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Speaker pair under $6k

Dahlyn

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I'm looking for new pair of speakers in the sub 6k price range that would be considered budget friendly end game. 65/35% music/movies....music a lot in 2 channel(+ subs) and sometimes upmixed. I have two good subs so I would consider stand mounted or towers....bass extension isn't super important(subs can do the heavy lifting) imaging, soundstage, immersion are the kind of stuff that are key to me. I also value customer service.

Some thoughts
I have revel M106s and really like them.
It seems the performa line is showing its age compared to newer speaker tech
Peforma Be line seems to be a slight marginal improvement for 2-4x the more money

I heavily believe in science and psychoaucostics but am enough of a realist to realize that our ears and NFS dont operate exactly the same. So I want to stay firmly ground in objectivity but allow for some subjectivity.

Thanks for any guidance



edit: the whole system is a full 7.2.4, treated room, and separate amps for mains
 
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mj30250

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I also use dual subs and listen to a similar ratio of music and movies. I moved from PerformaBe towers (which sounded fantastic) to these from Ascend and am still thrilled several months later:

index.php

If your application calls for a larger vertical listening window than these offer, the same speaker is available with a dome tweeter instead of the ribbon, and at a lower cost.
 
OP
D

Dahlyn

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Thanks! Those look good but hard to find any information. I found the press release here and your great write up comparing the F432 and them. That's about it though.

In my MLP the limited vertical dispersion wouldn't be an issue. Could be a real stupid comment - My revels sound great all over through the house not sure if that has anything to do with their wide dispersion...probably not.
 

alex-z

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The Revel M106 are still really good speakers. Even if you spend the full $6000, don't expect a big difference in sound quality.

I would recommend auditioning several speakers, including the KEF R3, Directiva R1, and Revel F206. Make sure to use the same positioning and volume match them using a measurement mic, that way you give yourself a fair comparison.




You mentioned having a treated room, does that include large bass traps, and EQ to correct the response? In my experience, those two things in conjunction make a bigger difference than any speaker upgrade.
 

kma100

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While admittedly the manufacturers forum, there is a lot more information on the Ascend Acoustics website (search under "Community Forum")
 

Harris48

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The Revel M106 are still really good speakers. Even if you spend the full $6000, don't expect a big difference in sound quality.

I would recommend auditioning several speakers, including the KEF R3, Directiva R1, and Revel F206. Make sure to use the same positioning and volume match them using a measurement mic, that way you give yourself a fair comparison.




You mentioned having a treated room, does that include large bass traps, and EQ to correct the response? In my experience, those two things in conjunction make a bigger difference than any speaker upgrade.

Hmmmm. Ok. I might have been reading too much about latest and greatest new speakers. For $6k I would be looking for a significant improvement. Thanks

EQ yes but no bass traps. I thought big bass traps were a thing of the past…again maybe falling victim to reading to much of the newest thing.
 

alex-z

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Hmmmm. Ok. I might have been reading too much about latest and greatest new speakers. For $6k I would be looking for a significant improvement. Thanks

EQ yes but no bass traps. I thought big bass traps were a thing of the past…again maybe falling victim to reading to much of the newest thing.
EQ only adjusts the electrical input signal to the speaker, and therefore the on-axis frequency response. The radiation pattern of the speaker and room reflections are not impacted. In most rooms (pretty much anything smaller than a church), the most problematic reflections exist at low frequencies. By using thick bass traps, you can significantly reduce the impact of these room modes, in both the frequency and time domain.

Having multiple subwoofers does help a great deal below 80Hz, but in the 80-300Hz region, that is where the bass traps will have the most impact.
 

mcdn

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I heavily believe in science and psychoaucostics but am enough of a realist to realize that our ears and NFS dont operate exactly the same. So I want to stay firmly ground in objectivity but allow for some subjectivity.
There's nothing wrong with your speakers, they're pretty much "end game" when used with subs crossed at 120Hz (the distortion below that rises a fair bit at 96dB/1m, but at 85dB an 80Hz crossover is fine too). You say the system is 7.2.4, what receiver do you have? Are you already using Audyssey MultEQ XT32 or Dirac room correction?
 

Harris48

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There's nothing wrong with your speakers, they're pretty much "end game" when used with subs crossed at 120Hz (the distortion below that rises a fair bit at 96dB/1m, but at 85dB an 80Hz crossover is fine too). You say the system is 7.2.4, what receiver do you have? Are you already using Audyssey or Dirac room correction?
Good to know
Denon 3700 with LCR in preamp mode powered by Hypex amps.
Audyssey MultEQ XT32
It’s definitely sounds great but reading/watching so many reviews I thought maybe I could do better
 

ryanosaur

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I'm looking for new pair of speakers in the sub 6k price range that would be considered budget friendly end game. 65/35% music/movies....music a lot in 2 channel(+ subs) and sometimes upmixed. I have two good subs so I would consider stand mounted or towers....bass extension isn't super important(subs can do the heavy lifting) imaging, soundstage, immersion are the kind of stuff that are key to me. I also value customer service.

Some thoughts
I have revel M106s and really like them.
It seems the performa line is showing its age compared to newer speaker tech
Peforma Be line seems to be a slight marginal improvement for 2-4x the more money

I heavily believe in science and psychoaucostics but am enough of a realist to realize that our ears and NFS dont operate exactly the same. So I want to stay firmly ground in objectivity but allow for some subjectivity.

