Speaker upgrade advice (Totem Dreamcatchers)

[Vistance]

Hoping to get some advice on upgrading my Totem speakers, I saw the review for the Rainmakers that was not that glowing here. I used a pair of B&W 602 S3's for years thinking they sounded really nice and totally lucked into these Totem speakers for a complete steal at a thrift store (I believe I paid <$40 for the 4 Dreamcatcher speakers + the Dreamcatcher center channel). I A-B'ed for fun against the B&W's and to my great surprise I actually liked the Totem speakers better so those are now in my bedroom setup.

That said, my upgrade process has been just whatever things I find for a fair price within some local range to me used. I have never bought a speaker brand new, ever and I have a lot of speakers! My other listening system has Thiel PCS speakers that sound so nice I actually felt my eyes welling up a little listening to music on them, first time it ever happened for me so I'm quite happy with those.

For my main computer/desk surround setup I've been using these Totems and had a bit of an "aha" seeing that I may be missing out on much nicer speakers as I just never thought to upgrade them. I plan to buy and do an in home trial and return what I don't like but would like to see if I can knock any of these out of the running to avoid extra hassle on comparing and returning.

Contenders:

• Revel Performa3 M106
• KEF R3 Meta
• Monitor Audio Studio
• Focal Aria 906

I have never heard a Revel speaker, though I know they get high praise around these parts so thinking to keep that on the list for sure. The KEF R3's I saw were well rated here also and I remember years ago when I was looking these KEF's seemed to have a lot of positive buzz, presuming the R3 Meta would rate similarly. Lastly the Monitor Audios look interesting, What Hi-Fi didn't like them but I really am skeptical of most of those usual audio reviewers...I could swap for the Monitor Audio Silver 100 7G, but not sure they're up to par based on the data here compared to the Revel and KEF.

Thoughts anyone? I have a small roughly 10'x8'x8' room and these will be nearfield listening (e.g. I am 29" to 37" away from them depending if I'm upright or reclined in my chair). Using an older Integra DTC 9.8 processor and an ATI AT1506 power amplifier which is 150w @ 8 ohm or 225w @ 4 ohm and I don't tend to play anything too crazy loud. I am not especially price constrained, though it seems like diminishing returns going much above $2k/pair but appreciate any additional suggestions or eliminations from my above list.

EDIT: Added Focal and removed Monitor Audio. Now I'm really in a hard place as I would be interested to hear all three pairs...not sure if Crutchfield would appreciate me buying so many pairs and returning so many together - I've never tried it!

 

[sweetchaos]

• Revel Performa3 M106

Golfing panther award by Amir.

• KEF R3 Meta

Erin's review. Better (less bright) than R3 non-meta, but not drastically better. So strongly consider R3 non-meta on a budget.

• Monitor Audio Studio

No review or spinorama available. Risky.

 

[Vistance]

Thanks, that was the thought I had too on the Monitor Audio. I have never heard a pair from them, only read that others said they can be kind of bright. I like crisp, but not excessively bright speakers. Most of the speakers I have liked all have metal tweeters and not soft dome, so unsure what to make of that. I did like the ribbon (AMT) tweeter, I have never heard one and was more going off the decent rating the other Monitor Audio which was tested got. The GoldenEar and SVS speakers did not seem to fare as well, though I know the SVS had some contention due to the preference vs. personal subjective rating.

I listen to really all sorts of things on my computer, so I'd like the speaker to perhaps be a little more forgiving of things that are not recorded as well. My Thiel speakers are the opposite of this, and I cannot listen to some music on them because it sounds grating But the sound on others is heavenly, so I'll accept that trade off there.

I must admit, I am curious how some of the speakers I have laying around would measure if put through the tester, though the most interesting ones would be quite a pain to ship (heavy floorstanders).

EDIT: I am switching out in my original post for the Focal Aria 906, as I do have a pair of Focal Clear headphones which sound nice (if a bit on the warm side for my taste).

 

[Vistance]

I went with the R3 Meta and M106s, however the R3's sadly arrived damaged. Nothing on the box, but the one midrange had a small but quite noticeable dent in it where the other speaker had a 3" dent on the edge of the midrange cone. They seemed to play ok, but I am returning them back to Crutchfield. They're honestly too big height wise for my space. From my comparisons, they both sounded very close to each other to my ear but the KEF's on some material were bright and not as pleasant. I couldn't really make the Revel's sound unpleasant on anything really.

