Having posted a thread here to assist a relative, I recently got some helpful tips on loudspeakers in the $1K-$2K price range.
I later received another question on which loudspeakers are desirable in the US$10K+ price range. Unfortunately, as many of us here know, a lot of speakers in that price range are designed principally to look impressive or to suit quirky, ephemeral audiophile preferences. As a result, many of those very expensive speakers have compromised or outright deficient performance.
My view is that, at $10K and up, a pair of loudspeakers ought to be delivering performance that is state-of-the-art in some respects. (Of course, there are few, if any, loudspeakers that can deliver state-of-the-art performance in all respects.) The questioner and I are, I think, interested only in evidence--measurements, reasonable theories and informed (preferably A/B) listening impressions.
I'm emphatically not looking for subjective opinions about which $100K+ or $500K+ loudspeakers made by tiny companies in the United States and Switzerland sound the most majestic.
Here are the nine candidates that I could come up with:
I later received another question on which loudspeakers are desirable in the US$10K+ price range. Unfortunately, as many of us here know, a lot of speakers in that price range are designed principally to look impressive or to suit quirky, ephemeral audiophile preferences. As a result, many of those very expensive speakers have compromised or outright deficient performance.
My view is that, at $10K and up, a pair of loudspeakers ought to be delivering performance that is state-of-the-art in some respects. (Of course, there are few, if any, loudspeakers that can deliver state-of-the-art performance in all respects.) The questioner and I are, I think, interested only in evidence--measurements, reasonable theories and informed (preferably A/B) listening impressions.
I'm emphatically not looking for subjective opinions about which $100K+ or $500K+ loudspeakers made by tiny companies in the United States and Switzerland sound the most majestic.
Here are the nine candidates that I could come up with:
- Kii Three with BXT module: I've not heard the Kii Threes with the new BXT modules, but I imagine that, on balance, they provide the best performance available from any loudspeakers available today.
- D&D 8C: Probably the best available for the money in this list. Extremely controlled and neutral at all frequencies, and run out of low end only at about 25 Hz.
- B&O Beolab 90: The Beolab 90s are extraordinary in "narrow" mode. They are very expensive, take up a lot of space, and arguably look strange. I also suspect, based on my own listening to them in two rooms, that the 90s do not control low frequencies nearly as well as the Kiis and 8Cs. Nevertheless, they are extremely impressive and can play very loud.
- Kii Three without BXT module: From my own A/B test, I can confirm that the Kii Threes sound very similar to the 8Cs. They have a little bit more treble energy, which, I think, leads to the impression that they are more detailed than the 8Cs. On bass-heavy recordings, the Kiis' limiting will be noticeable in most domestic rooms; the BXT modules solve this problem.
- Linkwitz LX521: I haven't heard them, but lots of reliable folks have praised them. They were designed by one of the legendary engineers in this hobby. The non-DIY versions available from Magic LX521 can be had for not much more than the 8Cs and Kii Threes without BXT modules. The appearance may be problematic for some, and, because they are dipoles, they need a lot of space.
- Revel Salon 2: Very likely the most impressive conventional passive tower speakers available at any price. Because these are conventional box loudspeakers and include no special features to control directivity, they will need more space than digital active loudspeakers.
- JBL M2: May be the best loudspeaker in this list when soffit-mounted. In a treated domestic room, they can deliver superb performance in a floorstanding configuration when configured by an expert user like Dallasjustice.
- JBL 4367: Passive, less configurable M2s.
- Sanders Model 10: When used with BACCH processing, these are the best loudspeakers that I have heard. However, they are electrostatic dipoles that will require significant space to the rear. By design, they beam and are configured for maximum directivity in mid and high frequencies. With BACCH, the Sanders 10s deliver something approaching total realism on some recordings. I find them intolerable without BACCH.
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