Upgrade: What speaker does 100-105db well yet still delicate at lower levels?

[mhardy6647]

Klipsch Heresy IVs. Sound great at low levels and can easily do 105 db.

Dollar for dollar, probably not a bad choice at all.
Loudspeakers like these (and the aforementioned vintage Altecs and JBLs vintage and, in some cases, modern) are astonishingly full-sounding at very low levels (e..g, pop tracks with "fadeouts").
The Heresys have the advantage of being small and, presumably, available pretty much everywhere in the world.

PS The woofer in a Heresy is 12 inches (30 cm). Not huge.
These 15 inch (38 cm) Altec drivers (the white one's a coaxial 604E, but the woofer part is very similar to the dark grey 515B in the foreground) aren't even particularly huge. Fabulous they are, though.

 

[Pieter1267]

Well guys i think the main goal is reached. I bought mb quarts 390 for 70 (!) Euro and after much fiddling with REW, minidsp I finally got them singing together with my svs sb1000pro.

At first i thought i made a mistake because at 50, 60 or 75 low pass it just didnt feel right. The solution was rather simple: crossover at 100hz! That somehow never made any difference with the Neat sx2's but for this combo its fantastic.

Then i let autorew create a nice peq for the svs and voila. The lower volume sounds almost as good as the Neats but at higher volume there is no more distortion at volume settings wich made the Neats crash.

I tested 101db no problem for a very short confirmation and while i have earplugs, i dont need more than that really. (In addition it also confirmed the Quad 606 mkI, the non-toroid psu one, has more than enough power. That thing can thrown down some.)

I decided for now, im going to keep this setup and sell the Neat Acoustics. I will slowly add to my savings untill i have some more to justify a big spending in the €3000-4000 range. I really hope to find a nice Revel F208. The offers in Europe are really low. I will also visit some stores for some choice auditions.

Here is a pic of the current lay out. Nevermind the messy sound isolation foam. Ill fix that later. Note the brackets are measured 5cm higher than the F208 height measurements. When there is a new change ill update this thread again.Thanks a lot everybody!

 

[Pieter1267]

Short update:

The search hasnt yielded new main speakers but sofar the MB Quarts 390 doing just great for now.

I did change the sub after advice the SVS SB 1000 pro also doesnt produce above 95db.

After some consideration on SVS update i went a different route: passive sub with PA amp. I bought a 15" Dayton ultimax driver that was already in a cabinet. I ordered a 2nd Dayton ultimax wich should arrive mid january. The first Dayton seller also sold me a Behringer inuke 6000 pa amp for a total price amp+speaker 70% of what i got for the SVS. Ill post some REW measurements later but it performs much, much better than the SVS. Together with the MB Quarts i really am pumping some power! 2nd picture you see the inuke6000 below the Quad 34. Above the minidsp ddrc and back right is the Quad 606 mkI.

To do:

Build the 2nd Dayton sub (they are rather big but i have the space.) After the 2nd sub is finished i can also finish the roomdecoration. Everything is rather messy now and i need a new file cabinet and space for books.

Sell the Neats. Not a lot of buyers yet. I dont want to drop the price much more just yet.

After selling Neats auditioning proposals for new mains. Super Lintons, Revel 206 or 208? Or? We will see.

The passive sub plus pa, d class amp is a very nice and ultra cheap one i can recommend bigtime. Ditto the Dayton driver performance. If you have the space, minidsp, umik and rew: go for it.

Happy holidays guys!

 

[beagleman]

problems reported with bass.

The Lintons look a very good speaker but not outstanding. At the moment, they are not in consideration for various reasons mentioned in previous postings.

Thanks for reminding though. I really like the drivers look.

For instance the Super Lintons, would walk all over your current speakers, yet you kinda bashed them as being less than what you have now.
Perhaps WATCH some of Erins reviews, I am getting the impression your "Neat" speakers are not quite as great as you believe.

Some truly good speakers have been mentioned, and you......wait, you got something....

 

[Salt]

Anybody mentioned a concept with ESS AMT-1?