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Still trying to pull the trigger on some towers. 10,000 budget. Please help me decide.

There was just a pair on tmr audio recently for about 8k. I thought about them but I wanted black. They do look impressive.
At that price I would have had them. Could always wrap them black.

They are the best all-round speaker I have ever heard in 40 years of doing this. And that includes plenty of high end speakers from TAD, Magico, YG, Kii, KEF, Marten, ML, PMC, ATC etc etc

I would have had some but could only find one pair for sale in UK - for 12 grand. GBP not dollars.

Just wasn't comfortable spending that much on some loudspeakers. I like music but there has to be a limit.
 
I kinda like these 'spend my money' threads....

If you're willing to go used, JBL S4700s on ebay (USA) currently. About $16.5K new. These are a set I've always wanted to hear. Baby K2s. :cool:

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Kinda stoopid to spend $10,000 without listening to any of the awesome speakers mentioned above. It all comes down to listener preference. What are you going to tell your friends ? That some randos on an internet forum told you how to spend your money ?

This is falling into the audiophile trap that $10,000 speakers must sound twice as good as $5,000 speakers and 5X better tha $2,000 speakers. ASR if anything is proof that spending more does not always result in better sound. Speakers, being transducers, will all sound different.
We are all randos here. Based on many variables, listening to all of them will be difficult and thats why I am reaching out to the Randos. But I am pickin up what you are throwin down. You make some great points.
 
Listening to a bunch of different speakers can be difficult or impossible. Also, it's not necessarily useful to listen to them somewhere besides the space you're going to be placing them.

Just make sure the place you're buying from has a good return policy. That bit makes the used market route more tricky of course.
 
This is a hard one to decide. I don't know your background or what kind of things you have experience owning. Is this a huge step up, or have you listened to other speakers near this price range? For years I purchased 2nd hand and if it was good fine and if not sell and try again. That works, and I usually stuck to things I had heard or things similar to what I had heard. My most recent speaker purchase were Revels without hearing them, but I'd heard other Revels and knew how they go about designing their speakers. I'm happy. I also had friends over the years with a varied group of expensive speakers. So I was more comfortable with what I liked or didn't in various offerings.

If this is a big step up from past ownership/experience, I would suggest listening in person to one or two on your list. While each room is different that can sometimes be overblown. Once past 500 hz it is mostly the intrinsic balance of the speaker you hear in any room.

I don't think you have any bad choices on your list, and I also don't think any will sound the same as the others. Obviously you have to feel comfortable with your purchase and you don't feel confident of your decision at this point. Even if it won't result in the absolute optimum choice from your list, actually hearing even one of them and finding you really like the result will probably let you make a choice. At this point the correct answer is not to be found in the speakers on your list so much as it is from answers only you can provide.

For instance I don't know why you say the Arendal is maybe too big. It is a floor stander, but takes up no larger a footprint than speakers on stands and isn't exceptionally tall coming in not far from others on your list on speaker stands. But I'm not you. Maybe it seems too big just for your taste in how something looks.

So as much as we internet Randos like helping others spend money, you are at a point where the important answers are something only you can provide. Not us.
 
Too bad Kii Three owners seldom part with them. At about $16k new, a used pair "should" fit into your budget and, with multiple Hypex modules built in, they wouldn't require an amp -- but, as noted above, they rarely show up used.
 
two-ways 15"+compression driver
The JBL S4700 is a 3-way. Behind the top mini-horn is a 20 mm compression driver. That's why they're baby K2s - that's still a 15-inch woofer.

They also have a smaller 3-way version, with two 10-inch drivers, the S3900. Evidently $5.5K each new.

I actually checked on the smaller ones, FOMO with my Revel F208s. I found measurements that showed the F208s to actually go a bit lower. :cool:

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Ha. I just came here to read. But there are quite a few supporters of regular usual plane two-ways 15"+compression driver)).
2 advantages are the fifteen in the large cab means they do bass without any sense of effort.
The compression driver means the crossover is outside the critical midband area.

If you've not listened to many speakers at this fairly elevated level I echo the advice of doing some listening to various type, just to get a feel for what you like. Even if not in your own room.

Beyond the measurements there is some personal preference involved with speakers.

Your room is large, the 30' length reduces problems with bass. You can take your pick, really.

