightly just due to the nature of the different tweeters.

 

[JohnDoh]

I see that the Klipsch RP-500C II is recommended in multiple price categories as a 2 way center but not the 504C II. Does anyone know why? One would think it's better as it's similar just bigger.

 

[MarkS]

I'm thinking about getting the Ascend Acoustics ELX Tower Speakers and Ascend Acoustics ELX Horizon Center, but with the Titan Dome tweeter instead of the Ribbon tweeter. ... Since the table only mentions the Ribbon tweeter version of the ELX speakers, would the Preference Score, Preference Score w/ Sub, and LFX still all be the same for the Titan Dome tweeter version of the ELX speakers?

Ascend shows the spins for both versions (so I'm not sure why both are not in the table). They are very similar, with the main difference being (as expected) narrower vertical focusing of the highs for the ribbon:

https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/elx-series/products/elx-tower-pair

So I would expect quite similar preference scores.

 

[JohnDoh]

I have Klipsch RP-500M II as fronts and a 500C II as center and I'm not really happy with the latter. It's sounds a bit too clear and has problems to disappear. So just for the experiment I placed one of the 500m II horizontally and my impression was that it sounded better to me. Please note that I sit right in front of it so off axis may sound worse. I've read many times that using the same bookshelf as center can be better than a usual MTM center but I always thought it was meant to give results using it vertically or if it's a coaxial one may use it both ways. So what about using a non coaxial bookshelf placed horizontally as center ? I'm sure I'm not the first trying it. Anything against it ? I still have two days to return the 500c Ii and I wonder if I should just buy a third 500m II.

 

[JohnDoh]

I think I may try the KEF Q65OC as my center. Most ppl on other forums seem to give good reviews. Can someone please elaborate why Erin gave for it such a low rating?

 

[RimZ2]

Great summaries….please we really Need some in-ceiling recommendations in the sub $500 each range - anything out there?

 

[paulgyro]

Great summaries….please we really Need some in-ceiling recommendations in the sub $500 each range - anything out there?

What's your budget? I could recommend some but might give you sticker shock. I would go with these to start if I was you: https://rslspeakers.com/pages/c43e-mkii-in-ceiling-speaker