Reccomended towers for $5,000 / pair or less

[2slow]

I am in the United States and looking to upgrade my tower speakers and have set myself a budget of no more then $5K for the pair. I don't need to spend the entire budget, but if there is a great fit, I am willing to. Current speakers are Infinity RS10 towers and they are just OK, and never were great.

The primary use case is listening to music, mostly calssic rock. They will be in a very large room with high ceilings, and I would like them to be able to get fairly loud on occasion. I'll get the tape measure out and post back, but the room is very large. Room layout forces the towers to be pretty close to the walls.

I have a Rythmik F-18 Subwoofer on order that will complement them as my beloved Velodyne F-1200 is going to get relegated to the basement.

Center Channel is a SVS Ultra Evolution. We don't watch a lot of movies, and don't have rear speakers but use the center for tv dialog.

All will be powered by a Sony STRDN-1080 AVR. That might get upgraded in the near future, but it would be to a newer Sony AVR.

 

[Matt34]

Perlisten A3T
Philharmonic HT towers
Mofi Sourcepoint 888 “scratch and dent” at Crutchfield —-these would probably be the most forgiving to classic rock recordings of the 3 listed.

 

[2slow]

Perlisten A3T
Philharmonic HT towers
Mofi Sourcepoint 888 “scratch and dent” at Crutchfield —-these would probably be the most forgiving to classic rock recordings of the 3 listed.

Thanks. Watching Erin's review of the 888s now and he is gushing about them. Maybe they are the winners?

MoFi SourcePoint 888 Tower Speaker Review

MoFi SourcePoint 888 Tower Speaker

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[MarkS]

Arendal 1723 Tower THX is another option:

1723 Tower THX

High-output front-stage performance designed to meet THX Ultra reference standards.

arendalsound.com

 

[Chanur]

I love my Philharmonic BMR Towers. They are full range. You wouldn't even have to use the sub for classic rock unless you wanted too. They are also strikingly beautiful.

 

[JSmith]

Revel F206 Tower Speaker Review

This is a review, listening tests, EQ, and detailed measurements of the Revel F206 Floor-standing speaker. It is on kind loan from a member (new) and costs US $1347.50 each. Please excuse the mobile phone picture quality and plastics that are still on the speaker. I try to keep products as...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Revel F208 Tower Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Revel F208 speaker. It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me for measurements. Revel F208 costs $2,500 each or US $5,000 for a pair. Note: our company, Madrona Digital is a dealer for Revel speakers. Feel free to read as...

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

 

[Miniyouuuu]

Mission 770 / Mofi SourcePoint 10 ME and 2 sealed subs located strategically with independent EQ (gain, delay, crossover…).

Towers require a lot of space. Do you have enough clearance to front and side walls?

Usually the problems and requirements of mid/highs are not the same of low bass. Separate them and you get more control.

 

[Chanur]

If you like the Vintage look I'd also check out the classic range from Fyne. I almost bought those instead of the BMR towers. Still might in the future for another room!

 

[DanielT]

Monitor Audio Silver 500 7g

Nice measurements today from Soundstage hifi…someone get Amir the 100 7g https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2685:nrc-measurements-monitor-audio-silver-500-7g-loudspeakers&catid=77:loudspeaker-measurements&Itemid=153

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[DanielT]

If you like the Vintage look I'd also check out the classic range from Fyne. I almost bought those instead of the BMR towers. Still might in the future for another room!

Speaking of retro, vintage looks.

I think Heco has a cool retro look. Old school refrigerator-wide speakers. The previous Direkt version from Heco measured well. I don't know how this new one measures. Probably just as good results with it.
They have fairly high sensitivity, 94 dB.

Direkt Premium

The Direkt Premium loudspeaker has a look inspried by the 70's with its two-tone cabinet: an elegant black or white silky matte lacquer finish combined with a real walnut wood inlay on the front panel. The corners of the cabinet are rounded for a more so…

heco-audio.de

 

[thewas]

Speaking of retro, vintage looks.

I think Heco has a cool retro look. Old school refrigerator-wide speakers. The previous Direkt version from Heco measured well. I don't know how this new one measures. Probably just as good results with it.
They have fairly high sensitivity, 94 dB.

View attachment 511220

Direkt Premium

The Direkt Premium loudspeaker has a look inspried by the 70's with its two-tone cabinet: an elegant black or white silky matte lacquer finish combined with a real walnut wood inlay on the front panel. The corners of the cabinet are rounded for a more so…

heco-audio.de

Even better, I am hoping for its used priced to drop to get myself a pair in the future:

Most beautiful speakers in the world ?

It's safe to assume the business calculation is sound. The fake tweeter makes it look like a "proper speaker", and if that helps sales more than it costs, which seems likely, then there you have it. I'd be surprised if anyone who buys this calibre of speaker would actually care. Logitech, have...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Everett T]

The AsciLab active cardiod is a heck of a speaker and as is the Philharmonic HT, both will have no problems keeping up with at the Rythmik in SPL and both are extremely low distortion. The MoFI is a nice speaker too, just rounding out your options.

 

[Chanur]

The MOFI are great but the Philharmonic will be more neutral sounding if that matters to you.

 

[Mort]

The MOFI are great but the Philharmonic will be more neutral sounding if that matters to you.

I'm a big fan of Philharmonic Audio but how do you figure this? I don't think it's true.

 

[Sokel]

Classic Rock + big room + loud = buy as much mid-bass your money can buy.
Scrap nuance tonalities and look at nice big voice coils (4" VC is a good place to start) and driver and cabinet real estate.

When people are borderline to decide about if a speaker sounds thin and strident they better play Led Zeppelin to them, this clears the picture big time.

 

[2slow]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Here is a bit more room information:

The room is oddly shaped, but on average it is 27' wide.

It is 19' deep, however it is a very open floorplan, so there is a very large 12' x 9' opening to the dining room on the side the speakers are on that is another 25' deep. There is a 4' x 9' hall that runs to the kitchen on the other side that is connected to the dining room.

The ceiling height is 12' on the sides and peaks to 20'

There is plenty of clearnace to the side walls, but they will not have a ton of clearnace to the back wall.

The speakers need to be flat or semigloss black. Woodcolor / Paino black are NOK.

Thanks!
-Joe

 

[Mort]

The speakers need to be flat or semigloss black. Woodgrain / Paino black are NOK.

Flat black but not woodgrain is honestly a little tough. It would eliminate many of the suggestions above.

 

[2slow]

Woidgrain flatblack is AOK. Sorry for the confusion. I meant to say not wood color. I will edit the post to be more clear

 

[Jiraya369]

Audio First Cadentia 3 isnt a tower but it sure acts like one!

 

[Chanur]

I'm a big fan of Philharmonic Audio but how do you figure this? I don't think it's true.

Sorry that was my impression of the sound. That it was a tiny bit muddy on the low end. Others I have read also said the same. That helps bad recordings sound better though, so it's not a bad thing.

Again my subjective impression. I liked them very much.