I spent over 2 years making a decision. Lots of demos. Eventually just went with my gut :)
 
The JBL S4700 is a 3-way.
I know, but the difference from 2way is not catastrophic. This can be fixed by installing a d2430k driver)). I am familiar with a pair of 4429, modified in this way.
On the other hand, some people like 4365 more than 4367.
 
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Let me throw a wrench in this: you can get far more for your money with active monitors and subwoofers (a 2.2 sub/sat system) than you can get with a power amplifier and a couple of monkey coffins.

The reasons are many, but I’ll list a few:

• None of the speakers listed can play as low, loud and clean as a pair of subwoofers in the low bass region

• There is no advantage to rattling your midranges and tweeters around in the same box that is carrying the low bass

• If the you opt to have a fully active system, you will have more dynamic range. Passive crossovers suck up about 3 to 4 dB of power.

• Your subwoofers can be placed in the room where they offer the best sound at the listening position rather than where the speakers will offer the best stereo imaging

• Any thoughts of going wireless?

I know this isn’t simplifying things for you, but this is the way to get more bang for your buck. It’s also the way things are done in recording studios (those places where they record, mix and master all of that music you want to listen to).

There is not one top tier studio that uses passive speakers anymore. They have either changed over to fully active speakers or have gone out of business. Something you might wanna think about.

Good luck.
 
Who said that monkey coffins would come without subs - in fact one large sub is in play. It might need a family in such large room though.

Also the ask was to stay passive which I understand perfectly.

Actually nowadays the trend is to have more bass sources and rattle your boxes with low bass. If they can’t handle it then wrong boxes.

Point taken on studios, but their setups are completely different and always were than home setups. Even for such large rooms, 118dB 1 m rating from e.g. Arendal will bring maynhem even to such big room.

My final point is that room is really too big to be pressured completely in low end without extreme measures. If possible to cut it shorter, would actually work better with less resources.
 
There is not one top tier studio that uses passive speakers anymore. They have either changed over to fully active speakers or have gone out of business. Something you might wanna think about.
Even if true, not sure why that relevant for a home situation? There's lots of things that are done in professional environments that are not applicable to the home.

You also neglected to mention one of the big negatives of active speakers: shoving the amplifiers into a speaker. Now you have an issue if the amp fails beyond replacing just replacing a separate amp (or sending it on for repair, rather than sending in a large and bulky speaker). Actives are often limited in their dynamics range due to the limited room for the amps also. Granted, this last point isn't necessarily an issue when you're looking at big and expensive actives.

In any case, OP expressed right off the bat that his preference is for passives. It's not unusual and there's not a problem with it, so no need to try to brow-bear him about it.
 
Who said that monkey coffins would come without subs - in fact one large sub is in play. It might need a family in such large room though.

Also the ask was to stay passive which I understand perfectly.

Actually nowadays the trend is to have more bass sources and rattle your boxes with low bass. If they can’t handle it then wrong boxes.

Point taken on studios, but their setups are completely different and always were than home setups. Even for such large rooms, 118dB 1 m rating from e.g. Arendal will bring maynhem even to such big room.

My final point is that room is really too big to be pressured completely in low end without extreme measures. If possible to cut it shorter, would actually work better with less resources.
I have seen the great reviews for active speakers. I have an existing sub and an amp. I don’t what that would look like incorporating active speakers into such a set up, especially for HT. I might go that route someday if I had a separate music only room.
 
All the usual suspects are mentioned in this thread except the Linkwitz LX521 ... a wacky looking speaker to be sure, but I think many consider it to be the best example of open baffle speakers. I think if you haven't heard dipole / OB it's worth a listen, won't sound like any of the other speakers mentioned so far. Many people swear by OB - the namesake of the speaker was quite an audio expert and clearly favored them.

Personally I have LS60s, they might be a little small for your room, but I have nothing bad to say about them about a year in. If I were going to drop $10K on a speaker today, it would probably be one of the JBLs, (M2 or 4367) to get a more "gutsy" sound, since I already have a bookshelf + sub system in the other room.
 
To the OP.

You mentioned that this would also be a home theater setup. So, free your mind and the music will follow. I suggest that you read Archimago's Blogspot. He is an independent hobbyist who extols the advantages of surround sound audio, tests equipment and has an excellent blog. BTW he is a practicing physician, so he owns his opinions.

I have a very small home theater room that is a fun place to listen to music and watch TV. But otherwise, not practical for upgrades.
 
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In my opinion an excellent bookshelf speaker and 2-4 subwoofers beat every tower in value for money with at least the same sound quality.
 


JSmith
 
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