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Passive speakers <$500/pair

Sal1950

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There's so many really good options to chose from in this passive pricing bracket.
For simple stand mounted 2 way systems, once you get much above that, the price vs performance return rises dramatically..
And since speakers all sound so different, personal taste becomes a big player.
Use a dealer with a generous return policy, whether brick and mortar or web based.
Get them home and listen to them for a few weeks.
 

Sal1950

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The powered JBL's have a following.
They are very well regarded and JBL put's arguably the most engineering expertise into their products as any.
In this thread though I do think it fair to separate the passive and active models.
All things being equal, you don't get the amps for free, their cost has to come from somewhere whether the box or drivers or whatnot..
IMO I can't see how it's possible to create the same quality sound for the same cost per unit in a passive vs active design.
 

Ron Texas

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They are very well regarded and JBL put's arguably the most engineering expertise into their products as any.
In this thread though I do think it fair to separate the passive and active models.
All things being equal, you don't get the amps for free, their cost has to come from somewhere whether the box or drivers or whatnot..
IMO I can't see how it's possible to create the same quality sound for the same cost per unit in a passive vs active design.

True, the amps are not free, but you don't have to buy one with active speakers. I guess at a particular price point the comparison isn't fair between active and passive.
 

RayDunzl

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The powered JBL's have a following.

Gee, even I have an old pair of LSR 308s.

Bought to put in the garage/patio/portable, but they remain as an adjunct to the main system for daily play.
 

sophie smith

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Any ideas on passive single "full range" driver speakers that measure fairly well?
 

Sal1950

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Any ideas on passive single "full range" driver speakers that measure fairly well?
Are you speaking of a coaxial type speaker or a true single driver speaker?
 

Sal1950

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Ron Texas

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Speaker measurements are tricky because anechoic and in room are worlds apart. There is also stuff like the BBC dip. Those Ascent speakers have an incredibly low price considering what a great reputation that company has.
 

Blumlein 88

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Speaker measurements are tricky because anechoic and in room are worlds apart. There is also stuff like the BBC dip. Those Ascent speakers have an incredibly low price considering what a great reputation that company has.
Yes, and if the Ascent has that flat response done quasi-anechoicly, I'd expect it to be bright or light weight sounding. You'd expect a flat anechoic speaker to have a slight downward tilt measured the way it appears it was measured.
 

solderdude

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Would like to throw (2nd hand ?) Dynaudio speakers in the mix as a suggestion.

SQ depends on room properties, powering, placement and taste of course as with all speakers.
 
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andreasmaaan

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Just to be clear about the BBC dip and why it's present in some speakers and absent from others..

The BBC dip is a dip in the on-axis response at the bottom of the tweeter's passband, and is actually put there quite intentionally to compensate for the tweeter's wider dispersion than the larger midrange/midwoofer at the crossover point. The idea is to balance out the extra low-treble energy in the off-axis response at the expense of some low-treble energy in the on-axis response, arguably giving the speaker a more balanced tonality in-room. Another way to think about it is that it sacrifices the on-axis response in favour of the power response.

It isn't necessary where the the midrange is small enough that it remains reasonably wide-directivity right up to the crossover point, as is more likely to be the case for dome midranges or smaller cone midranges in a 3-way or 4-way design. Nor is it necessary when the tweeter's dispersion is controlled by a waveguide at the crossover point.
 

maverickronin

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Tangentially related...

Are there any good strategies for speaker placement on a cramped desk where you can't set them directly in front of you in the usual triangle layout? Are there any particular speakers in this thread's price range which would work well in an unconventional setup?
 
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andreasmaaan

andreasmaaan

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Tangentially related...

Are there any good strategies for speaker placement on a cramped desk where you can't set them directly in front of you in the usual triangle layout? Are there any particular speakers in this thread's price range which would work well in an unconventional setup?

It's just a shade over-budget, but for these circumstances I'd recommend something like the KEF Q350 (Stereophile measurements here), as it is a coaxial design, which means the vertical polar response will be far smoother than for a non-coaxial design, thus reducing the destructive impact of the desktop bounce.

It also measures very well generally (I'd recommend it under any circumstances in fact).

Is it possible to place damping material on the desk at the points of first reflection? Dense rockwool 50-100mm would be best.
 

maverickronin

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It's just a shade over-budget, but for these circumstances I'd recommend something like the KEF Q350 (Stereophile measurements here), as it is a coaxial design, which means the vertical polar response will be far smoother than for a non-coaxial design, thus reducing the destructive impact of the desktop bounce.

It also measures very well generally (I'd recommend it under any circumstances in fact).

Is it possible to place damping material on the desk at the points of first reflection? Dense rockwool 50-100mm would be best.

I porbably should have explained more clearly. My desk is a solid wall of monitors and I don't have space to spread them out to put speakers on the sides of the central monitor.

I'd either need something tiny, maybe 4" wide on it's side and angled up and in, or something larger on some kind of arm mount above the monitors and angled downwards.

Does anything work in that situation?
 
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andreasmaaan

andreasmaaan

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I porbably should have explained more clearly. My desk is a solid wall of monitors and I don't even space to spread them out to put speakers on the sides of the central monitor.

I'd either need something tiny, maybe 4" wide on it's side and angled up and in, or something larger on some kind of arm mount above the monitors and angled downwards.

Does anything work in that situation?

Ok I see. I'd still be looking at coaxial designs in that case. The KEF Q150 is a slightly smaller (5" not 4" though) version of the Q350 that I haven't managed to find measurements for but that I'd presume would measure well too. It's also within budget if $500 is your limit.

Mounting up high and angling downwards is probably preferable to squeezing speakers in between lots of computer monitors :)

Do you have a pic of the desk?
 

maverickronin

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Here is an absolutely terrible picture of my desk, guest staring ひかる my pet conure.

Perspective is kind of wonky. The two landscape monitors are 27", the portrait is 23".

I can make space on top of the hutch and get a longer arm for the portrait monitor to turn it horizontal.

auF6P0u.jpg
 
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