Thanks for any guidance



edit: the whole system is a full 7.2.4, treated room, and separate amps for mains
Check out Philharmonic Audio. BMR Tower or the new HT Tower. Wide dispersion style, very neutral and accurate SQ. I've always been amazed at how natural sounding acoustic instruments are on Dennis' designs. Beyond that, everything sounds really good from Electronica to Opera to screamin Guitars dripping with fuzz. ;)
 

Harris48

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Check out Philharmonic Audio. BMR Tower or the new HT Tower. Wide dispersion style, very neutral and accurate SQ. I've always been amazed at how natural sounding acoustic instruments are on Dennis' designs. Beyond that, everything sounds really good from Electronica to Opera to screamin Guitars dripping with fuzz. ;)
Sounds interesting! Googling them right now
 

Holmz

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I'm looking for new pair of speakers in the sub 6k price range that would be considered budget friendly end game. 65/35% music/movies....music a lot in 2 channel(+ subs) and sometimes upmixed. I have two good subs so I would consider stand mounted or towers....bass extension isn't super important(subs can do the heavy lifting) imaging, soundstage, immersion are the kind of stuff that are key to me. I also value customer service.

Some thoughts
I have revel M106s and really like them.
why change then?

It seems the performa line is showing its age compared to newer speaker tech
Peforma Be line seems to be a slight marginal improvement for 2-4x the more money

I heavily believe in science and psychoaucostics but am enough of a realist to realize that our ears and NFS dont operate exactly the same. So I want to stay firmly ground in objectivity but allow for some subjectivity.

Thanks for any guidance



edit: the whole system is a full 7.2.4, treated room, and separate amps for mains

Well if you have a center channel and all the rest of the channels… then to get the voicing right, you probably want to stick with the same brand.
Or at least if the center channel is some crossover ,. Theh the L/R should likely be the same XO to avoid phase cancellations.
Not a 4th order LRiled on the center and a 1st order on the L/R speakers.
 

Harris48

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why change then?
Thinking things might have improved in the last 8 yrs and I could do better???

I have the revel c208. But I’m not a timbre matching die hard. Though I wasn’t aware of the potential XO issues you brought up. Good to know
 

FlyingFreak

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I would invest in room correction before upgrading speakers. Having a room that sounds good is pretty awesome if you can afford it.
I m not aware of reasonable people doing that for hifi though (any one who could point me in that direction here or anywhere, I’ll be very grateful). I found audio professionals making more sense even though not having the same needs/wants we do, they’re interesting folks to speak to (the likes of Acoustic Insiders).

You could also try more precise eq settings to see if audissey doesn’t limit your system (only personal knowledge I have is that there are much more precise and personalized stuff out there).

Best of luck in your endeavors!
 

mcdn

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Good to know
Denon 3700 with LCR in preamp mode powered by Hypex amps.
Audyssey MultEQ XT32
It’s definitely sounds great but reading/watching so many reviews I thought maybe I could do better

Your main L/R speakers are excellent, but what are you using for the centre channel speaker? When the centre channel is enabled it receives nearly all of the important music and dialogue signal during movie playback, relegating the L/R to effects duties. Unless you have a _really_ good centre it may be better to remove it.

Bass is also very hard to get right. You say you have two subs but adding another sub or two in different locations in the room could help a lot with room modes (there's no benefit going to more than 4 subs, but going from 2 to 3 subs can help a lot).

Finally, what do you feel is missing? Are you running out of volume, or is the bass lumpy and "one note", or is dialogue hard to distinguish? Something else?
 

nerdoldnerdith

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The Revel F228Be is an excellent speaker and probably the best thing on the market if you can find it for that price. The used market has them for that price often.

Where are you located? I have a pair of F228Be's that I want to replace with Studio2's. They are fantastic speakers but I have an Ultima2 and want everything to match.
 

Holmz

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Thinking things might have improved in the last 8 yrs and I could do better???

Why risk it if you like them already?
Adding a sub, or some treatment, or doing nothing… that would be my advice.


I have the revel c208. But I’m not a timbre matching die hard. Though I wasn’t aware of the potential XO issues you brought up. Good to know

It may be more like the “combined” timbre.

One could run a single right channel and the center channel on the left… and if the image is warbly then it indicates that the center is not well matched.
On a sweep it would likley dim and brighten as the goes out of phase and into phase As te frequency changes.

But a lot of the HT content is only on the center channel.

Or just set it up as 6, system and tell us if it is better or worse.
 

bodhi

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I'm in the same boat. Last summer I got KEF R5s mostly because I needed something that would do until I decided which speakers would be the endgame and how much I'm willing to spend. Unfortunately I have now landed in a situation where I can't tell myself that an upgrade will make any sense, from sound quality perspective. Well, the KEFs don't play a lot of bass, but I have subwoofers for that. I have also had a few "but why, though?" comments from ASR too when asking for upgrade options. :)

For now I decided to let the buying fever go down a bit. I think there are several somewhat reasonably priced, true endgame speakers (I have especially the D&D in mind) that are at least technology wise something to look forward to.
 

HooStat

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If you want something that has an advantage that most other speakers don't, you should consider the upcoming Mesanovic CDM 65. They are cardioid to about 150 Hz and they are less than half of the cost of the Dutch & Dutch and the Kii offerings. I think they are about $5400 for the pair. https://www.mesanovicmicrophones.com/cdm65
 
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