But I got to thinking, are these really ok to use nearfield? I am sitting around 3 feet away from them. These do not seem like anyone uses them in such a way. I have the foam plug in both of them since as I mentioned my room is small (8'x10'x8'). I have always thought mostly of using passive speakers but realized there isn't actually anything that would prohibit me from using active monitors given that my Integra surround processor has XLR outs so I don't even need to convert from XLR to RCA.

Would some Genelecs be better suited since it's nearfield and literally just me listening? I want to do 4 channel surround (phantom center) so I don't need something that will work for multiple listeners.

 

[sweetchaos]

Genelec will work as well.

Take a look at the “Direct Sound Dominance”

Correct Monitors - Genelec.com

www.genelec.com

To see distance and model recommendations.

 

[Penelinfi]

If using them at a desk near a wall, you're likely going to benefit from some EQ, usually in bass frequencies, maybe midrange if desk interferes. I also give my little speakers a bit of extra bass depth/weight since I don't listen to them loud.

I used to have 6.5 inch two ways, but switched to 5 inch two way as I thought they would integrate a little better. It can depend more on how low the tweeter crosses over, or, with coaxial should solve the integration issue.

 

[Vistance]

If using them at a desk near a wall, you're likely going to benefit from some EQ, usually in bass frequencies, maybe midrange if desk interferes. I also give my little speakers a bit of extra bass depth/weight since I don't listen to them loud.

I used to have 6.5 inch two ways, but switched to 5 inch two way as I thought they would integrate a little better. It can depend more on how low the tweeter crosses over, or, with coaxial should solve the integration issue.

What/where do you apply this EQ? All of that is a bit daunting, as it is I have an Integra surround processor and a multi-channel ATI amplifier that I've been using with my speakers. I've always been pretty happy with the sound of my speakers (of course, until I found an upgrade which sounded even better) but other than Audyssey MultEQ XT I don't have anything adjust/correcting the sound.

 

[Penelinfi]

What/where do you apply this EQ? All of that is a bit daunting, as it is I have an Integra surround processor and a multi-channel ATI amplifier that I've been using with my speakers. I've always been pretty happy with the sound of my speakers (of course, until I found an upgrade which sounded even better) but other than Audyssey MultEQ XT I don't have anything adjust/correcting the sound.

I use equaliser APO and peace GUI (there are others) on PC. I thought you were using a PC being so close to the speakers?
It's quite easy to install (have to re configurate sometimes after windows updates).
But see if you enjoy the speakers first. Well measuring speakers are easy to EQ.

Edit : also, I still have tower speakers in my small room lol Bookshelf with subs is probably more flexible

 

[Vistance]

I use equaliser APO and peace GUI (there are others) on PC. I thought you were using a PC being so close to the speakers?
It's quite easy to install (have to re configurate sometimes after windows updates).
But see if you enjoy the speakers first. Well measuring speakers are easy to EQ.

Edit : also, I still have tower speakers in my small room lol Bookshelf with subs is probably more flexible

Will look into those, I was taking they probably cost something. I was not sure if others were making EQ adjustments with some hardware device or if it was mostly software. But yes, I use a Mac + a PC with this system. The Mac almost exclusively for 2 channel content, and the PC for mostly surround content.

I am liking the Revel M106's, mostly I was wondering if I'm getting the most for my money considering I was seeing these are wide dispersing. I have a hutch on my desk on one side right by the right speaker, so I think of that interfering with the sound more than anything.

 

[Vistance]

Hi all, I received my Genelec 8030C's today and hooked them up in place of the Revel M106's. Still adjusting things, but one thing I noticed they are very loud. I have the input sensitivity at its lowest setting of -6 dB and when I ran Audyssey (mostly for level and distance calibration) I saw it tried to reduce their volume by the highest amount it can which is never a good sign. But I don't see any other way to reduce their volume, is there any way to reduce their output so they are not as loud? Guessing it may mean putting something else in the line and then piping that over to my Integra AVP.

Since I have them on my desk I did flip the switch for nearfield listening to attenuate on the 160 Hz. Fresh out of the box impression was they sounded a little flubby (like midrange was not balanced) though the balance with the subwoofer was definitely way off. This volume difference seems like a real issue with integrating this with my subwoofer and surrounds which by comparison barely sound like they're on.

EDIT: Welp, I guess I am no pro audio specialist. I had no idea until I stumbled on the 8030C review thread here that going +6 dB on that setting would make them quieter. So -6 dB was actually the loudest setting. Darn it, I have to re-run Audyssey now...but glad this could be adjusted at least!